The One With the Fairytale

When I think about a “fairytale castle”, I envision round turrets, a moat with a bridge, beautiful countryside and an atmosphere that screams romance. When I saw a picture of Bodiam Castle, I knew I wanted to go check it out!

Fortunately the day turned out to be sunny with a clear blue sky. 

Started in 1385, Bodiam is one of the more “recent” traditional castles. It was built by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge who had built up quite a fortune from the wars with France during the later part of the 14th century. As the wars continued, he received permission to build the castle as part of the defense against a French invasion from the south. Even though the castle had a defensive purpose, it was also intended to provide a comfortable residence and its defensive structure is a simple one.

Although the Gatehouse was well fortified with a series of portcullises and gates, the walls of the castle were not. There are no arrow loops and the windows were built as windows and were glazed. As part of the inner defense, the upper wall walk does not go all the way around – only two lengths of the wall are accessible from any one tower. This had the advantage of being able to isolate various parts of the castle in the event of an attack.

For almost 300 years, the castle passed through various branches of Dalyngrigge’s family and following the English Civil War in the 1640’s, the castle was ordered partially dismantled. A hundred years later, the ivy covered castle was “discovered” by those looking for reminders of England’s medieval past. In 1829 it was bought by John Fuller who began some early renovations in an effort to preserve the ruins, a project that was further advanced by Lord Curzon who purchased the property in 1916 and left it to the National Trust upon his death.

Part of the beauty of Bodiam is its symmetry – each corner has a round tower and each side contains a square one, with the exception of the twin-towered gatehouse which provides access to the castle.

The Gatehouse is three stories high and above the gate is a carving of Sir Dalyngrigge’s crest (a tilting helm surmounted by a unicorn’s head).   Below the window are three coats of arms representing Sir Dalyngrigge and his family.

Unlike the exterior of the castle which has remained largely intact, the interior is in ruins and about all that is left are doorways, fireplaces and windows.

All of the staircases looked like this.  Often the steps are uneven and of differing heights - it would be very easy to fall up or down these!

close up of small turret on top of one of the round towers

It is believed that these arches connected the Great Hall with the kitchen, buttery and pantry.

a small window in one of the basement storerooms

 

Chip took this picture from the top of one of the towers - I think it's really cool!  It would have been better if those people weren't standing in the middle of it, but it probably would have been rude to yell down and tell them to move...  
 

I took this one on the first floor.  I like the way the sun makes it looks like there is a light on.

Someone left the lights on!

View of one of the towers from inside the castle.

Another view of the inside of the castle taken from the back/Postern tower.

View from the top of the castle.  At the right of the picture is the bridge that leads up to the Gatehouse.

 
 

Since I"m not the photographer in the family, I was pretty pleased with myself on this one!

 
 

The surrounding countryside is really quite pretty.

 

 

One of the things we found interesting was when we left the castle (around 11:30 or so) this hill had several couples and families who were just enjoying the nice day with a picnic.  You can go into the grounds (for a couple of pounds for parking) without buying a ticket for the castle.

 

 

Cheers!