Raglan Castle

Mox Castle is on the borders between England and Wales, what we would call the Welsh Marches.

And it's near Raglan Castle.

I'm not going to obviously give away the exact location.

In the vicinity, there is a haunted pub, a very, very haunted pub, and it's a very, very haunted place.

And indeed, they were still too full of the importance of unaccustomed authority to fear any contempt for it on the part of others.

It happened that at this moment Raglan Castle was full of merrymaking, upon occasion of the marriage of one of Lady Herbert's waiting gentlewomen to an officer of the household, and in these festivities the Earl of Worcester and all his guests were taking a part.

among the numerous members of the household was one who from being a turnspit had risen chiefly in virtue of an immovably lugubrious expression of countenance to be the earl's fool from this peculiarity his fellow-servants had given him the nickname of the hangman but the man himself had chosen the role of a puritan parson as affording the best groundwork for the display of a humour suitable to the expression of countenance with which his mother had endowed him that mother was goody rees concerning whom as already hinted strange things were whispered in the earlier part of his career the fool had not unfrequently found his mother's reputation a sufficient shelter from persecution and indeed there might have been reason to suppose that it was for her son's sake she encouraged her own evil repute a distinction involving considerable risk seeing the time had not yet arrived when the disbelief in such powers was sufficiently advanced for the safety of those reported to possess them In her turn, however, she ran a risk somewhat less than ordinary from the fact that her boy was a domestic in the family of one whose eldest son, the heir to the earldom, lay under a similar suspicion.

For not a few of the household were far from satisfied that Lord Herbert's known occupations in the Yellow Tower were not principally ostensible, and that he and his man had nothing to do with the black art, or some other of the many regions of occult science in which the ambition after unlawful power may hopefully exercise itself upon occasion of a family fate merriment was in those days carried further on the part of both masters and servants than in the greatly altered relations and conditions of the present day would be desirable or indeed possible In this instance, the fun broke out in the arranging of a mock marriage between Thomas Rees, commonly called Tom Fool, and a young girl who served under the cook.

But they crowded round him with earnest refusals to be abandoned, for, in their very souls— they felt the fact that they were upon enchanted ground and in the dark.

Then follow me, he said, and conducted them into the open air of the inner court, almost opposite the archway in its buildings, leading to the stone bridge, whose gothic structure bestrid the moat of the keep.

For Raglan Castle had this peculiarity, that its keep was surrounded by a moat of its own, separating it from the rest of the castle, so that, save by bridge, no one within, any more than without the walls, could reach it.

Onto the bridge Tom led the way, followed by his dupes, now full in the view of the earl where he sat in his parlour window.

And indeed, they were still too full of the importance of unaccustomed authority to fear any contempt for it on the part of others.

it happened that at this moment raglan castle was full of merry-making upon occasion of the marriage of one of lady herbert's waiting gentlewomen to an officer of the household and in these festivities the earl of worcester and all his guests were taking a part among the numerous members of the household was one who from being a turnspit had risen chiefly in virtue of an immovably lugubrious expression of countenance to be the earl's fool from this peculiarity his fellow-servants had given him the nickname of the hangman but the man himself had chosen the role of a puritan parson as affording the best groundwork for the display of a humour suitable to the expression of countenance with which his mother had endowed him that mother was goody rees concerning whom as already hinted strange things were whispered in the earlier part of his career the fool had not unfrequently found his mother's reputation a sufficient shelter from persecution and indeed there might have been reason to suppose that it was for her son's sake she encouraged her own evil repute a distinction involving considerable risk seeing the time had not yet arrived when the disbelief in such powers was sufficiently advanced for the safety of those reported to possess them In her turn, however, she ran a risk somewhat less than ordinary from the fact that her boy was a domestic in the family of one whose eldest son, the heir to the earldom, lay under a similar suspicion.

For not a few of the household were far from satisfied that Lord Herbert's known occupations in the Yellow Tower were not principally ostensible, and that he and his man had nothing to do with the black art, or some other of the many regions of occult science in which the ambition after unlawful power may hopefully exercise itself upon occasion of a family fate merriment was in those days carried further on the part of both masters and servants than in the greatly altered relations and conditions of the present day would be desirable or indeed possible In this instance, the fun broke out in the arranging of a mock marriage between Thomas Rees, commonly called Tom Fool, and a young girl who served under the cook.

Half the jest lay in the contrast between the long face of the bridegroom, both congenitally and willfully miserable, and that of the bride, broad as a harvest moon, and rosy almost to purple.

But they crowded round him with earnest refusals to be abandoned, for, in their very souls— they felt the fact that they were upon enchanted ground and in the dark.

Then follow me, he said, and conducted them into the open air of the inner court, almost opposite the archway in its buildings, leading to the stone bridge, whose gothic structure bestrid the moat of the keep.

For Raglan Castle had this peculiarity, that its keep was surrounded by a moat of its own, separating it from the rest of the castle so that save by bridge no one within any more than without the walls could reach it on to the bridge tom led the way followed by his dupes now full in the view of the earl where he sat in his parlour window when they had reached the centre of it however and glancing up at the awful bulk of stone towering above them its walls strangely dented and furrowed so as to such as they might well suggest frightful means to wicked ends they stood stock-still refusing to go a step further while their chief speaker upstill emboldened by anger fear and the meek behaviour of the supposed earl broke out in a torrent of arrogance wherein his intention was to brandish the terrors of the high parliament over the heads of his lordship of worcester and all recusants He had not gone far, however, before a shrill whistle pierced the air, and the next instant arose a chaos of horrible, appalling, and harrowing noises.

Such a roaring, in the words of their own report of the matter to the Reverend Master Flowerdew, as if the mouth of hell had been wide open, and all the devils conjured up.

There's this cool castle.

You, you need to just come to the UK to see Raglan Castle.

It's so fucking cool there.

It, it-

... it's like really old castle shit.

Raglan Castle, just on the border of Wales.

Okay.

It has the most up-to-date information.

Just before we finish, and we've talked quite a lot about Raglan Castle.

How far away is Raglan from here? Could you do them in a day? Oh, yes.

We do.

So what I'm going to say to people is Raglan is an astonishing ruin, fascinating building.

And of course, you can argue it was one of the childhood homes of Henry VII.

And I've written about Raglan Castle, dear listeners, so perhaps we'll put also a connection to there too.

But I'm thinking about if you were in the area...

And indeed, they were still too full of the importance of unaccustomed authority to fear any contempt for it on the part of others.

It happened that at this moment Raglan Castle was full of merrymaking, upon occasion of the marriage of one of Lady Herbert's waiting gentlewomen to an officer of the household, and in these festivities the Earl of Worcester and all his guests were taking a part.

among the numerous members of the household was one who from being a turnspit had risen chiefly in virtue of an immovably lugubrious expression of countenance to be the earl's fool from this peculiarity his fellow-servants had given him the nickname of the hangman but the man himself had chosen the role of a puritan parson as affording the best groundwork for the display of a humour suitable to the expression of countenance with which his mother had endowed him that mother was goody rees concerning whom as already hinted strange things were whispered in the earlier part of his career the fool had not unfrequently found his mother's reputation a sufficient shelter from persecution and, indeed, there might have been reason to suppose that it was for her son's sake she encouraged her own evil repute.

A distinction involving considerable risk, seeing the time had not yet arrived, when the disbelief in such powers was sufficiently advanced for the safety of those reported to possess them.

But they crowded round him with earnest refusals to be abandoned, for, in their very souls, they felt the fact that they were upon enchanted ground, and in the dark.

Then follow me, he said, and conducted them into the open air of the inner court, almost opposite the archway in its buildings, leading to the stone bridge, whose gothic structure bestrid the moat of the keep.

For Raglan Castle had this peculiarity, that its keep was surrounded by a moat of its own, separating it from the rest of the castle, so that, save by bridge, no one within, any more than without the walls, could reach it.

Onto the bridge Tom led the way, followed by his dupes, now full in the view of the earl where he sat in his parlour window.

Perhaps he was temperamentally ill-suited to playing the patient long game which besieging and eventually capturing a strongly fortified enemy base required.

Other parliamentarian generals were more patient and more adept at this aspect of warfare, notably Sir Thomas Fairfax, who oversaw a string of successful sieges, particularly of Raglan Castle in summer 1646 and of Colchester in summer 1648, in both cases isolating and starving out the enemy forces and thus ending with the orderly surrender of those strongholds.

By and large, that wasn't Cromwell's way.

His approach from the outset, from his campaign as a newly promoted colonel in East Anglia and the East Midlands in 1643, was to bombard the enemy stronghold for a few hours and then try to storm it without delay.

Newberry.

Early the next morning, after Richard had left the cottage for Raglan Castle, Mistress Rees was awakened by the sound of a heavy blow against her door.

When with difficulty she had opened it, Richard or his dead body, she knew not which, fell across the threshold.

Like poor Marquis, he had come to her for help and healing.

In their hearts they nursed a half-persuasion that Raglan had fallen because of their wrongs within its walls, and the shame that there had been heaped upon the godly.

These men, happening to meet, as I say, in the midst of the surrounding tumult, had fallen into a conversation chiefly occupied with reminiscences of that awful experience, whose terrors now look like an evil dream, and, in a place thus crowded with men and women, buzzing with voices, and resounding with feet, as little likely to return as a vanished thundercloud.

In the course of their conversation, therefore, they grew valiant, grew conscious next of a high calling, and resolved therewith to take themselves the honor of giving the first sweep of the besom of destruction to Raglan Castle.

Satisfying themselves first, therefore, that their wives were doing their duty for their household, Mr. Supstill was as good as two men at least in appropriation.

Newberry.

Early the next morning, after Richard had left the cottage for Raglan Castle, Mistress Rees was awakened by the sound of a heavy blow against her door.

When with difficulty she had opened it, Richard or his dead body, she knew not which, fell across the threshold.

Like poor Marquis, he had come to her for help and healing.

In their hearts they nursed a half-persuasion that Raglan had fallen because of their wrongs within its walls, and the shame that there had been heaped upon the godly.

These men, happening to meet, as I say, in the midst of the surrounding tumult, had fallen into a conversation chiefly occupied with reminiscences of that awful experience, whose terrors now look like an evil dream, and, in a place thus crowded with men and women, buzzing with voices, and resounding with feet, as little likely to return as a vanished thundercloud.

In the course of their conversation, therefore, they grew valiant, grew conscious next of a high calling, and resolved therewith to take themselves the honor of giving the first sweep of the besom of destruction to Raglan Castle.

Satisfying themselves first, therefore, that their wives were doing their duty for their household, Mr. Upstill was as good as two men at least in appropriation.