Hail fellow knights of poetry. On this grand day, let us haveth some fun. Thine has got too comfortable in thy expectations and needeth some variety. So come with me, you fools and jesters all, and let us exploreth what this new genre of ‘medieval haiku’ doth offer thee. (For thine true historical comments, take thy tyme and wait til the post’s end) Did I have the ruins to myself you asketh? Of course I did my fine fellows, one would thinketh I had ye olde plague mayhaps?
1.
Heavenly affray? Battled centuries reduce, to thy daemons ruin
2.
Dangerous career, 'Castle Pigeon' tis risky, like jester or fool. Around the deep moat four piles of feathers attest to death of fellows
3.
Old stands near new o'er the wall, Rayleigh's new palace Call that castle? Fool!
4.
Oliver Cromwell, on a mission to destroy all royal displays
5.
The storm clouds gather, on the heels of ghosts looming. Heareth clash of swords?
6.
As rain softly falls, rooks cry loud in treetops tall. Shiver down our spines
7.
Oh Sir Walter, why did thy put in the windows? Ripe for attack now
Tis divine that thou hast taken this tyme out of thy lyfe to indulge my stupidity, I value you beyond words. I looketh forward to engaging words or swords with thee in comments below. Responses in medieval language will gain ye extra merit, possibly a knighthood? Be brave.
For those who wish to know more about the castle without the medival language….🙄 read on. Photo gallery first.
Main Photo commentary:
Sherborne Old Castle was originally built around 1100 by Roger de Caen a rather unscrupulous medieval official who combined spiritual office with great power. He became Chancellor to Henry I as well as Bishop of Salisbury and accumulated great wealth (no surprises there then!) After Henry’s death in 1135 Roger fell out of favour and onto hard times so perhaps there is some justice after all?
Two pigeons sit on the moat wall discussing career dangers. I noticed 4 separate piles of pigeon feathers so likely a sparrow hawk is feeding young at the moment.
Elizabeth I gave the castle to Walter Rayleigh in 1592 and he had ideas about a little conversion job to stately home, putting in the windows which severely compromised it’s defence capability and would lead to it’s downfall. He didn’t finish the job instead building Sherborne ‘new’ ‘castle’ which is a privately owned estate to this day. (Oliver would be furious that it all came to naught ha ha)
- 7. Half a century after Walter’s windows the castle was put to the test by Oliver Cromwell as he deemed it a symbol of everything he thought wrong with Royalist England and the castle was attacked in 1642 and again in 1645, after a massive artillery bombardment the defences were breached and the castle overrun. The order was given to reduce the castle to ruins. The ravages of time and using the stone for other buildings has done the rest.
Here are some representations of what the castle looked like
P.S. In the grounds of the new ‘castle’ (A large turreted house seen in main photo 3) built by Sir Walter, the gardens were created 150 years later in 1753 by Capability Brown as one of his first commissions and they survive mostly unaltered to this day. So here is your bonus Haiku!
Capability Brown, landscape gardener, what kind of name is that? I shall renameth mine self, Barely Competant Whalley, mad poet
For a more ‘serious’ post on a visit to a Norman church, try this one
or these tiny churches from the 15th C
Methinks thy gift hath found purest expression herein. Whence camest thine muse ecstatic none mayest know but thyself; yon poetry falleth upon ears fit for service unto hearts enraptured.
The structural arches and arcades revealed by the ruin of those castles amazes me!
The buildings ruined,
The architecture remains-
Apotheosis.