Misericords and Malverns

[ladyofastolat]

On Monday, we went to Shropshire, first to Stokesay Castle and then to Ludlow. Stokesay is a fortified manor house built in the late 13th century, and little changed since then, except for a gatehouse and some fancy fireplaces added in the 16th century. It's all rather impressive, although one picturesque corner was shrounded in scaffolding, rather limiting my photo options.

It was built by Laurence de Ludlow, who received his Licence to Crenellate in 1291, prompting us to imagine his James Bond style adventures ("the name's Laurence. Laurence de Ludlow. Licenced to Crenellate") as he daringly added crenellations to allies in perilous situations, while under fire from the French. We also wondered how many arguments went on between lords and crenellation inspectors: "I don't need a licence for that! It's not a crenellation; it's just a decorative frill." His family tree was full of intriguing hints without clarification: tales of drownings in wool ships, accusations of murder, and someone being outlawed and hastily unoutlawed again, all in the same year. No further explanations were provided, even in the guidebook.







The great hall contains a rare original medieval staircase.



Then to Ludlow, where we had lunch in a pub, then went over the river to a viewpoint. There the sun decided to play a game with me. I wanted the sun to be shining on the foreground, the castle and the church, but for about 20 minutes, the sun gave me only one or two out of those three, disappearing from one the moment it moved onto the other. Throughout it all, the Catholic church, an impressive domed basilica, basked in vivid sunlight.

I will not inflict upon you all my many, many failed pictures, which I took just in case the sunlight situation never got any better, but here is the final one, taken when the sun finally obliged. Looking at the quality of this picture, I don't think it was really worth the wait, but at least it could feel small, mild triumph at finally getting what I'd been waiting for.



Then to the castle. Being a Border castle, this castle also had a resident cat, who wandered up and down the towers and staircases, its progress being indicated by the distant sound of high-piched voices speaking in baby talk.

Ludlow has an interesting round-naved Norman church, although the rest of the church has fallen off, and only the round nave remains. I'm not sure I've seen a round nave before. Mind you, since I've been to Ludlow Castle at least 3 times before, all that is said by this is that I don't have a very good memory. Either that, or round-naved churches are things that must be kept secret, and all those who see them promptly forget them.



After another cup of tea and a rather nice ice cream, we went to the parish church, famous for its 15th century misericords. A guide was hovering around inside the entrance, but since she started off by telling us that the blatantly Perpendicular nave was Norman, and then told us that King Arthur was buried here, we decided to place little faith in her guiding, and smiled and nodded politely, then wandered off on our own.







Rush hour traffic in Hereford is pretty hideous, but we got home eventually, and were able to enjoy a nice sunset over the river from our garden.



Yesterday we walked the entire Malvern ridge in both directions. Well, that was the plan. However, it turns out that 20 miles of Malvern ridge is a slower and more arduous undertaking than 20 miles of Isle of Wight, so we only did the ridge in one direction, with the return route being, for the most part, on slightly less up and down footpaths that skirted the shoulders of the most pointy bits. I didn't take many pictures, because it was all rather hazy, but here are some:

Looking into the haze towards the Cotswolds, over Little Malvern Priory:



From around half way up, looking at some of the hills yet to come.



Nearly at the end of the ridge now! Worcestershire Beacon has been conquered: only 1 big hill and 3 littler ones to go. And the whole way home, of course.



When I was little, my Mum took evening classes in geology, and I went with her on a field trip to The Gullet, which I remember was being a terrifying place: sheer cliffs down to a dark, deep pool. My Mum is very scared of water and not that happy with heights, either, so she introduced the place to me as a terrifying death trap. A few weeks ago, colleague said that he'd been to the Malverns once, and had a parked in "a lovely place: a flooded quarry. Now, what was it called...?" "Not the gullet?" I gasped. "The gullet! *shudder* It's terrifying! Aaargh! The gullet!" or words to that effect. "But it was lovely!" he said, so I googled it, and my search results were full of mentions of "death quarry," and "claims yet another life this year." Anyway, we detoured a little to approach it gingerly, and the fences all around were covered with "you will DIE!" warnings, and notices warning of special police powers allowing them to arrest anyone who showed any signs of being about to swim in it. It even had a "do not swim here" notice about 12 feet up in a tree, 50 yards away from any water.



Anyway...

We'd parked at British Camp half way along, and since there's a pub at the cat park, we decided to eat in it before going home, since neither of us fancied getting home at 6.30 and then having to go out again to buy food. And very nice it was, too. It was quite a tough walk, but we completed it, so yay!

Comments

[ylla.livejournal.com]

I thought a malvern was going to be another kind of animal, and was a bit surprised there were none in your post...

(I think I was thinking of wyverns, but I'd be quite surprised if any of them were in your post too!)

[leesa_perrie]

Ohh, I love your Jame Bond wannabe, lol!!! :D

You seem to keep finding resident cats!! I must go to these castles, so I can be one of those high pitched voices!! :)

Lovely photos, glad you're having a good time!

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

I like that the British Camp pub has a cat park ;)