08.14.08
Castle Rushen
Last week I watched a movie rental called, In Bruge. According to the movie, Bruge is in Belgium and has the oldest intact medieval town in Europe. It reminded me of our trip to the Isle of Man because one of their heritage sites in Castletown called, Castle Rushen, is said to be one of the most finely preserved medieval castles in Europe. Here’s a pic of Castle Rushen, and if you squint a bit, you might be able to see me in the parking lot standing by the leaf-less tree.
Once you pass the outer wall, there is a bridge to walk over to get into the castle. As you walk over that bridge there’s a room off to the side (the inner gatehouse) with archers (wax figures) dressed and posed as if in action. There’s a recording that can be heard as you walk by saying, “Who goes there!?” These are what the figures look like inside that one room.
Once you pass that there is a small museum ahead as well as a short film shown before heading upstairs. There’s quite a bit to read up on in there such as when the castle was first built, who ran the place, what it was used for, etc. The castle (as with so many other old buildings) was built in stages, so that in the earlier times, it did not look as it does today. As an example, this is what they think the castle first looked like in the 13th century. Below that, the illustration shows what they think it looked like in the 14th century as there is more extensions and fortification.
Later in the 16th century there was added more fortification and a bigger gatehouse as well as more dwellings surrounding the castle just outside.
Various rooms had artifacts and other bits of information regarding the castle such as ledgers, scales, and ammo. Of course their ammo was quite different from what we think of as ammo today. Here’s a pic below to show what I mean.
Talk about big rocks! Oye!
There were more artifacts and explanations displayed in other rooms of the castle such as paintings of the various kings and lords of Mann and about the various rebellions throughout the centuries. And yet there were other rooms that had wax figure displays in them. The first room we encountered upstairs was quite dark. I heard a “grunting” sound, but couldn’t make it out, so I crept closer to see, but still it was dark. Even though the room was a bit creepy because of how dark it was, I wanted to see what that grunting sound was. As I got closer, I found it. This is what I saw.
Apparently, he’s been grunting on display there for many years (so I was told). Now I call that major constipation! Ouch! Interestingly, the flash on our camera didn’t make the room look dark at all although it was quite dark in actuality. Many of the other rooms had plenty of light, though.
Here’s shot of another one of the castle’s toilets.
And I heard in school that in medieval times they used to throw their refuse out the castle windows from buckets? Ha! Apparently, that was not the case in this castle! Unless these toilet upgrades were made during the time when the castle was used as a prison.
In the later years, Castle Rushen was used as a prison. Here’s looking out from one of the prison rooms.
It sure gave me an eerie feeling walking in to those rooms because of how cold and thick the walls were. And particularly knowing that people were once kept in there as prisoners with those cold and hard floors. I could just imagine how it would be so difficult to escape a place like that and how they could literally lock a person up and throw away the key. I guess I’ve read too many horror stories of that kind of thing, ack!
Further up the castle other rooms were decorated or restored to show what they might have looked like when the castle was in use by the kings and lords. This room was the dining hall.
The guide had us sit down at the dining table as he explained the foods and customs of the day. It was interesting to see their menu and how much food they ate! Meat, meat, and more meat! In this recreation, the figure with the red hat is John Farkar, Abbot of Rushen Abbey, Ralph Rushton, Governor of the Island, and the controller of the castle next to him. I forget who the other one is on the far right. But basically, the more important people sit closest to the king or lord or governor (at times there was no king present so who ever was in charge was the big wig for the day) then the lesser important people sat farther and farther away from the salt, heheh. Supposedly there were rows and rows of tables for the other guests. This scene reminded me of how much control the religious leaders had on the kings and ruling parties as the Abbot was right next to the Lord or Governor. It helps to give me a better understanding of “separation of church and state.” Seems that intent was quite different and for a different purpose than how some people here interpret that as getting prayer out of school today. It appears to me that the laws and rules as well as taxes were placed on the people for and by the church leaders.
There were too many rooms in the castle to put up all my pictures on this blog, but suffice it to say that there was a bit more to see there. Here’s one more room designed to replicate the times. I was interested to see how the walls were decorated with tapestries, which likely helped not only with the aesthetics, but also with insulation.
I think I’ll try to put up some pictures of the view from the top of the castle. I thought it had a nice view of Castletown, so will try to get that up on another post later.
Toodles for now.
Marlakins
