Each castle I visit has its own special story, a uniqueness, a singular feature, that marks it as unique. Chepstow has the distinction of age.
The Great Tower in the center of Chepstow is one of the oldest stone castle in Great Britain. . The photos that follow and the commentary are not meant as any scholarly collection, but small bits that I personally found so interesting.
There was a lot of history that passed thru here and if you have read any historic novels (Sharon Kay Penman, Elis Peters, etc) you will recognize some of the names.
These are photos of THE door. Not just any door. This door has been studied using tree ring sequencing and sampling. It dates the door to not later than 1190, and ordered by William Marshal. It hung on the gates until 1962 when it was moved into this room
Look at the iron work. The video shows this lock, the handle of which has been worn down, The cross hatch on the door is held in place with massive nails that are driven into those pointy washers called roves. This is a ship-building technique that was the hot new technology of the twelfth century.
The wood work is oak and elm that sheath iron plates. The lattice framework is the earliest know mortice and tenon joints found in Great Britain.
They are the oldest known surviving castle doors in Europe.
.
This last photo was taken by my holding the phone behind the door. Not a world class photo, but look at that wood!
Remember the photo in the last blog from St Mary's. I promised to show you the Saltire, chip stile masonry.
This is a big deal. It was the height of fashion of stone work in France at the time. Think of the amount of added work to put this into the stone, of each chisel stroke. Adding that round feature in a rectangular world was no mean feat. Look at how they added the red Roman tile on the outside of the arch.
These are the details that make history personal for me.
Looking in that door to the main hall, and you see the 4 arches where they showed off their art and amazing stuff.
These two shots are from within the great hall.
In those arches are some of the oldest fragments of painting.
Over several centuries this part of the castle had many uses, height added. floors added. Look at all of the different stones used.
Looking back out that door.
This looks out over the wall that is just outside of the Great Hall. That is a sharp bend in the River Wye.
This swath of Wales/England is the area known as the Marches. Sometimes claimed by England, sometimes Wales.
What you can't see is that the cliff drops straight down on the other side of that wall.
These two photos are not more of my random stone photos.
That stripe that looks like pavers were nicked from a nearby Roman villa. Much of the stone use in the first build were from there. Look for their distinctive look in other photos. It is a mark of some of the oldest part of the castle.
That pile of stone is bedrock. This was a huge factor in choice of location. They didn't have to build a foundation.
All of those stone blocks are heavy. They sink into mud. This tends to make things fall down. So having a natural foundation cut years off the build time.
Speed was also to impress the locals with their might. The Battle of Hastings was 1066, and William the Conqueror set William fitz Osbern to building castles. This Chepstow was listed as "Estriguil" in the Doomsday Book in 1086.
His son Roger of Breteuil was the one who put up the money to build Tintern Abbey. By 1075 he had pissed off King William, and had to leave town quickly.
Yes I did go up and down these stairs.
Slowly, very slowly.
I look at these stones and think of how many pairs of hobnail boots traipsing up and down it too to wear down that stone.
And of how many people misjudged the width of the step and fell breaking how many bones.
Fast forward a century, and William Marshal was married to Isabel of Clare, heiress to the castle and Ward of Henry II. The story of William Marshal was the ultimate rags to riches story. He ended up with lots of castles that needed updating, and Chepstow was one of them. The story just gets juicier With names like Elanor Richard, and so forth, and is worth reading up.
Arrow slits
This is not the same photo as above.
This photo is for the warning sign. No ambiguity there.
These three photos are the kitchen. There is evidence of several different roofs used as different times. Light, smoke ventilation, creating a useable work space.
The big arch is the oven. It has a chimney up behind the arch. Meats, pottage, and the like was cooked here.
The little rectangular slot leads to the bread oven. A small enclosed space was easier to regulate the temperature.
The last photo was with my backside in the oven. so you can see how small the space was.
This random shot is about where my head goes on some of these excursions. I wonder about the kid that sat in this cubby hole, looking out the window, ditching his chores. And about the stone masons that created the smooth curving edge. Why was this edge worth the effort?
This is where (they think) that the castle lost to technology. The Civil War (the English one) was where the canon met arrows. Guess who lost? After this, the walls were thickened, and canon were brought in. Now think about what it took to haul canon from a boat down on that river that changes height 49 feet twice a day, up to the top of this wall.
Yep the world changed.
I don't know who built this gate, but well done you!
There are five carved figures on Marten's Tower. They are difficult to see, and badly eroded.
And there is not much I can find out about them.
Questions. I have questions.
Marten's Tower was where Henry Marten was imprisoned by Charles II. He lived in luxury, but let's just say he didn't get out much. He was one of the people to sign the death warrant for Charles I. His end could have been much less pleasant.
This is the path that goes from the castle parking lot (close to the river) up into town where there is another parking lot along the town wall.
Just about at the top of what you can see of the path is where the Queen Victoria seat is that was in the last blog post.
I will leave you with my favorite part of any castle visit. The Guard robe. This word eventually became "Wardrobe". The Latrine.
The heavy coats were hung in this room. It takes a long time for them to dry when they got soaked in the Welsh weather. The methane fumes from the toilet were useful in killing off fleas and lice. This is the origin of the word for a closes: Wardrobe.
This architectural feature came from France. All of the first stone masons to work on this castle came from France. This spacious two holer was the height of luxury. It empties directly out onto the river.
You must imagine how this room looked in its prime. The walls would have been plastered, probably white(ish). Sconces for candles or tallow wick torches. The photo below is the steps up to the the latrine, making a sharp turn to facilitate privacy.
But of course I have questions:
Were there separate facilities for men and women, or did women get to use buckets? Or were there times for women, or did they watch the door for each other?
When were the iron bars added, or were they always there? Perhaps they were added for protection of the tourists? I bet they were cold. And what if you lost your balance and dropped your bum down?
What about a boat tied up down at the river? Did they warn their friends to park elsewhere?
Comments