Castles

I love castles.

I think they are amazing. Why? I am a historian, I am a romantic, I am an escapist. Castles inspire all three of those elements of my personality. I grew up visiting castles as my family were members of both English Heritage and National Trust, and as we always holidayed at home in the UK, castles were often on our 'things to do and see' list. Growing up on the South Coast, where there are a number of castles and forts from different eras, has also helped fuel my passion, and yes, relatively geeky love of castles! Oh, and when we're talking castles, we're not talking stately homes. No, we are talking about the ones that were used as defences, many of which are utterly ruinous these days. I love castles so much that there is a strong chance, this blog continuing, that I will visit many and report back on them.

I visited one such building yesterday, which inspired me to write this post. I had a hospital appointment in the morning, and so took the day off work as holiday because it was easier than battling my way from one city to another to get into the office by lunchtime. My boyfriend accompanied me to the hospital. The day had started bleak, cloudy, and rainy, but after my appointment the skies had cleared and beautiful spring sunshine had broken through. So, having the day ahead of us to do as we pleased we took a train along the coast to the small village of Pevensey where there is a stunning ruined castle, these days owned by English Heritage.

Pevensey was one of the castles my family frequented most during my childhood. My parents loved it because it meant they could sit back and relax whilst my brothers and I ran around the ruins, playing all manner of Medieval themed make believe games, or just good old hide and seek. Yesterday it was quiet and peaceful. Despite it being the Easter holidays it wasn't a popular day for the castle, so my boyfriend and I could wander around, exploring every tower, relatively undisturbed.

I love Pevensey Castle because it is so quintessentially ancient. It started life as a Roman fort and was developed into a castle by the Normans shortly after the Battle of 1066, it survived four sieges, and was eventually abandoned in 1500 after it was no longer needed as a crucial defence point. And there it remained to eventually become ruins. The Roman wall still stands, and then the inner wall of the Norman castle remains inside it. There are a number of rooms to be explored, although with little in them. You can get some idea of its original shape - it was unusual in that it had seven towers, and you can make out the originally defensive position it once held. If you're interested you can read up on some of its basic history on the English Heritage website, which there is a link to in my list of favourite websites.

For me just being within those ruined walls offers a strange sense of tranquillity. It is perhaps bizarre when you consider what went on within the walls, and how lively they once were, particularly in times of war. Pevensey was also used as a state prison at one stage. It's not exactly a place that naturally falls into the category of peace, joy, and love! Even so, there is some romantic ideal about a building like that. It has been left open to the elements, to be weathered down, and for grass to grow and flourish within it, weeds to pop up and expand over its walls. It holds more power to me in this state than it would if it was completely intact and looking like a fully-functioning Medieval castle would. I can read up on the history if I want, and I can certainly imagine the lives of those lived there (however historically inaccurate those ideas may be!), and I prefer that to having the history all laid out before me, all the details filled in in stark technicolour. The mystery keeps history, and therefore castles, exciting.

Perhaps its just my over-imaginative historical mind seeing it that way. There are castles, like Dover, which have more too them. Dover is a lot more interactive, and as a result it does manage to bring history to life. I would have found the secret war-time tunnels there far less interesting if you weren't guided through and if some of the original equipment hadn't been kept down there.

But there is no escaping the peace and tranquillity a historian can gather from sitting amongst the castle ruins and appreciating the unknown element of history - sometimes having to sift through some great tome on this war and that battle is just plain boring. Sometimes castles that are also museums are fascinating places to be, with much to learn from, but other times those crumbling ruins that give a hint of what was past but otherwise submit to their fate of eroding back to nature are the exciting ones.

I love castles either way, and as a mere peasant I enjoy treading through their old corridors and ruined grounds piecing the history and archaeology together, or else just sitting back and letting my imagination do the work.