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Wednesday, 28 March 2018

For Frank and The Crow, and The Battle of Edgehill - 1642

In reply to the comments of Frank and The Crow on my previous post here we go:


The Battle of Edgehill

The other night I watched one of my favourite presenters, Waldemar Januszcak telling the story of William Dobson the puzzlingly forgotten court painter to King Charles 1st.

At one point Waldemar enters a castle-like building to look out of the high window of the tower overlooking the site of Edgehill, the first battle of the civil War in 1642. I recognised the building and then the view from the window immediately - it is now the  Castle Hotel where I stayed in that exact room on 29th May 2015 when I was walking the Macmillan Way.

From my journal, and the blog:

The Castle at Edgehill was brilliant. The only downside was the number of flights of steep steps to access my castle-top room, the final flight being a tight spiral staircase.

On the way to being shown to that room I tripped slightly on, I think, the third flight of stairs, and the staff member, recognising yet another geriatric grabbed my rucksack and continued up the remaining flights and the spiral whilst I struggled on behind with my rickety knees, and now a dodgy ankle.

I had arranged for a pre-prepared breakfast to take to my room because they only served from 8:00am. I was presented, in the bar, with a plate nearly a foot square with two slices of Chef's munchy cake, grapes, an apple, a bowl of fresh strawberries and raspberries, and a wine cooler containing two pots of fruit yoghurt on ice. If you had given me a thousand pounds I don't think I could have got that lot to my room in one go. The lady manageress took over and arrived with it all five minutes after me. That must have been an heroic carry.

During my meal a middle aged couple at the next table were choosing from the menu. Her main gripe was that all dishes seemed to include one small ingredient she didn't like, then she said, "I would really like to try samphire" then she ordered a rib-eye steak.


The Crow said...

Wow, that is some treat! Almost would need a separate backpack to carry that one.

Unknown said...

Looks very tasty!

gimmer said...

something tells me that that 'castle' was not even a smirk(e) in an architect's eye when Prince Rupert ordered the charge that the King's followers failed to carry to the desired triumphant conclusion - look what horrors that that led (and it still leading) us to !

Sir Hugh said...

The Crow and Frank5175 - the original has me eating a more realistically sized pork pie at the famous shop just the other side of the bridge at Ironbridge during my Land's End/John 'o Groats walk.


gimmer - The "castle" came 100 years later apparently. Are you saying that we wouldn't have had the rest of the Civil War if Rupert had succeeded? Do you think we would be still ruled by "The Divine Right?"

afootinthehills said...

I’m surprised the table can take the weight Conrad . Happy Easter to you and yours.

gimmer said...

Better than mob rule, socialism and political correctness , all direct consequences of the failure to seize that day. I think the less equitable elements of the Stuarts would have evolved away - they were not Bourbons - in the same way, France, Russia (and the world) would have been better off without their revolutions - both would be happier and more relaxed countries and societies with 'evolution not revolution': the American experience has both parallels and contradictions but essentially it was an orderly affair marred only by a generally conventional and entirely unnecessary 'external' war caused by ill-advised intransigence on both 'sides' - more evolution than real Robespierre/Lenin revolution - some nasty things were done but no deliberate widespread bloody purges, and the irreconcialable loyalists, by and large, left reasonably amicably for Canada and other friendly jurisdictions. Their Civil War was much worse and more divisive - and still reverberates.
There was a time when it was fashionable to believe that 'left' tyrannies were inevitable, eternal and 'popular', and that 'right' ones could and should be overthrown by so-called 'popular' action (but secretly fomented and financed by the 'peoples democracies', of course) - another source of joy in the 89/90's was the genuinely popular and almost always peaceful overthrow of the 'left' tyrannies by 'historical inevitability' itself. And that 'right' tyrannies have been seen to be capable of the reform and evolution the 'left' was incapable of. So yes, it was a shame, on balance.

Sir Hugh said...

afoot - the table is real, the confection virtual, so table was never put to the test.


gimmer - Thanks for your brief history of The World and your speculation. If your desired outcome had come to pass I would probably be writing this from The Tower.

afootinthehills said...

Yes, I realised it was a photoshop job. Good one though.

Roderick Robinson said...

An unreconstructed monarchist - they're pretty rare these days.

Sir Hugh said...

RR - Not sure what that means. I think I'm getting out of my depth here - I'll leave you to battle it out with Gimmer.

Roderick Robinson said...

For goodness sake! And you a Guardian reader, if intermittent.

Always that way, undeflected by changing trends.

It's more fun with lefties, though. I once came upon "unreconstructed Stalinist"; I checked with my mate Pat; he said "The sort of politico who thinks Stalin wasn't tough enough."

Sir Hugh said...

RR - In the language of my offspring - mega!

gimmer said...

I was going to say 'check the date' but i then realised that I had pressed the send button a little early :
I find the closest resemblance to RR's encounter (there must be a word for ‘person encountered’ . . .) in the so-called Liberal Democrats - i’ve met it many times over the past decades - a couple of local examples - one of these would-be Stalinists had the temerity to state in his election address to the voters of Grange over Sands: (I paraphrase) vote for me, and elect a LibDem for the unreconstructed nest of reactionariness that is Grange and you will find huge benefits flow from having a member of the ruling class of the SLDC as your delegate (ie no nonsense like representation or equitable distribution of services regardless of political opinion - you will only get them if you toe my party's line - a sort of child's version of Morrisonism - Herbert not William !) - another example of their contempt for everyone except themselves was entryism in the local planning committee - they pushed through destructive development plans on basis of three members present of whom the 'chair' (wooden, i don't wonder) voted twice to push through the decisions as one member present was disbarred by her for having an 'interest' (and who opposed them) despite almost 100 % local opposition and despite custom being that casting votes are used to preserve the status quo for later wider decision - the same sort of behaviour I have met in Darlington, Richmond (on Thames) and observed countrywide. Snakes in the grass, indeed - I am as amazed at their support by otherwise sensible and perceptive people as I was at the EU referendum result. But they always have been masters of news management and targeted propaganda - Zuckerberg is a newcomer in comparison !
Give me an honest ‘unreconstructed’ Labour man any day.
(this third dose of Siberian spring is be-idling me, in case you wonder !)