A Beautiful Day at a Wonderful Castle … Goodrich, Herefordshire

Woolly says – We’d spent the last few days sorting out our summer accommodation and finding our way round the farm we will be based on….more about that next week…I’d woken to another glorious spring day and was happily sat watching the fields when Jo appeared and completely out of the blue suggested we head out, not being slow on the uptake I quickly shovelled my toast and tea into her bag and raced outside to the car without even thinking about where we might be heading. As we hit the main dual carriageway I settled in for the journey and opened my carers bag to retrieve my breakfast to keep my strength up, sadly it appeared that I should have put the tea into some sort of container and I wasn’t all together sure how happy Jo would be with wet soggy toast as well as soaked items that are usually to be found there, before I could fret about the situation, we were already pulling up at the car park. Having retrieved Alfie the Dog from the backseat Jo delved into the bag to get her purse out to purchase our tickets, she pulled her hand back out and muttered in my direction ‘we will talk about this later’, I smiled sweetly up at her hoping that she would have forgotten by the time later came around.

We left the ticket office and set off for the short walk to our destination. Goodrich Castle is a Norman medieval castle north of the village of Goodrich in Herefordshire. It was probably built by Godric of Mappestone after the Norman invasion of England, initially as an earth and wooden fortification. In the middle of the 12th century the original castle was replaced with a stone keep, and was then expanded significantly during the late 13th century into a concentric structure combining luxurious living quarters with extensive defences. It became the seat of the powerful Talbot family before falling out of favour as a residence in late Tudor times.

Held first by Parliamentary and then Royalist forces in the English Civil War of the 1640s, Goodrich was successfully besieged by Colonel John Birch in 1646 resulting in its descent into ruin. At the end of the 18th century, Goodrich became a noted picturesque ruin and the subject of many paintings and poems; events at the castle provided the inspiration for Wordsworth’s famous 1798 poem “We are Seven”. By the 20th century the site was a well-known tourist location and is now owned by English Heritage.

My first view of it was spectacular with it’s four towers and majestic square keep I couldn’t wait to see more, neither could Alfie who raced towards the first drawbridge now just a bridge that led into the Barbican area which would have been it’s first line of defence from the enemy.

Crossing over the second drawbridge I admired the arched passage before taking a peek into the dark guard’s chamber before arriving in the courtyard of the castle itself. My eye was immediately drawn to the pile of cannonballs which had been used against the castle in the siege of 1645, a photo opportunity if ever I saw one.

With the snap in the bag, I looked towards the Solar Block which would have once contained the private apartments for the Lord and his family. The two arches were most impressive, the panting mutt was eager to explore the basement of the Solar Block, it was a large area which would have once stored precious grain and food stocks, one of the fireplaces seemed to fascinate the dog who sniffed frantically round before trying to climb up the open chimney.

Large arched windows gave views over the neighbouring countryside and the tower that stood behind the block gave us deep recessed windows as well as slit windows where soldiers would have once waited for the approach of the enemy.

The Grand Hall lay open to the elements in what once would have been the focal place of entertainment and lavish feasts, I peered up at what remained of the once decorative pillars that would have lined the walls.

A set of steps took us down into a tower with the floors missing and the fireplace appearing to float in mid-air. Next door was an empty space where the kitchens would have once been a hive of activity as they roasted meats and game for the Lord, his family and friends, sometimes producing upwards of 200 meals per seating.

The Keep was the oldest part of the castle built in the 12th century by Richard de Clare, sadly the steps that led upwards were closed so instead I turned my attention to the dungeons next door. A steel gate would have kept the prisoners in the dark room until the received their punishment for whatever misdemeanours that had done.

My heart almost skipped a beat as we arrived at the three communal latrines that would have served the castle, I peered over the wall into the drop where all human waste would have once descended, being wide open it must have been a bit stinky.

Having spent what seemed like an inordinate amount of time admiring the former toilets we climbed up the stop steps to walk along the gantry stopping to admire the next tower.

Woolly says – This tower was splendid and I was able to see where the floor joists would have once been seated giving more perspective to how high the rooms would have been. This tower had also housed prisoners and was often referred to as the Prison Tower.

I trotted across the gantry looking down into the courtyard below and admiring the wonderful windows that were set within the keep before arriving in the Portcullis Chamber which sounded very posh for what would have been the drawbridge.

It did however have one of the rarest of finds in an English castle, evidence of the mechanism that would have raised and lowered the portcullis. I inspected the recesses that would have housed the turning handles whilst trying not to get stuck in the grid that now protected the space with the huge moveable gate would have once stood.

Climbing back down to the ground floor we arrived in the Chapel, built in the early 13th century the household would have then contained nine priests which seemed a lot for a relatively small place. I took in the priest’s seat and the sink where sacred items would have once been washed.

At each end of the chapel were modern day stained glass windows, the newest of which was installed to mark the new millennium in the year 2000. Designed by Nicola Hopwood’s it features the rock on which the castle stands, as well as the meandering River Wye with the three faces symbolising the three parish communities of Goodrich, Marstow and Welsh Bicknor. The window opposite commemorated the scientists, engineers and servicemen involved in the development of radar who lost their lives between 1936 and 1976.

Arriving back in the wonderful sunshine it appeared that our spur of the moment trip had pleased all of us, I smiled over at the small mammoth who had ambled back to the cannonballs and at Alfie the dog who had found another interesting smell in the walls next to them, it was a good start to our summer.

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