Bolingbroke Castle

Bolingbroke castle is a mere ruin these days, but it spawned one on the more controversial kings and subsequently one of the bloodiest conflicts in English history. It is, you see, the birthplace of one Henry Bolingbroke of the House of Lancaster, cousin to, then usurper and possibly even killer, of king Richard II.

Young Henry got into trouble with his cousin, and Richard, as vain and incompetent a fuck as was ever seen on the English throne, confiscated Henry's properties and banned him from the realm. Instead of forfeiting home and property like a good sport, Henry took up arms and managed to depose the king and take the title for himself. The accounts vary as to the fate of his predecessor; some believe he starved himself to death, others believe he was assassinated on the orders of his cousin.

Henry Bolingbroke became Henry IV, the first of the Lancastrian kings. His coronation in 1399 was the first occasion when an English king gave a speech in English - up until then, these people to a great extent still saw themselves as Normans. His son was the magnificent Henry V, who still lives on in history and in my heart for orchestrating a wholesale slaughter of the French at Agincourt. His son again was Henry VI, also a strong contender for the title of most incompetent fuck on the English throne, and the first English king to be executed openly; quite an achievement.

But the Wars of the Roses were still many, many years away when Henry was born at Bolingbroke and the castle soon fell into disrepair and neglect; it was going rapidly downhill even in Henry's time. It saw some action during the Civil War in the 1640s, but not much. The last structure tumbled down in 1815.

Today, only the skeleton of a once proud castle remains, and the ruins are used in summertime for, I would like to think, amateurish but cheerful performances of Shakespare's plays. But iffin you walk around there on a foggy, grey day at the end of September, you may still fancy you can hear sounds from the time when young Henry B. still roamed its grounds.

All pics here.

Ruins of the King's tower.


Ruins of one of the guard towers.


What was once the drawbridge. An up to 90 feet wide moat surrounded the castle. The sewers ran into it, so it must have been both a good deterrent and the source of an almighty stink.


Drawing showing what the castle might have looked like back in the day.


The various bumps in an otherwise quite even lawn, show the foundations of other buildings.


The crapper! Ah knows how ta find'em!


Nobody knows for sure what this rectangular structure outside the wall was. Everything from cattle grazing land to Saxon fort has been suggested.