Raglan castle - built to impress

Tuesday dawned rather dull and it was difficult to guess what the weather would do. However as the sun began to peep through, we headed out to Raglan Castle. First impressions were spot on - the place is huge! 

It is a magnificent Tudor-period sandstone structure, which was not built specifically as a defence as the other great castles of Wales had been. Instead, it was designed mainly as a statement of wealth and influence. 

A manor had existed on the site before William ap Thomas acquired the property through marriage in 1406. A veteran of Agincourt in 1415, ap Thomas enjoyed the favour of King Henry VI and was knighted in 1426. He wanted to demonstrate his upwardly-mobile status, so set out on an ambitious building plan for Raglan. In 1435 he began work on the Great Tower, also known as the Yellow Tower of Gwent, but he was never to see it completed, as ap Thomas died in 1445. The building work was continued by his son, William, who took the surname Herbert. 

Herbert continued his father's building work, drawing on continental influences common to veterans of the French wars. The building was complex and stylish - and the polygonal structures used can still be seen today. Herbert supported the Yorkist cause in the Wars of the Roses, and was made Lord Herbert of Raglan by King Edward IV in 1461, then Earl of Pembroke. His rising fortunes were reflected in Raglan Castle as more sumptuous building works were added. When Herbert was defeated at the battle of Edgecote in 1469, he was beheaded and the castle went between families during the Tudor period depending on the ruling families factions and fortunes. 

The main problem we faced was that the rain was beginning to fall. However, between showers, we took a few photos and did some exploring, but as the rain persisted, we headed for the tea room and an early lunch.

The dominant structure is the Great Tower, seen here on the left. Raglan Castle is one of the last true castles to be built in Wales. Its construction began in the 1430s by Sir William ap Thomas, the Blue Knight of Gwent who fought at the Battle of Agincourt with King Henry V in 1415. He was responsible for building the Great Tower at Raglan, which became known as the Yellow Tower of Gwent.

During the showers we were treated to a rainbow over the castle!

During the English Civil War in 1646, Raglan Castle was besieged by parliamentarian forces led by Sir Thomas Fairfax. The castle was surrounded and mortar batteries (short bell shaped cannons) were dug into place. Henry Somerset who attempted to defend the castle, knew his efforts were futile and surrendered to Fairfax. As a result of the siege, the castle was heavily damaged and thus began a period of disrepair

Another view of The Great Tower at Raglan, which in its finished state was another storey higher.

The magnificent Gatehouse to Raglan Castle, with the Closet Tower to the right. Note the beautiful carved and jointed work on the tops - this really was a statement of wealth in reality!.

A closer look at the tops of the towers.

A Corbel from the Chapel roof in Raglan castle. In architecture a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, and there would, I guess, have been several of them supporting the ceiling or the floor above.

Carving which have survived in the Long Gallery.

Arrowloop at Raglan Castle

Detail of the windows badges and shields above the State Apartments - the Lord's Bedchamber.

The castle was also the boyhood home of Henry Tudor, later King Henry VII. As a boy he spent his time at Raglan, while his uncle Jasper agitated a Lancastrian return to the throne in the person of young Henry - so history tells us.

A great day out with plenty to soak up. (Pun intended!)  Well worth a visit.

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Lavenham, Monks Eleigh and Flatford. A local tour.

These images were taken over a weekend when we did a tour of these local villages. You can see what a wonderful part of the world in which we live!. The Lavenham houses are not all named but give a sample of the village in general. Unfortunately, because of tourism, the streets are often clogged with traffic but that is the price we pay in today's world. Lavenham is one of the United Kingdom’s best-kept medieval villages with over three hundred listed buildings. 

The Crooked House

The Swan Hotel. The building started life as a guildhall. It belonged to the Guild of the Blessed Virgin, one of the four medieval guilds in Lavenham. It was converted into a Wool Hall in the late seventeenth century. It was restored by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll around 1911 who then transferred it to Mrs Culver and it became the Railway Women's Convalescent Home. It was incorporated into the Swan Hotel in 1963.

The Guildhall, also known as the Guildhall of Corpus Christi, was originally one of five guilds in Lavenham. It was probably the most exclusive, holding prime position in the market square.

More Tudor timbered buildings

The Green at Monks Eleigh with the old pump still in place.

There is no documentary evidence for the foundation of the Chapel of St James the Apostle at Lindsey. The earliest parts visible today date from the 13th century, but worked stones reused in the present building suggest a previous building on the site from about the middle of the 12th century: the west wall contains several characteristically Norman fragments.

The chapel was almost certainly built to serve the nearby Castle of Lindsey, the earthwork remains of which are visible some 250 metres to the south-east, and it was probably founded by the de Cockfield family.

In 1240 Nesta de Cockfield gave the churches of Kersey and Lindsey to Kersey Priory, but reserved the right to appoint the clergy for Lindsey, all of which suggests the present chapel was well established by that time. In 1242 she imposed a special tithe on parts of Cockfield – known as the Lindsey Tithes – to sustain continuous lighting in the chapel. 

Lindsey Castle appears to have been abandoned before the end of the 13th century but St James’s Chapel continued in use. The manor and the right to appoint the warden of the chapel eventually passed to the Sampson family who appointed wardens in 1375, 1400 and 1408. Late in the 15th or early in the 16th century the chapel was repaired, and perhaps shortened, and the existing roof replaced the previous higher one. It remained in use until the Dissolution, though in somewhat reduced circumstances. 

In 1547 the King’s Commissioners reported that its yearly value was £5, and it was one of the numerous ‘free’ chapels that were dissolved the same year. The king eventually granted the chapel to Thomas Turner and thereafter it was used as a barn until 1930. 

Flatford Mill is a Grade I listed watermill on the River Stour at Flatford in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. According to the date-stone the mill was built in 1733, but some of the structure may be earlier. Attached to the mill is a 17th-century miller's cottage which is also Grade I listed. The property is in Dedham Vale, a typically English rural landscape.

The mill was owned by the artist John Constable's father and is noted, along with its immediate surroundings as the location for many of Constable's works. It is referred to in the title of one of his most iconic paintings, Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River), and mentioned in the title or is the subject of several others including: Flatford Mill from a lock on the river Stour; Flatford Mill from the lock (A water mill); The Lock. The Hay Wain, which features Willy Lott's Cottage, was painted from the front of the mill.

The mill is located downstream from Bridge Cottage (below) which, along with neighbouring Valley Farm and Willy Lott's Cottage, are leased to the Field Studies Council, a group that uses them as locations for arts, ecology and natural history based courses. 

Bridge Cottage is a 16th-century thatched cottage

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