We arrived just before lunchtime, we found Simon and Adelle around the campfire waiting, with their troupe, for their lunch to cook. We went for a quick scoot around the castle, an odd building, a stone keep somehow incongruously placed within what feel like older earthworks. Maybe its because the stone has been restored or enhanced, with sharper corners than rightful for something of its age. Maybe its just newer.
Newer, not new. This is an old building, largely in ruin, but with an odd couple of rooms right at the top which somehow feel like they’ve been inhabited until recently. Kinda reminded me of Stokesay Castle, in that sense, except that is a far better specimen.
The kids were off running around the moat, encouraged somewhat by Martyn, but they weren’t getting into too much trouble. We sat down in the ruins of the 14th century chapel for lunch, flint walls aren’t the most comfortable seats around. Shortly we were joined by two other picnic groups, some small kids attempting to kill each other with swords on one side and a small group of people who’d “Heard about blogs on the radio, what are they?” Dreadfully rude to listen in on other peoples conversations I know, but if they’re broadcast in quite such an unmissable manner there seems little choice.
We realised we were going to be in the way if we stayed there so we packed up the lunch debris and returned it to the car, then retired to a safe distance.
The French took over the chapel, camped out waiting for a skirmish. After a while the English arrived to oblige and the musket rounds started flying. After a while Simons regiment arrived to save the day.
I wonder if its because we’re so used to Hollywood deaths and rifles that we expect lots of injuries and deaths in small battles like this, was the casualty rate representative of the period? There seemed a lot of gunpowder for such little impact on the opposition.
Still, at the end of the battle everyone got up, bowed to the audience and started collecting the spent…no, they’re not cartridges, are they? What are they? Tidying up before they went home.
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