Summer hung on today, the
temperatures climbing in a most un-British manner. Here at Wythall the
thermometer climbed to 31 degrees Celsius, and Kenilworth where we spent most
of the day hit 32 degrees! There is hope yet for a
northern hemisphere summer!
The early part of the
morning, after throwing all windows and vents open to the clear skies, was
spent attending to laundry and cleaning of the car and caravan. It was to be
the last day in an official club site for a week, and while certified sites
offer so much more than POPs in New Zealand do, they are casual camps and
cannot be expected to meet the same needs as a club site does.
At about 10am, we awarded
our efforts with a cup of coffee, and considered our options. I had a list of
possible destinations however Chris was keen to research the local attractions
listed in the National Trust and English Trust directories. In the end, my
suggestion of Kenilworth Castle won the day and we headed off along the
motorway retracing much of the route taken to Coventry on Sunday, to the small
town of Kenilworth, and so to the castle.
Our British town reference
book mentions the castle in passing, just to note that ruins lie on the edge of
the town, and our Rough Guide omits Kenilworth altogether. I was relying on a
pamphlet I had spied in the camp information hut, and the report in the
directory. We were duly rewarded with an excellent day, albeit with a moment of
frustration.
Spanning more than five
centuries, Kenilworth’s castle and site buildings reflect its long association
with the monarchy. Way back in the 1120s, Geoffrey de Clinton, Henry I’s
treasurer, Sheriff of Warwickshire, was granted a large midlands estate, and
began to build the great Norman stone keep at Kenilworth, a structure of
extraordinary ambition for a man of his rank.
It was he too who founded
the nearby Kenilworth Priory, a monastery for Augustinian canons. Geoffrey died
in about 1133, and was buried in the chapter house at his priory. After this, the canons completed their
monastery buildings in the late 12th century, expanding and
remodelling them in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1447,
the status of the monastery was elevated to that of an abbey.
King John was succeeded
by his eldest son, King Henry III, who reigned between 1216 and 1272. In 1244,
Henry granted custody of the castle to his brother-in-law Simon de Montford.
Although married to the King’s sister, he positioned himself at the head of a
group of barons disaffected by the King’s style of government. A bloody civil
war broke out, leading to one of the longest sieges of English sieges, here at
Kenilworth.
Immediately after this
great siege, Henry III granted Kenilworth to his youngest son, Edmund, who was
created Earl of Lancaster the following year. The House of Lancaster then held
the castle for close to two hundred years, first as earls, then dukes ad
finally as kings of England. Over this time, Kenilworth became a place of
growing sophistication, with buildings and entertainments to match its royal
status.
In 1362, the dukedom of
Lancaster passed through marriage to royal prince John of Gaunt, fourth son of
King Edward III. It was he who rebuilt Kenilworth’s inner court, beginning the
castle transition into a favourite residence of the Lancastrian and Tudor
kings. By Henry VIII’s time, it was already renowned for its “many fair
chambers”. The scene was set for Kenilworth’s greatest period of fame.
This began when Elizabeth
I’s favourite, would-be suitor and possible lover, Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester, took possession of the castle in 1563. He then lavished fortunes on
converting it into a great showpiece mansion, designed to receive the Queen and
her court on her ceremonial “progresses” around England.
In April 1538, the
Kenilworth Abbey had become a victim of Henry VIII’s dissolution measures, and
the following year it had been acquired by John Dudley, then Earl of Warwick.
He began to reuse stone from the redundant buildings in new works at the
castle. By the early 18th century, virtually the entire complex was
in ruin.
This John Dudley and one
of his sons were tied up in a plot to supplant the monarchy with Lady Jane
Grey, and met a gory end in the Tower of London. The Kenilworth property was
forfeited, and thus available to be re-granted to John’s son, as a “generous
gesture” which probably did little to obliterate the memory of his father’s
demise.
There is much in the
exhibition rooms to explain the facts and the possibilities of the years
covering the close relationship between the British Queen and the Earl of
Leicester.
When Dudley finally died,
without legitimate heir, the castle passed to his brother Ambrose, who already
had Warwick Castle, which has its own amazing history.
At the outbreak of the
Civil War between king and parliament in 1942, Kenilworth castle was in good
order. Within ten years this was no longer true; neglect and vandalism by
parliamentarians had undone so much of the architectural excellence once to the
fore. Even the lake was drained.
One of those
parliamentarians, who had overseen much of the destruction, Colonial Joseph
Hawkesworth, converted Leicester’s gatehouse into a residence for himself. The
condition of the rest of the buildings became increasingly perilous, however
there was some restoration work undertaken in the 1860s. The site had begun to
attract tourist style interest after Sir Water Scott published his romantic
novel, “Kenilworth” in 1821 which was based on the suspicious death of Robert
Dudley’s first wife, Amy Robsart, against the background of his relationship
with Elizabeth I. I understand that great poetic licence was taken, however
there is so much speculation even amongst history buffs today, that the level
of that licence can never be truly measured. Thousands of visitors were drawn
by their imagination including Charles Dickens (yes, him again) and Queen
Victoria.
 |
| Rural views from the tower over the lake lands |
We spent a lot of time
pouring through the documents and stories, admiring the massive ruins left
standing, climbing up into the tower built by Robert Dudley in 1571 in
anticipation of a further visit to the castle of his Queen. On her 1568 visit
to Kenilworth, she had stayed in rooms which Leicester himself later described
as “an old odd lodging”. To improve matters, he employed the architect William
Spicer, to build this luxurious block of state apartments. They were to fall
foul of the parliamentarians within a century, and it is only in this one that
engineers have erected greatly “over engineered” structures to support
stairways and platforms that took us safely up 18 metres into the tower. (The criticism
of overkill safety features was made by my husband).
As we returned our audio
guides to the lovely girl at the entry gate, we told her how much we had enjoyed
the day and what a fabulous place Kenilworth was, and headed back to the car
park, crossing the wide entry way that was once a jousting yard, and across the
road on the other edge of the moat.
There on the windscreen was a large
package, which we soon identified as a ticket from the council for not
displaying our parking ticket. I grabbed it off the windscreen, and in fury,
headed back to the castle entry.
When we had arrived, we
had seen the Pay & Display machine, but were confused as to whether as members
of English Heritage we were required to pay the quite modest fee of £2. The
instructions on the machine were still not clear, because while it stated that
the fee would be deducted from the entry fee, I wondered how that worked when
there was no entry fee to be paid. To make sure we did the right thing, I rang
the number inside the English Heritage directory and explained my confusion,
where exactly we were and asked for advice. I was told by the very friendly
young man that I did not need to pay for parking. Excellent! So off we went to
enjoy our four to five hours of exploration.
Back in the entry office, we explained the situation, and opening
the envelope, found we were being asked to pay £50! The office staff were most
sympathetic, but this was a council matter, and their hands were tied.
Realising that we were not going to give up that easily, they rang through to
London, or wherever the head office is, and after several calls back and forth,
and much time arguing on our behalf, they took responsibility of the ticket and
assured us they would settle the matter. We had in the meantime established
that early payment of the fine would reduce the fee to £25. Hopefully the
matter will be sorted in a few days and we will receive an email from them
confirming it so.
On this note we headed home, back down the motorway, much busier
with trucks (or lorries) today than on
Sunday. Back in the camp we threw everything open once more and observed our
fellow campers who were not out and about further afield, lounging about in
minimal clothing, most whom would be better dressed in burkas or large Hawaiian
shirts. Entertainment everywhere!
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