The weekend after the Day of Milk and Honey (see previous post), we drove up to Richmond, a city with lots of great British things to see. First up was Richmond Castle, the most complete 11th Century (yes, its origin dates back to 1071!) surviving structure in Europe of its kind.
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| Richmond main castle tower |
The land was granted by William the Conqueror to Alan Rufus in 1071, who named it Richmond, which is Norman-French for 'strong hill.' Good ol' Alan quickly built a small castle, which is referred to in the Doomsday Book in 1086. Everybody know what the Doomsday Book is? Just in case you don't, here goes my quick explanation: William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066, and once the dust settled, he commissioned men to go to all corners of his country to find out, 'How many hundreds of hides were in the shire, what land the king himself had, and what stock upon the land; or, what dues he ought to have by the year from the shire.' Basically, he wanted to know how much in taxes he could get out of everyone.
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| Richmond castle exterior walls |
Okay, back to Richmond castle factoids! The castle grew, was upgraded, demolished, upgraded some more. All while the city of Richmond sprouted all around the castle grounds.
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| View of downtown Richmond |
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| Richmond city centre |
The city centre of Richmond is still quite compact, and from high up atop the tower you can see the grazing fields and pastures not far outside city centre.
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| More views of Richmond |
It was very windy up at the tower top. Like most places in Europe, fairly dangerous. There were signs telling you not to sit on the waist-high walls, but there was nothing from stopping someone from doing so… and then falling four stories straight down.
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| Brian taking a photo from the tower top |
From the main castle tower we walked across the keep to see some of the guard towers and living quarters. I had to stop and take a photo of this naughty manhole cover for my friend, who collects photos of manhole covers. I texted her this photo asking her if she had a photo of a 'Cock' cover. No, no she did not :-)
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| Naughty manhole cover |
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| Richmond castle's tower as seen from across the keep / old marketplace |
It's hard to get a feel for a place such as Richmond Castle with such close images. I found an arial photo from the internet that gives a better idea of how the city encloses the castle on two sides, with a forest and river on the other two. The walled-in area would have not only been a safe and strategic place for city dwellers to find sanctuary during times of war, but it was also the location of the marketplace. Therefore, the castle and its keep were used during times of war and peace.
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| Arial image of Richmond Castle (c) 2006, Webb Aviation |
In one of the towers the curators had a small display of everyday medieval items. Can you imagine having to carry around a handful of door keys back in the day? Talk about heavy!
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| Medieval iron door key |
Many of the building along the perimeter wall of the keep were soldier's stations, chapels, fireplaces, eating halls, that sort of thing. By the Victorian era, a lot of Richmond castle was already in this ruinous state. However, the walled keep was mostly still intact, and barracks and offices were built (since torn down) to be used as the headquarters for the North York Militia.
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| Richmond Castle - Robin Hood Tower |
Still later, one of the buildings was repaired enough to be used as a cell block and held the 'Richmond 16,' conscientious objectors of the first World War. After a while, the 16 were tried and sentenced to death by firing squad. This sentence was quickly commuted to ten years hard labor, but by 1919 they were all released.
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| Watch that first step! |
After the castle we walked over to the only un-touched Victorian theatre (aside from added electricity and loos) in all of England. The theatre is quite small, with two tiers of balconies and a about six rows of small bench seats, but it was absolutely stunning.
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| Victorian Theatre |
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Boxes at theatre
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The stage is also tiny, which our tour leader said can prove to be a challenge when dance troupe, etc. come for a concert/gig/recital. On the day we arrived, the theatre had been let out for a wedding that had taken place earlier in the day. What a delightful location to tie the knot!
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| Stage at Victorian theatre |
Behind the scenes, the theatre displays its original painted silk backdrop. It being close to 200 years old, it shows some wear, but looks surprisingly good!
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| Victorian stage backdrop |
Backstage also showcased some real tallow candles that made everything smell like sheep. Can you imagine what the theatre smelled like when it was lit entirely by tallow candlelight? We get to go back in a few weeks as we have tickets to a Panto* - I can't wait to see a live play here!!
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| Real tallow candles |
After the Victorian theatre we headed out for some ice cream and a walk to Easby Abbey. Easby, yet another Catholic abbey destroyed during Henry VIII's dissolution from Rome, was built in 1152-3. There is documentation that this location housed a Minster (a church that would have trained clergy to go out and convert the Anglo-Saxon peasants), but that must have been demolished to make way for the modern 12th century Abbey.
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| Easby Abbey |
As you can see from the photo below, this abbey has seen better days. I read up a bit on this abbey after our visit, and it seems this one may have been a bit shady. For example, its clergy was accused of scampering off with possessions that belonged to the abbot of St. Mary's in York. And yet another time in 1284 when there was a quarrel with the townspeople who accused them of illegally using a mill 2.5 miles downriver. In the end, the servants of the abbey striped the mill or Iron in lieu of collecting rent. There are other instances, but it basically sounds like some of the abbots at Easby were people I would not have wanted to know.
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| There may be a crack... |
That said, the abbey, although in ruin, is still beautiful. The rectory, cloisters, chapter house, etc. must have been absolutely stunning before they were demolished.
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| Cloisters |
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| Easby Abbey |
No sir-ee, Bob! I wasn't about to walk beside that wall being held aloft by two sturdy wood beams. You can see the brick wall still teetering to the right, and I certainly did not one to be the one to meet the bricks when it finally comes tumbling down!
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| Braced, but still a bit wonky |
Although there was no ubiquitous exit-through-the-gift-shop, we did exit-through-the-graveyard. And with that, our long day of exploring Richmond came to an end!
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| Cemetery at Easby |
* Pantomime (informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production, designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is still performed throughout the United Kingdom, generally during the Christmas and New Year season and, to a lesser extent, in other English-speaking countries.
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