Time isn't timeless...It has an end date, certainly where humans are concerned anyway. We don't come with use by dates of course, but we certainly don't last forever; Nothing really does.
I wonder if the people who lived here, in what is now a ruined castle, ever thought their structure of stone would survive forever. I guess at the time they didn't think that far ahead as we do not now generally.
This is Wardour Castle, constructed late in the 1300's and located in the County of Wiltshire, England, UK. we visited not too long ago when on holiday in the UK.
It was owned by a family called the Lovell's, until they fell into disfavour during the War of the Roses (1455-1487), and passed to the ownership or Sir Thomas Arundell around 1544, after passing through the ownership of a couple other un-noteworthy people.
The Arundell's were an ancient and prominent Cornish family but that wasn't enough to save Sir Thomas from execution for the crime of treason in 1552. Wardour castle was confiscated by the Crown, its ownership moving out of the Arundell's family altogether.
Twelve years later, (1570) the Arundell family re-acquired the castle when Sir Matthew, son of Sir Thomas, bought it back into the family ownership. The Arundell's would have been pleased, I'm sure, but like all things time brings change.
Seventy three years after Sir Matthew bought the castle back, the year 1643 brought that change and it was to have devastating effects.
The 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour (Thomas Arundell) was away serving the King and had left his wife, Lady Blanche Arundell, at the castle with 25 men-at-arms and an order to defend it.
The 2nd Baron a staunch Royalist, and key figure in the English Civil War (1642-1651) between the Parliamentarians and Royalists considered it unsafe to leave the castle undefended whilst away fighting himself; He was right too.
Parliamentarian supporter, Sir Edward Hungerford, and his 1300-strong parliamentarian-force arrived there seeking admission to search for Royalists within. Blanche refused of course, and a siege began. Sir Edward threw everything at it, guns and mines plus his 1300-strong force but the defenders defended and the castle held.
Five days later though the numbers were overwhelming and Lady Arundell surrendered with safe-passage being offered to her and her men.
At this stage her husband, the 2nd Baron of Wardour, was dying of wounds he had sustained at the Battle of Stratton and after his death his son Henry, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, was left with the responsibility to regain the families' castle, and honour.
March 1644 saw Henry arrive home and lay-siege to the castle to win it back from the Parliamentarian's. He devised a cunning plan to do so, but it seems he outsmarted himself.
Henry tunnelled below the castle wall and laid a massive mine beneath the walls. Of course, he wasn't about to blow his own castle up, but the threat of it should do the trick, or so his logic must have gone. Surrender and live, or we'll blow the castle up, enter and kill you all.
He delivered the ultimatum and sat back to wait for the response.
This is where his plan went wrong.
The mine was set off prematurely, by accident and the huge section of the walls collapsed. Yes, his own castle was blown up, by his own men, by accident.
Left with no choice but join in battle they attacked and defeated the Parliamentarian forces within the castle. The 3rd Baron Arundell had his castle back, but at what cost?
The castle was extensively damaged, completely unliveable and was left abandoned. Even today one can see the rubble from the explosion, although much of it was pilfered for use elsewhere.
Henry Arundell managed to raise funds to build the New Wardour Castle across the valley; It is visible from the old, destroyed castle.
The destruction ended 254 years of history. The many lives that called it home all moved away and finally died, as did the solid construction itself, like all things.
Much of the loose stone and rubble was repurposed over at New Wardour Castle, and other construction sites, with the remaining walls left intact for us to visit today. Eventually the wooden beams that once held floors, ceilings and the roof collapsed and the castle's long life came to an end.
It was a peaceful but sad place to me. It had been a place of great turmoil and strife, violence and death, but also life, happiness and joy, I'm sure; I felt the humanity of it, as if the hopes and dreams of those who lived there permeated the very stone. I felt connected to those whose lives played out in and around the castle, those whose fates were entwined with that of the structure itself and were shattered along with it.
We cannot cheat time; All things come to an end, each of us also. We have the choice to wait for it to come, inactive and disengaged or to take a different path.
We have the chance to acknowledge our time will end someday, like Wardour Castle, but take an active role in the life we have within the moments of it. Both options end in the same place, but the journey of each along the way will be vastly different.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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History and philosophy! There are some cracking castles over here, I love the history behind them
We went to many in England, Scotland is a whole other trip, and one we want to make. I find it fascinating, and without sounding creepy, sort of feel the history there, you know? We have nothing that old here and so it's a pretty special thing for us.
It's majestic when you are deep in the bowels of one. England has some corkers but we have some too. I world day Scotland is a must but only if you come in July and bring something waterproof :0D
July it is! Suits us as it's our winter here. I'll bring my spray jacket. I have one that will match perfectly with my kilt and McSporren. (I can't recall if the Mc needs to be there, but it sounds good.) Lol.
We really want to come to Scotland and have no doubt that it will happen at some stage. We don't feel we're done with England either, but don't want to do a flying trip figuring 3-4 weeks in Scotland will give us a better taste of it than 5 days.
That will be an awesome big jaunt!!
Could hook up and show you the sights of the big city! The other one that is not Edinburgh, lol!
I've already got your place Google map pinned bro...Unfortunately I did it on that occasion you were in the back yard mowing the lawn in the nude thinking no one was watching...There's always a satellite watching mate, just saying. Lol.
Bloody satellites!!! Always on my case. A man's garden is no longer his castle!
Imagine, people who once lived with the thought that death was far off and by some luck they would find a way to avoid it. Still the same today as billions are spent on anti aging medicines and creams.
Oh! And in case of death everyone wants to leave a legacy. "I have once lived and I want to show people how great and important I was"
Some leave their achievements and others their follies.
Over time that castle will disappear and it will be as if it never was!
A lesson to us about our own self importance?
Btw. That history is so great and well done here methinks!
I believe that in times past people were more accepting that death was ever-present. They lived in times where medicine wasn't available, law and order not as well-managed and in times when people could succumb to a common cold more often than not. They knew it was there and knew it was coming.
These days people deny it. They fail to plan for it with wills, funeral plans and discussions around the fact that everyone they know, including themselves, will die. It's swept under the carpet as if that will prevent it. Of course, it will not.
Yes, many feel they want to leave a legacy and yet so few will see it, remember it or even care, because those left behind will, in turn, die and so on...A hundred and fifty years later...No one remembers. (Unless it is a famous person of course, and the government pick and choose who is remembered, and for what.)
Anyway, this was a cool castle and we enjoyed our visit very much. We spend about three hours walking around, inside and on the grounds, listening to the audio guide. It was fascinating as it recreated life like it was when the castle was thriving, the early days, and of course its demise. It was on a rise, set within some extremely lovely countryside.
What I have done, is that I have put everything into Marian's name.
We are now in our 17 and a half year of marriage and I don't think this one will go bottoms up just yet. She is 23 years younger than me and getting a bit long in the tooth, but I have no thoughts about trading her in for a younger one as yet Lol.
My eldest is off with her family to the UK soon, taking a transfer to the HO of her company, my son has his own company as does his younger sister and they are all well off. I raised my kids to be fiercely independent and maybe the best thing that I have done in my life.
You must get a peek into many current life stories as the champion of the engagement league. I hope that I am the one with the least complaints lol.
Glad that you enjoyed and appreciated your time at that old castle my friend. Many would breeze through it without a thought about its history.
Take care!
It sounds like your kids took your lead and created lives that they are happy with and proud of. I think that's one of the things a parent could be most proud of; Making sure something is left behind when we go is less important as making sure we journey through life the best we can, be humble and kind and the best version of ourselves as possible.
Just my opinion, but I'm not a parent so maybe I'm a little off-base. Makes no difference though as my opinion is always going to be what it is.
Have a good weekend.
I think that if you were to be a parent that you would be a great parent.
But in saying that, no parent can be perfect and it is mostly the seeds that one sow in their early lives that one can hope for.
In my 30s I had a vasectomy, as all my kids were born in my 20S and I regarded my child raising days as completed.
So now we also don't have any children and I have to say that a great responsibility was taken away. We are free to come and go as we please, apart from our work commitments and I am sure that you guys are in the same situation.
Not having children is something that used to bother me a little but these days I look at the world and figure it's for the best. It's not moving in a direction that I'm overly happy with.
It gives us a little more freedom of course, as you say. We don't have the same financial responsibilities as parents do either, so have a little left over each pay cycle. It's not going to change so we deal with it, live as best we can.
Yeah, that's the way to look at life. At times it also used to trouble us, but as we work with many children we can parent them as best we can.
A mistake is to arrange buses and to take 100 and something children for a free visit to the circus. They are all orphans from a township.
We had a day of horrors with unruly excited kids running all over the place hahaha. I easily aged about 20 years on that day:)
Wise to accept it as then you guys can have peace with it!
One think i enjoy is looking at abandon building and the history behind it they always have some amazing story behind it all.
I think the abandoned, or old, ones are often more interesting than the new ones. We went to many ruins, and to working manor houses and castles too, all equally good, some brooding lumps of stone with an ominous feel, and others that felt like happy places. I love to wander around and soak it up, it makes me feel a part of it and for a history buff like me it helps to bring it to life. Have you been to the UK?
!ENGAGE 20
Totally agree with you it's the feeling and thoughts that go through my mind when i am wandering around ruins , abandon houses or buildings there are some amazing castles to wander around in the UK , i haven't been there but would love to some day we only have a lot of caves here in Australia as you know 🤣
It's really amazing to walk through a castle that's a thousand years old. We went to a Norman Castle there which we loved. Also we did some Roman ruins, Chedworth Villa, was one...Totally amazing, as were the Roman baths in Bath. Oh, cool caves in Cheddar Gorge too, where they found the oldest intact skeleton in the UK (Cheddar man.)
Yeah, we got some old caves and stuff too, been to some around Australia...So much to see here but the UK and Europe is something else again.
Can't wait to go back! We're supposed to be flying to Scandinavia in 3 weeks...Clearly that's not happening.
It would feel sorted of haunted castle been that old but love to do it i haven't had the opportunity yet but it is on my bucket list. I did do Italy and Greece years ago and really enjoyed the Colosseum and the ruins of Pompeii in Rome and the Greek Parthenon in Greece but no castles yet.
That is a shame that you need to put it off but it wouldn't be a enjoyable trip at the moment.
Yeah, we think so too, although seeing my family in Finland would have been nice. Oh well, we'll go next year instead. Considering an how my dad is going it would have made it difficult to leave.
Am sure it will happen all in good time.
Have a great weekend @galenkp 👍
ENGAGEtokens.Thank you @misterengagement very kind of you 👍
How to manage to blow up your own castle? My my... I think castles and ancient monuments in general can be so fascinating just because they are a proof of the passing of the time, of how a piece of rock will be standing longer that the human who has touched it on Earth. I wish those stones could speak...
I often think the same (speaking stones) I wonder what they will have to say.
So, how did you find those bike riding posts I sent you a few days ago? You never got back to me.
I did left you a comment I have read it very fast. With tears in my eyes
Have u found it? I have left so many comments on that bike post🚲😂
I posted them on my comment, within minutes of us discussing it.
Yup and I replied cuz you know me I read fast lol
Found ittt. Aaa so many comments had to dig a little😂
Ah ok, I never saw that.
With so many followers and comments and content to keep track I am still surprised and grateful you came across my profile. Now that I have spent some time on Hive and seeing so many new users and the amount of content in need of engagement, I can see how easy you can remain a hidden gem. Glad I was discovered hihi.
I'd try to make a witty comment, but that would be like travelling back in time. I... remember this from somewhere in the back on my mind. Well anyway, here's your daily dose of King Charles I, as he plans to lose the war and gets his head lobbed off for treason... Spoiler Alert.
Thank you for painting a vivid picture of the history of the place. I found the write up fascinating. It's those details that makes one ponder upon it all. I think the walls do talk when the details are shared. The reader or listener is instructed how to tune into the right frequency and feel the sentiments that they've absorbed and emit eternally. Its a vibe of the humanity that made the stone and the structure notable and it tells the story of time ever so clearly.
This is a nice way to say it...Maybe you should write my posts for me!
We visited many castle's, old manor houses and historical sites, ancient and not so ancient...I always feel something though, maybe it's that in tune part of me that allows me to do so.
I love history as I find it more interesting than what is going on now, certainly more interesting than most people who are considered interesting these days (Kim Kardashian for example) so I look backwards. I'm rarely disappointed with what I find, at least as far as finding enjoyment and a way to fill my need for knowledge goes.
Thanks for your comment. Much appreciated. I hope you're having a good weekend.
!ENGAGE 25
I could never do the story justice like you do.
I've been finding myself appreciating history more and more over the years, both modern and ancient. Life and humanity, the earth and the universe are so wonderous. The is so much meaning to it all while largely remaining such an unsolvable mystery.
I think you are a lot more in tune with this stuff than a lot of people seem to be. It's a reminder to me to slow down and get more in tune myself.
Re: The Kardashians. I couldn't agree more.
I am having a great weekend. My sister in law got married at our house today. Very small intimate wedding and it was quite enjoyable.
Hope you had a great weekend too!
A wedding huh? Nice...I like that fact it was an intimate affair, weddings are out of control these days. Nice to hear that two people decided to make it about them, their union, and not an Andrew Lloyd Webber stage production as often is the case these days.
I like history because you know where you stand...Sure, you won't get the full details, can't live it, but you can see things much more clearly than the current mixed up muddled world in which we live in now. I like seeing the start, middle and end that delving into history gives me.
Anyway, I think people sometimes get an appreciation of it as they get a little older. I was saying to Faith today, during a discussion about the current pro-black movement, that the answers to our present and future lie in the past...But no one wants to look. Why are we all still having the same issues as we did in the past? Because no one has looked into the past, seen what happened and the results, and is willing to make a change. They talk about change then loot, steal and terrorise in the name of that change...But fast forward a little bit and they'll all be doing exactly the same things they always were.
Enough said I think, it's starting to sound like a political rant, and that's not really my style. Here.
ENGAGEtokens.I've been thinking about this a lot recently. What will survive me? What remnants of my life will last, and for how long? Even the famous dead figures that we hold in high esteem today, maybe lost in the history books of tomorrow. Nothing lasts forever -- the castle did a far better job than some of the occupants, I guess. And in how many years will even the rubble stand? It will fall more I am sure, assuming no one rebuilds it.
I think many feel they would like to leave a legacy, but in truth I'm not sure how much of a legacy a typical, everyday person can truly leave. If they have children they leave them of course, but two generations later does that person mean much to the children's children? Maybe, maybe not...And what about the next generations?
Normal everyday people are soon forgotten, and history shows that unless one is notable or noteworthy one soon fades away as future generations simply live their own lives...Of course, with the thought of leaving their own legacy.
140 years is a long time to a human, two average lifespans and it's a long time for people to keep someone else's legacy alive.
I've done my family tree back to 1450's England...But do any of those people have an enduring legacy, other than the fact me and my family are alive right now?
Whilst in the UK we visited many Roman ruins as well as castles, much older of course. So, it takes time for constructions to disappear, but eventually they will...Even what we build today.
Thanks for your comment.
!ENGAGE 20
I totally get that. What I mean by legacy is anything left behind by me. So even if no one knows about it, I feel there is still some of my energy “trapped” in the object. For example, those common, everyday objects from the Roman Empire — are priceless today, in a museum. To see or to understand the existence of a normal person 6000 years ago — today, would be priceless. I consider those thing legacy. No one has to know about the person per say, it’s just a remnant left behind.
How long till everything I’ve ever owned is composted, done for, lost, ground up and burned? How long till my entire existence (Aka remnants of MY generational time a lot here on earth) is in some museum somewhere?
Just my thoughts on the topic. Something I’ve been pondering. As I read your post it’s what I thought about. Yes, everything I own and build will one day turn to dust. There’s something beautiful about that in some dark way.
I understand.
It will be easy to put the sum and total of a current human life in a museum...Just put an iPhone behind the glass...It's all in there. Ok, maybe that's a little facetious however not too far from the truth.
With all of our things leaning towards being more biodegradable, the products we wear, build with, writen on...I wonder what will be left behind...Fake boobs and butt implants made of silicone I guess.
For me, the fact that I know I will be burned at death and eventually completely forgotten makes me want to live better now, for me. To have a better life, my best one, and to furnish those around me and whom I value with respect, happiness, humour, love and comfort. It's with that which I move forward through life.
Haha! I hope handwritten letters and old diaries will one day survive — and live on somewhere. I know I will be as equally happy if it is just one person from the day and era in which I lived — has something handwritten in a museum somewhere.
However, that is my personal fantasy since I love old handwritten shit, even now. I love reading old diaries that have been published — and it’s just a personal thing, I guess.
I must say that your mindset behind how things turn to dust — and why that is beneficial here and now — is beautiful. I really admire that viewpoint.
Burned on water with an fire arrow per chance? I personal would love to biodegrade under a tree? Or somehow naturally go back into the earth like compost. Slightly morbid thinking of things like that? Maybe it’s the people that don’t think about this that end up poisoning our ground water with formaldehyde from a body that they will never use again. Personal irritation.
Let's hope that is the right person huh?
I'm thinking a Viking funeral would be good...You know, someone firing a flaming arrow at my funeral pyre assembled on a longship...They can shoot the arrow, watch the flames for a bit as I slowly drift out to sea, and then get on with the party, and their own lives...After arguing over my hoard of silver. Lol.
It's either that or I insist on being taxidermied like a grizzly bear...That way they could hang coats and hats on me...I'd finally be useful.
Isn't that the truth. Goodness, I didn't realize the ignorance in some ways -- it DOES matter who, huh? That could change a lot. I love it. Great talking with you :) Loved this post, lots of great thoughts. Also loving it over here on HIVE.
ENGAGEtokens.Woo!!! ♥️♥️ Thank you!
Hello dear friend @galenkp Good afternoon.
Poor walls of the ¨Castillo de Wardour¨ how much they had to endure, if the walls spoke, it would take a life to hear it.
Without a doubt, the “Lovell's” family would never have thought that their property would have so much history.
What a brave ¨Lady Blanche Arundell¨ and thomas to leave his wife alone in the castle with so many men in her care.
The history is incredible, we never know what can happen to our property after we leave. Only the passage of time and fate will know.
I appreciate all this story dear friend
I wish you a beautiful Sunday
Time changes everything and I think most don't think that far ahead. We will all die and leave our lives behind, you me, my wife.. Everyone. I think it's important to remember and understand that as it can lead one to live a better life throughout. Just my opinion.
I share with you dear friend @galenkp life is shorter than we really think it is, it is the reason why we must live intensely each moment, enjoy each moment, it is a way of living better.
I wish you a beautiful night and a happy rest
How beautiful that castle would be in its time, what history they keep inside its ruins, it must be a wonderful experience to pass by there, it's a pity that I stay far away. In Venezuela there are few castles in its ruins, but there are.
The castle was built in the hexagonal style, popular in Europe at the time of construction, and is the largest of its type in England. In its day it would have been a bustling hub of activity for those called it home. It's demise was a sorrowful end to what was a long history. It was brought to destruction through the hubris of men seeking to gain in power or stature and it's downfall can be attributed to that most prevalent of human traits: Greed.
We enjoyed our time there, had a string sense of the history that had played our there, although also felt sad, a feeling commensurate to the sad history that the masonry seem to have absorbed over a few hundred years.