Dover Castle

The Dover Castle visit today was an unexpected surprise. I thought it was time to do something National Trust or English Heritage related, preferably something that was not too far from home, can be done in a day trip, weather looking iffy so something not excessively outdoorsy, somewhere that would actually be open (manor house and garden season won't start up again till March!) ... fussy yes, but fortunately Mr D was happy to oblige. Checking out the wartime tunnels at Dover Castle have been on my list for awhile (I had missed out on them on my previous two trips to Dover) so today seemed as good a day as any other. I did go a little photo crazy, think the count was at 195 but not to worry, I won't bore you here with them all (Mr T - this is one of the most interesting and well presented English Heritage properties I've seen - I promise we will go back!!)





Dover Castle was a fortress long before King Henry II began building the stone castle in 1160s. It is also nicknamed "the key to England" (can't take England without the castle first) and due to its location, it has played a part in more events than one would care to remember. If you'd like the history lesson on the castle, English Heritage tells the story much better than I do, link here.

The grounds at Dover Castle are huge and trying to see everything and absorb it all in a day is exhausting. The main attraction of Dover Castle is the underground tunnels, 3.8 miles long and set over 3 levels. The two guided tours were a real treat, and additionally a lot of effort has gone into creating a cinematic experience (unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the tunnels).



There was the Underground Hospital - tunnels were dug with the intention of becoming a fully fledged hospital. This was later downgraded to a Dressing Station, kind of like an old school A&E. Sadly, the surgeons and nurses would never know what happened to their patients, for if they survived their treatment at the Dressing Station, they would then be moved off for treatment somewhere else with better facilities. I don't think I can imagine what an unpleasant place it would be to work - the lack of light and ventilation, stench of mud, sweat, blood, mixed in with disinfectant.... ick! And to top it all off, back in WWII days around 70% of the population smoked, and smoking was allowed in the mess area ... so you'd have to add that to the mix too.

The other (more exciting) tour was Operation Dynamo - this was where the planning for Dunkirk evacuation took place, led by Admiral Ramsay in May 1940. There were a number of films, photographs and artefacts in this tour and it was just brilliant. As well as being able to walk through the areas where all of this happened, there were reenactment videos of women plotting out the location of enemy aircraft, the telephone operators connecting and disconnecting the phone wires, and the officers barking out orders to those above ground.

An interesting fact the tour guide mentioned is that during WWII one could see the flash of artillery on the other side of the channel on a clear day and expect a shell to explode close by 75 seconds later. For whatever reason, Dover Castle itself never appeared to be targeted, though the town of Dover certainly was. One plausible theory is that the enemy may have thought that once they got to Dover, having a fortress would be really useful.

I've always been a mega fan of the BBC show Foyle's War (stories of a Hastings detective in WWII), and this experience just made it all the more real (I'm also insanely jealous that Mr D commented that one of his friends knows Honeysuckle Weeks, aka Sam Stewart in Foyle's War). I was also pleasantly surprised to find a sign whilst inside the tunnels which said we were only 3m from the cliff face, and sure enough, we exited the tour at the cliff face. Check it out - we're in the middle of white cliffs. So. Awesomely. Cool. 





Here's the statue of Admiral Ramsay - he did not live to see the end of WWII. Story goes that he hopped on a plane to go to a conference and it crashed shortly after take off. He's now buried somewhere in the outskirts of Paris. There was also all sorts of fixed defenses located around the sites; amongst them a catapult looking thing, and quite a large number of cannons. This was my favourite cannon - the mistakenly named Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol. Hard to imagine that a 12 foot gun would have such intricate decorations on it (see the plaque if you are interested in the story). Oh, its also a called "basilisk" (images of Harry Potter are coming to mind again...)



Finally, some snapshots of the castle grounds and the castle itself. Somehow the mental images of WWII officers wandering around a medieval castle doesn't completely work for me - I guess I'm just too accustomed to seeing swords and shields every time I see medieval buildings! e.g. during the Battle of Hastings - see the post about the reenactment here. Though I wouldn't call Dover the most picturesque town, there were some great views from The Great Tower and I love how the green the grass is and how this contrasts with the stone buildings, something you definitely don't get at home (well, you wouldn't get the green or the castle in the first place so there's zero chance of having the two together really). And with that, I'm now going back to watch more Foyle's War, and maybe the King's Speech as well. Till next time!

The Battle of Hastings

This weekend was the annual re-enactment of the 1066 Battle of Hastings - Sunday was the anniversary. I've been planning to go see this since I became an English Heritage member at the beginning of the year, as I think the idea of ~1,000 blokes dressed up in chain mail with swords, shields and horses etc. carrying on is completely and utterly awesome. Perhaps a little nerdy, but awesome. If I was a bloke I would totally be on the field and not just spectating - though I've since been told by Mr M that he spotted women in the re-enactment. I'd love to be a part of the cavalry, but can you imagine me with a lance and armour and shield?! The weight of the lot would mean I'd surely fall off it before I even got to the battle.



Anyway I was fortunate that 8 other people signed up to join Mr T and I and it made for a great day, despite the inclement weather (we were poorly prepared from a weather and food perspective), mud, and ruined shoes - read more about our day's fails and successes (and the Battle Abbey site) in Miss E's post here. Luckily it wasn't all bad and we were blessed with periods of sunshine, else it might have been a different story. And on a final weather note,  English Heritage actually cancelled the Sunday activities due  to safety issues from the mud so it was lucky that we went on Saturday.

The Battle of Hastings story 

Note: I have paraphrased this super brief high level summary from the voiceover man who did the commentary on the day. Given that the reenactment took place at Battle Abbey  I assume what he said is accepted as being fairly historically accurate (and hopefully I heard correctly!)

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 - a pivotal day in English history where Duke William of Normandy defeated the Harold Godwinson and claimed the English throne (note that the battle actually occurred in a place now known as Battle, and not Hastings itself!). The story goes that Harold Godwinson crowned himself the king on the same day that Edward the Confessor was buried. William subsequently declared war, as he claimed that Edward the Confessor had promised him the crown.

William arrived unopposed in Pevensey and was making his way up towards London when he was met by Harold Godwinson and troops, who had hastily returned South after holding off a Viking invasion up North. Harold was fighting with a bunch of  hungry tired troops which would was an obvious disadvantage, nevertheless he did have the benefit of the high ground and a sturdy shield wall.



William on the other hand had the benefit of a blessing from the pope, a well disciplined army, and a cavalry with knights and lances. The cavalry was so unusual that the Normans were actually surprised that the English weren't up to speed with warfare etiquette and didn't understand that they were only supposed to attack humans, not the horses.



Back to the fight. William's men hit the shield wall again and again with minimal success, sending in the archers, infantry and cavalry in turn. There was plenty of "Nor-man-dy! Nor-man-dy!" cries which were matched by "Oot, Oot, Oot". At some point a rumour started that William had been killed and the men started to retreat. The English saw this as their opportunity and started to pursue them ... which left a hole (or holes) in their shield wall (you know where this is going right?)



It turns out that William was not dead after all and he subsequently rode up and down the lines of men to prove that he was still alive. His men regained their enthusiasm and broke through the English ranks. Harold's brothers are killed and then Harold himself gets an arrow in the eye. And so ends the battle with carnage everywhere and the spectators can all get out of the rain and head home.



Other comments and pictures from the fight

• It may not have been a huge challenge for William to rally men to his cause as he had packaged up the fight for England as a crusade, complete with a papal blessing (though it could well have been a personal vendetta against Harold - guess we'll never know for sure!) It was quite difficult to gauge who is fighting for who, since the lower ranks didn't have uniforms and everyone brought weapons and armoury from home. Wonder how many people were accidentally killed as a result of this.


• The axe was one of the most common weapons accessible to everyone - swords are too expensive for the common man to have lying around the place, but everyone needs to chop wood.


• The Norman cavalry was well disciplined and there were knights that were professional soldiers and undertook horseback training 6 days a week (but never on Sundays of course). Here are some photos of the cavalry demo from the day. My favourite horse is the little fat looking one - could be a Shetland pony? I also heard a guy next to me say that he thought one of the horses was a dressage horse from the way he trotted.

Archery 



 

Last time we went to Hastings and visited Battle Abbey, Mr T decided he *had* to have a mini bow and arrow. This time though we got to try archery with a full size bow and arrow! I was particularly pleased that I managed to hit the target board on all 3 shots, though JLO pointed out to me that I never hit the actual target. D'oh. And for some amusement here's a steamy owl, presumably drying off in the sun after the rain.



 

 

Falconry
There was a fabulous falconry display on the day by Raphael Historical Falconry. The star of the show was the Peregrine x Gyrfalcon hybrid (one of the fastest creatures on the planet) which did a number of swooping moves and laps around the place before catching his dinner mid air. Did you know that hybrids can't reproduce? So apparently you will never see a second generation hybrid. Anyway, I was really really pleased to be able to snap these pics:



There were also the owls. Its actually only been the last century that people have been able to get better value out of owls after figuring out they hunt by sound and not sight. Oh, and by the way, don't bother buying a plastic owl from the garden centre to drive the seagulls out of the garden - it doesn't work! I'm loving the expression in these pics; I can't decide whether its suspicious or thoughtful or something else.