Artists Impression

Here is, to my mind, the best of the artist's impressions of the Kenilworth Castle garden at the time of Queen Elizabeth's visit. Image by kind permission of English Heritage.

Elizabethan Extravaganza

This coming weekend is an Elizabethan Extravaganza at Kenilworth castle. English Heritage describe it on their website in these words "The Queen's favourite, Sir Robert Dudley is hosting an extravagant pageant at the castle and you are invited! Enjoy falconry, hunting on horseback, music and have-a-go dancing, lessons in etiquette and social behaviour and mounted tournament games!" Sounds like great fun, weather permitting.

The event runs over Sunday and Monday. As usual, the place will be full of re-enactors in full costume. This shot is from a part of a similar weekend last year.

Filling in...

Visually, the visit to Kenilworth castle today was a little disappointing. There is little actual sign of progress on the garden reconstruction, but appearances can be deceptive. The excavation has been covered with a membrane and back-filled to protect the archaeology, which is visible on the photograph as the membrane-covered foundation of the fountain peeping through the topsoil.

The plan is to start with the reconstruction of the terrace against the keep. This will be followed later this year by the layout of the paths and planting of flowers, hedges and fruit trees. The hard landscaping will not start until next year with a target completion date of summer 2008.

The terrace according to Laneham was a ten foot hy & a twelue brode, eeuen vnder foot, & fresh of fyne grass and was bordered by a balustrade and obelisks, sphearz, and white bearz, all of stone, vpon theyr curioouz basez.

About the planting, Laneham says Whear further allso, by great cast & cost, the sweetnes of sauoour on all sidez, made so respiraunt from the redolent plants and fragrant earbs and floourz, in foorm, cooller and quantitee, so delicioously variant: and frute Trees bedecked with their Applz, Peares, and ripe Cherryez. The only other plant mentioned by Laneham is the strawberry.

Bowl or ball?

More on the Elizabethan garden at Kenilworth Castle. One of the artist's reconstruction drawings that I have seen shows a ball upheld by statues as the central feature of the fountain. This is presumably based on the letter written by Robert Laneham which is our only surviving description. However, I'm not sure that this particular reconstruction drawing is correct.

The appropriate passage from Laneham's letter is quoted in an earlier post, and part of it has probably been translated from "theyr hands vphollding a fayr formed boll" to "their hands upholding a fair-formed ball". However, the word "boll" is used elsewhere in the letter to mean "bowl" as in "fyrmenty boll" - "frumenty bowl". Elizabethan spelling is not very consistent: see Laneham's spelling of fountain in the extract in the earlier post. However, their spelling tends to be more phonetic, and similar words throughout the letter (thunderbollts = thunderbolts, bolld = bold) use oll for a "owl" sound, and never an "al" sound.

I'm guessing that (in the passage describing the figures in the central feature) Athlaunts has been translated Atlantes, and that that is the reason that the ball features in the reconstruction (because an Atlas figure typically upholds a terrestrial globe).

However, the current English Heritage release contains a different reconstruction drawing and description that does use a bowl, rather than a ball so it will be intriguing to see how the final fountain ends up. I'm sure, though, that English Heritage will get it right.

Elizabeth I visits Kenilworth

The Elizabethan garden that will be re-created at Kenilworth was designed and planted in readiness for the visit of Queen Elizabeth I in 1575. English Heritage run regular events at Kenilworth and here is a shot of a re-enactment of that visit showing the Queen addressing her loyal subjects.

A fayre fountain

The pre-excavation information that we have about the Elizabethan garden at Kenilworth comes from a letter written by Robert Laneham (who was Clerk of the Council Chamber to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester) describing the visit of Queen Elizabeth I in 1575. The recently completed excavations have confirmed the layout as contained in Laneham's letter. The focal point of the centre of the garden was an elaborate octagonal fountain. The complete foundations for this were discovered during excavation along with culverts for bringing water in and out of the fountain, and white marble chips that show the accuracy of Laneham's account.

He said:
In the center (az it wear) of this goodly Gardein, was theer placed a very fayre Foountain, cast intoo an eight square, reared a four foot hy, from the midst whearof a Colum vp set in the shape of too Athlants ioined togeather a backhalf, the toon looking East, toother West, with theyr hands vphollding a fayr formed boll, of a three foot ouer: from wheans sundrye fine pipez did liuely distill continuall streamz intoo the receyt of the Foountayn, maynteyned styll too foot deep by the same fresh falling water: whearin pleazauntly playing too & fro, & round about, Carp, Tench, Bream, and for varietee, Pearch & Eel, fysh fayrliking all, and large; in the toppe, the ragged staffe, which, with the boll, the pillar, and eyght sides beneath, wear all heawen oout of rich & hard white Marbl. A one syde, Neptune with his Tridental Fuskin triumphing in hiz Throne, trayled into the deep by his marine horsez. On another, Thetis in her chariot drawn by her Dollphins. Then, Triton by hiz fyshez. Heer, Protheus hearding hiz sea buls. Thear, Doris & her dooughterz solacyng a sea & sandz. The wauez scourging with froth & fome, entermengled in place with whalez, whirlpoolz, sturgeonz, Tunneyz, Conchs, & wealks: all engrauen by exquisit deuize and skill, so az I maye thinke this not much inferioour vnto Phoebus gatez, which (Quid sayz), & peraduentur a pattern to thiz, that Vulcan himself dyd cut: whearof such was the excellency of art, that the woork in valu surmoounted the stuff; and yet wer the gatez all of clean massy syluer.

Kenilworth Castle garden

I'm looking forward to my visits to Kenilworth Castle this year. Last year was special, as Leicester's Gatehouse was opened to the public for the first time, and the last stage of the two-year excavation of the Elizabethan garden was drawing to a close. The excavation was in preparation for as complete and accurate a reconstruction as possible of the garden as it was when Elizabeth I visited the Earl of Leicester in 1575. The previous garden was set out as a simple knot, with topiary, gravel walks and herb planting - mostly lavender. Work starts this year on the reconstruction. As I've followed the excavations over the last two seasons and visited them with the site director, I'm really keen to see what the reconstruction will eventually look like, and how it will progress. Hats off to English Heritage for their policy of public involvement: usually I get to visit active excavations through my membership of archaeological societies, but there were weekly guided tours of the Elizabethan garden dig for all who turned up. An excavation newsletter is available online that contains an artist's impression of the final layout.

A previous attempt to confirm the layout of the Elizabethan garden in the 1970s consisted of two diagonal trenches which managed to miss all the major features of the site (and the back-filled trenches from that excavation were one of the most obvious sights from the castle keep).

During my visit to the site last year, a pit containing the remains of a horse was being excavated and recorded. This (and two cow carcasses) were nineteenth century animal burials made when vines were being planted, as the bodies were supposed to provide nutrients.

Re-creation of lost Elizabethan Garden to begin after thorough research.

Ightham gardens

Early in spring is not always the best time to visit the gardens of many National Trust properties. Ightham, however, had some pleasant surprises hidden away in the shape of some species tulips . A lack of plant labels means that I have had to guess at their identification. Hidden under a hedge was this little gem, probably Tulipa saxatalis or tarda.

It wasn't the only one: again in the absence of a plant label, I suspect that this red species tulip is T. humilis 'Little Beauty'

Kit and caboodle

I record most of my visits to historic sites with a Canon EOS 350D digital camera. At one time I lugged around a kit bag with three 35mm camera bodies loaded with 100ASA, 400ASA and either slide or B&W film. Add in wide-angle, standard 50mm, macro zoom, telephoto and 500mm mirror lenses plus flash, filters etc and it's no surprise that I had back-ache. Now I can get along with the Canon digital plus three lenses in a bag a quarter the size and a fraction of the weight. The quality of image, as in this photo of an iris, is still very acceptable. I love these black and near-black flowers such as this example of Helen Proctor or others like Black Watch.

Funiculí, funiculá

The battle of Hastings, of course, was not fought at Hastings, but at nearby Battle. Hastings is a nice little seaside town, although it was a major port in mediaeval times, until coastal erosion made the harbour unuseable and caused the castle on the cliff to fall into the sea. Hastings then remained a fishing village until seaside resorts became fashionable, hence the typical very tall black fishing huts on the Stade. Access to the cliffs (and the remains of the castle) is via many steps or two funicular railways. Although the keep was destroyed when the cliff collapsed, the chapel and the original motte from William the Conqueror's castle remain.

1066 and all that

Still on the past Easter break, this is a shot of the monks' common room in the undercroft of the east range of Battle Abbey. The abbey was founded by William I in memory of the fateful battle in 1066: the site of the high altar in the now-vanished church was reputed to be the spot where Harold fell. A terrace to the south of the abbey overlooks the battlefield, and there are descriptive panels to allow visitors to reconstruct the various stages of the conflict. English Heritage have a 1066 experience online.

In the doghouse

In the courtyard of Ightham Mote there is a giant dog kennel, which is the only Grade 1 listed kennel in the UK. This was made for a St Bernard called Dido.

Other highlights for me are the painted ceiling in the Tudor chapel, and the Great Hall. Of course, the National Trust's "no photography" rule means that I can't show these in the blog (my previous visit pre-dated the no-photography edict, so if I can find the relevant images I'll post them later). The NT has a photogallery of Ightham interiors and exteriors.

Ightham Mote

Another repeat visit was to Ightham Mote. The last time I saw the house was just before the £10 million restoration programme began in 1989. A large proportion of the building has been dismantled and rebuilt, re-opening in 2004. This was an excellent opportunity to record the way in which the building was constructed, and there is an exhibition detailing this. The archaeological investigations were also the subject of a Time Team special, and there is a DVD of the TV programme with lots of additional footage.

Knole exteriors

One of the easily missed features of Knole is the decorative leadwork. Each of the downpipes start with a different header. The images show two of these dated 1605 and 1607.

At that date, lead sheet was produced by sand casting. Decorative pieces like the drainpipes and gutter headers at Knole were either directly cast from moulds produced from wooden templates, or were beaten from flat sheets over a wooden former.

The finished articles were often finished by painting in bright colours or were gilded or tinned to provide an attractive finish.

The TD may refer to Thomas Sackville who had been created Earl of Dorset in 1604, and who was responsible for much of the fine wood and plasterwork throughout the house in a renovation between 1603 and his death in 1608.

Knole, Kent

My Easter break was spent visiting my sister in Kent. That was a great opportunity to see (and photograph) her collection of irises. The previous week she had been awarded a bronze medal at the RHS London Flower show, and was mentioned in an article in the Times. For a view of the current stock of irises, see her website at Iris of Sissinghurst where there is a photo gallery.

We made a repeat visit to Knole. I was last there over fifteen years ago, before I met my wife, so it was an opportunity to introduce her to the house and the extensive deer park. Knole is an interesting house, supposedly based on a calendar with 365 rooms, 7 courtyards and 52 staircases. Originally built in the 15th century by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, the house and estate was passed to the See of Canterbury before being appropriated by Henry VIII who enlarged the house. The estate was finally given to the Sackville family by Elizabeth I.

The deer in the park are incredibly tame - much more so than those in other deer parks that I have visited. They allow people to approach very closely, even the very young ones. I suspect that this is because people are feeding them (despite the prominent signs to the contrary). I saw several groups sharing their food with the deer.