Tundra
April 18th, 2010, 10:25 AM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/Livinginthepast/NiH/bodiamcastle.jpg
Days Out in East Sussex
Down the road from us at Bodiam there is a real life castle. It's quite likely you have seen it. When I was a little boy my cousin Elma came from Arizona to work in the American Embassy, if she got home sick she would go to see a cowboy movie, and there would be the herd of cows her uncle couldn't sell but kept for the movie makers. Bodiam Castle is a bit like that.
A lot of the castles in Southern England are useless for cinematic period shots. For example, they were bombarded during the civil war, have tenants, or there are modern buildings in the background.
Bodiam was abandoned for a long time and the interior, wooden framed, buildings are rotted and gone, but the moat, stone walls and tower remain. With rural Sussex behind them they make the perfect backdrop for a knight on horseback. Like I said, you have probably seen it.
It was built in the 1300's by the local Squire, Sir Richard Dalyngrigge, he applied for permission to fortify his manor house against attacks by the French and then went considerably further than the planning permission allowed, things were a bit more lax in those days
Looking at a map or Google Earth (http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/36711/google_earth.html) you might think the French attacks were a bit fanciful as well, it's miles down the river Rother to the sea. In those days, however, Romney marsh had not been reclaimed from the sea. The Isle of Oxney was still an island and the river mouth was only a bit past Newenden. The Rother was a tidal river that flooded the flat area between the railway and the castle. It still does sometimes, but only after heavy rain, not tidally. There is a built up causeway leading to the little stone bridge across the river, which looks as though it might have been here since forever. And so it might, in some form, The Romans came this way with their road from Hastings.
At the time it was built castle design was changing, people had realised that round towers withstood bombardment better than square ones. However round towers were a lot dearer to build, so Sir Roger, who built Bodiam, compromised. The towers on the corners are round, the ones in the centre of the curtain walls are square. These towers and the substantial gate houses at either end of the castle provided a considerable amount of living room as well as being defensive. There was more living room in halls and kitchens built within the castle's outer walls, but not the sort of defences within defences that one finds in earlier castles. Although it would have added substantially to the south coast defences this was much more a living place, like the soon to come Tudor mansions.
The moat is fed by a spring, and would have made a substantial barrier even if drained. Most people believe moats were built to stop people getting to the walls to climb them. Of course they made this more difficult, but their main purpose was to stop people undermining the walls so they would collapse. The first stage in many sieges was to drain the moat.
There is a small island in the centre of the bridge one has to cross to reach the castle. Originally this had a fortified gate house on it. Nowadays the bridge goes straight across to the Castle but in the days of the gatehouse it started at a right angle to the present bridge, you can still see the foundation where it left the bank.
This missing first section had a drawbridge in it. So you had to fight your way across a draw bridge, round a sharp right angle through a fortified gate house, and then there was another bridge in front of you leading to the main gate. If the retreating defenders hadn't set fire to it or wrecked it otherwise.
The castle now belongs to the National Trust and is very peaceful, with sheep grazing on the surrounding laws. On summer evenings hot air balloons sometimes take off from the small meadow by the river, furthest from the road. Looking across the valley at the coloured globes floating above the castle in the golden evening sunshine it is sometimes hard to remember its martial origins.
On the North side of the grounds a small museum houses a model of the castle as it was and various other exhibits, including various objects found in the immediate vicinity and when the moat was drained during the restoration by Lord Curzon at the beginning of the twentieth century,.
There is a tea room and a shop beside the road and if you venture across the little stone bridge over the river there is a level crossing and a station.
This is not part of the main rail network but a disused branch line which has been partially re-opened by steam railway enthusiasts. Trains run to Newenden and Tenterden, many people combine a train ride on one of the old fashioned steam trains, through beautiful countryside, with a visit to the castle when they arrive. A very pleasant day out.
By Olly Buckle
(http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/323686/olly_buckle.html)
Picture by PhillipC (http://www.flickr.com/photos/flissphil/52158537/)
Days Out in East Sussex
Down the road from us at Bodiam there is a real life castle. It's quite likely you have seen it. When I was a little boy my cousin Elma came from Arizona to work in the American Embassy, if she got home sick she would go to see a cowboy movie, and there would be the herd of cows her uncle couldn't sell but kept for the movie makers. Bodiam Castle is a bit like that.
A lot of the castles in Southern England are useless for cinematic period shots. For example, they were bombarded during the civil war, have tenants, or there are modern buildings in the background.
Bodiam was abandoned for a long time and the interior, wooden framed, buildings are rotted and gone, but the moat, stone walls and tower remain. With rural Sussex behind them they make the perfect backdrop for a knight on horseback. Like I said, you have probably seen it.
It was built in the 1300's by the local Squire, Sir Richard Dalyngrigge, he applied for permission to fortify his manor house against attacks by the French and then went considerably further than the planning permission allowed, things were a bit more lax in those days
Looking at a map or Google Earth (http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/36711/google_earth.html) you might think the French attacks were a bit fanciful as well, it's miles down the river Rother to the sea. In those days, however, Romney marsh had not been reclaimed from the sea. The Isle of Oxney was still an island and the river mouth was only a bit past Newenden. The Rother was a tidal river that flooded the flat area between the railway and the castle. It still does sometimes, but only after heavy rain, not tidally. There is a built up causeway leading to the little stone bridge across the river, which looks as though it might have been here since forever. And so it might, in some form, The Romans came this way with their road from Hastings.
At the time it was built castle design was changing, people had realised that round towers withstood bombardment better than square ones. However round towers were a lot dearer to build, so Sir Roger, who built Bodiam, compromised. The towers on the corners are round, the ones in the centre of the curtain walls are square. These towers and the substantial gate houses at either end of the castle provided a considerable amount of living room as well as being defensive. There was more living room in halls and kitchens built within the castle's outer walls, but not the sort of defences within defences that one finds in earlier castles. Although it would have added substantially to the south coast defences this was much more a living place, like the soon to come Tudor mansions.
The moat is fed by a spring, and would have made a substantial barrier even if drained. Most people believe moats were built to stop people getting to the walls to climb them. Of course they made this more difficult, but their main purpose was to stop people undermining the walls so they would collapse. The first stage in many sieges was to drain the moat.
There is a small island in the centre of the bridge one has to cross to reach the castle. Originally this had a fortified gate house on it. Nowadays the bridge goes straight across to the Castle but in the days of the gatehouse it started at a right angle to the present bridge, you can still see the foundation where it left the bank.
This missing first section had a drawbridge in it. So you had to fight your way across a draw bridge, round a sharp right angle through a fortified gate house, and then there was another bridge in front of you leading to the main gate. If the retreating defenders hadn't set fire to it or wrecked it otherwise.
The castle now belongs to the National Trust and is very peaceful, with sheep grazing on the surrounding laws. On summer evenings hot air balloons sometimes take off from the small meadow by the river, furthest from the road. Looking across the valley at the coloured globes floating above the castle in the golden evening sunshine it is sometimes hard to remember its martial origins.
On the North side of the grounds a small museum houses a model of the castle as it was and various other exhibits, including various objects found in the immediate vicinity and when the moat was drained during the restoration by Lord Curzon at the beginning of the twentieth century,.
There is a tea room and a shop beside the road and if you venture across the little stone bridge over the river there is a level crossing and a station.
This is not part of the main rail network but a disused branch line which has been partially re-opened by steam railway enthusiasts. Trains run to Newenden and Tenterden, many people combine a train ride on one of the old fashioned steam trains, through beautiful countryside, with a visit to the castle when they arrive. A very pleasant day out.
By Olly Buckle
(http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/323686/olly_buckle.html)
Picture by PhillipC (http://www.flickr.com/photos/flissphil/52158537/)