Leeds Castle

Leeds castle is a beautiful English castle steeped in history, set on an island surrounded by a body of water, built during the reign of Henry I, William the conqueror’s son, on an island in the River Len, Leeds Castle has an incredible history of being a royal residence, then becoming a private residence which was handed down by inheritance and purchase. Before finally being sold in 1926 to the American heiress, Lady Baillie who after her death left the castle to the Leeds Castle Foundation.

Eleanor of Castile, King Edward I’s queen, bought the castle in 1278 and started the long standing royal ownership of the castle. Eleanor died in 1290 and when Edward married the French half-sister of Phillip IV, Princess Margaret, they spent their honeymoon at the castle and Edward later granted the castle to his new queen, beginning the tradition of the castle being retained by the queens of England after the King’s death.

Henry IV gifted Leeds Castle to his second wife, Joan of Navarre. In 1419, Joan of Navarre was imprisoned, by her step son, Henry V, in Leeds Castle and charged with plotting the King’s death by witchcraft by the ‘most high and horrible means’.
Between 1517 and 1523, Henry VIII ordered major alterations on the castle to turn it into a magnificant royal palace for King Henry and Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. In what is now known as the Catherine of Aragon room, there was once a fire place displaying the royal arms entwined with lovers’ knots.

The Maiden’s Tower which stands seperate from the rest of the castle is a late-tudor structure which replaced and earlier medieval building. Henry VIII’s rebuilding work of the castle included the tower being reconstructed to accommodate the queen’s ladies in waiting. The Maiden’s Tower was where we commenced our tour and also where we had the opportunity to taste test some Henry VIII’s style mead, which is a kind of syrupy, honey flavoured wine.

The White Cliffs of Dover

Vera Lynn once sang: ”There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover….” Well, there weren’t any bluebirds while I was there but the cliffs were definitely a sight to be seen.

I’m not quite sure what I expected from the White Cliffs of Dover, many people had told me I wouldn’t be able to see much because the cliffs can only be seen from out at sea. So, I was pleasantly surprised when the bus drove up and there staring back at me were the massive white cliff faces of the White Cliffs of Dover with the magnificant Dover Castle perched upon them. Dover Castle was used in the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” as the location for the Tower of London, where Anne Boleyn was held captive.

Dover Castle is also where Winston Churchill sat and looked across at France during the second world war.
The cliffs face Continential Europe, more specifically France and before air travel they were the first and last sight travellers saw when coming and going from England. Standing on the beach and looking across the English Channel, we could see France, which was a bit of a thrill.

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral set in Canterbury in Kent, is where St Augustine and his fellow missionaries based their work of bringing christianity back to England in the 6th century. It is also the place in which Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket was murdered on 29 December 1170 by knights of King Henry II. The sword stroke was apparently so violent that it slice he crown off his skull and shattered the blades tip on the pavement. A shrine to Thomas Becket stood at the spot where he was murdered until it was demolished in 1538 on orders of King Henry VIII. A candle now stands in that same spot.

The Cathedral itself is a beautifully built mixture of both Roman style and French Gothic style architecture, as it was built and rebuilt in different periods. Once a Catholic Cathedral, it became Anglican with the Reformation of England during the Tudor period.

Stonehenge

I’m going to be perfectly honest; I’ve always wondered what the fascination with Stonehenge is. I understand that it’s interesting in the terms of how the stones actually got there but in my mind they’ve always been just stones - not worth going and paying to see.

While I still stand by that: I refuse to pay to see them. I did in fact see them as we drove past on our way to somewhere. We stopped at the car park and I jumped out and took the obligatory photo and to be fair, I still wasn’t overly fussed. But then on the way back we went past again and the sun was just setting and I got a photo which I think is just incredible. When I saw the stones at that time of day when there were absolutely no tourists or people surrounding them, I could almost imagine people going there thousands of years ago and performing whatever ceremonies they performed and it was in that moment that I truly saw them as beautiful: not because of all the hype, the history or the tourists but just because they were simply there and it was peaceful and serene and a simple beauty which I could appreciate.

The Tower of London

The Tower of London:
On Monday I visited the Tower of London for the fourth time with a a friend. I must confess I have a strange fascination with the tower. Perhaps it’s because it’s a huge medieval castle in the middle of the city or because of it’s bloody ‘off with your head’ history. My favourite parts are:

The White Tower: -
I just couldn’t stop taking photos of it. The White Tower is the oldest building within the tower’s walls and was begun in the reign of William the Conqueror. Between 1190 and 1285, the towered walls and moat were constructed circling the tower. It reminds me of the towers and castle I’d only ever seen in Fairy tales.

Traitor’s Gate: -
Traitor’s Gate was the water entrance to the tower and was used to bring famous or important prisoners such as Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I) along the Thames, passed the spiked heads of traitors and into the Tower’s walls. Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s ill fated second wife was brought by barge into the Tower through traitor’s gate first for her coronation and then to await her execution.
The timber framing above the archway was constructed in 1532 as part of a rush to renovate the Tower for Anne Boleyn’s coronation in 1533.

The Queen’s House: -
The Queen’s House is another part of the tower that I couldn’t stop taking photos of. Built in the 1530s in preparation for Anne Boleyn’s coronation, it is also where she was held prisoner for 18 days before her execution. The Queen’s House was also used to interrogate Guy Fawkes and it was here that he signed his confession. The Nazi leader Rudolph Hess was also imprisoned here.

Tower Green/Memorial: -
This was the place where the beheadings of Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey took place away from public view. It’s just fascinating to me that I was standing in the spot where 473 years ago three of England’s illfated Queen’s lost their lives - two of whom were Henry VIII’s wives and one who was only Queen for nine days.
There is no evidence of the green’s bloody history, just the beautifully created memorial, created by Brian Catling, holding each of the victim’s names. Carved into the memorial is this passage: Gentle visitor pause awhile, where you stand death cut away the light of many days, here jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life, may they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage, under these restless skies.