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lost_spook, we open with a picture of Rhuddlan Castle, in northeastern Wales, taken iirc sometime during the summer of 2010:
You can't see it in the photo, but as I remember it, it was raining quite heavily that morning - look at the clouds there. Still, with that sort of foolhardy British determination to have a day out whatever the weather, myself and a couple of co-conspirators drove down there from Liverpool (not very far at all, actually) and spent the day wandering around Rhuddlan and later Denbigh Castle, which is quite close (I have photos of that too). And a good time was had by all. It even stopped raining late on in the afternoon, I think.
This castle was built between 1277 and 1282, replacing an older Norman-era motte-and-bailey castle that stood nearby, as part of King Edward I's (yeah, him out of Braveheart) efforts to consolidate his control over his gains from his first war against the Prince of Wales, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd. (The older) Rhuddlan Castle had been Edward's headquarters during the later part of said war, and one of his children was actually born in this one. The main period of construction at Rhuddlan was overseen by the military engineer and architect James of St George, who is famous for building the even bigger and more elaborate "iron ring" castles like Harlech and Beaumaris (and I've visited both of those too in years gone by, but my photos of them aren't in electronic form until I get around to borrowing a scanner from someone) with which Edward subjugated the rest of North Wales following his second war against the Welsh princes (during which Rhuddlan itself held out against a siege by Llewelyn's brother and sometime rival for power Dafydd ap Gruffydd). The Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284, which effectively ended Welsh independence from the English crown in any meaningful sense, was proclaimed here.
So, castles like this are in that sense very tangible symbols of colonisation and national oppression (if you think it's useful to think of medieval history in terms of modern day political concepts; I'm not sure that I do, really), and looking at the above towers and walls and trying to imagine them as they were when complete, "oppressive" certainly seems like a good word to describe them. Imagine that looming over you as you went about your daily business; it'd certainly remind you who the rulers and the ruled were supposed to be. :(
Anyway, I've gone on long enough. I have other pictures of Rhuddlan Castle and I'll go into some of my other thoughts about it (and why it's in the state of ruin you see above) if and when I post them here. But that's all for now.
lost_spook, we open with a picture of Rhuddlan Castle, in northeastern Wales, taken iirc sometime during the summer of 2010:You can't see it in the photo, but as I remember it, it was raining quite heavily that morning - look at the clouds there. Still, with that sort of foolhardy British determination to have a day out whatever the weather, myself and a couple of co-conspirators drove down there from Liverpool (not very far at all, actually) and spent the day wandering around Rhuddlan and later Denbigh Castle, which is quite close (I have photos of that too). And a good time was had by all. It even stopped raining late on in the afternoon, I think.
This castle was built between 1277 and 1282, replacing an older Norman-era motte-and-bailey castle that stood nearby, as part of King Edward I's (yeah, him out of Braveheart) efforts to consolidate his control over his gains from his first war against the Prince of Wales, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd. (The older) Rhuddlan Castle had been Edward's headquarters during the later part of said war, and one of his children was actually born in this one. The main period of construction at Rhuddlan was overseen by the military engineer and architect James of St George, who is famous for building the even bigger and more elaborate "iron ring" castles like Harlech and Beaumaris (and I've visited both of those too in years gone by, but my photos of them aren't in electronic form until I get around to borrowing a scanner from someone) with which Edward subjugated the rest of North Wales following his second war against the Welsh princes (during which Rhuddlan itself held out against a siege by Llewelyn's brother and sometime rival for power Dafydd ap Gruffydd). The Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284, which effectively ended Welsh independence from the English crown in any meaningful sense, was proclaimed here.
So, castles like this are in that sense very tangible symbols of colonisation and national oppression (if you think it's useful to think of medieval history in terms of modern day political concepts; I'm not sure that I do, really), and looking at the above towers and walls and trying to imagine them as they were when complete, "oppressive" certainly seems like a good word to describe them. Imagine that looming over you as you went about your daily business; it'd certainly remind you who the rulers and the ruled were supposed to be. :(
Anyway, I've gone on long enough. I have other pictures of Rhuddlan Castle and I'll go into some of my other thoughts about it (and why it's in the state of ruin you see above) if and when I post them here. But that's all for now.
