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Bodiam
Castle is situated beside the
River Rother in East Sussex and was built in the late
14th century by a veteran of King Edward III's wars with
France, originally as a coastal defence. In 1385, Sir
Edward Dalyngrygge was given permission to fortify his
house against invasion from France, but then decided to
build a new stone castle a short distance away from the
house.
What can be seen today is a
relatively small, picturesque building that symbolises
the movement from traditional medieval castle to
comfortable manor house. With an almost square
construction, Bodiam Castle has a notable symmetry and
is surrounded by a wide moat. The moat was created from
an artificial lake which, in turn, originated from
allowing the river to flow into a rectangular area of
marshy land.
At each corner of the curtain wall
stands a four-storey, cylindrical tower, with
rectangular towers located mid-way along each wall. The
southern rectangular tower of the Postern Gate at one
time carried the drawbridge across the moat.
Symmetrically opposite stands the Gatehouse with its
twin, rectangular towers consuming one third of the
northern wall. A deep arch and parapet connect the
towers of the Gatehouse. The gun-ports on the towers
were a later edition to the castle. Access to Bodiam
Castle today remains via the moat on the north side,
passing through the Octagon and the Barbican before
reaching the Gatehouse. The Barbican was originally
constructed as a two-storey gatehouse but only the lower
part of the western wall survives. Bodiam Castle has no
keep, thus employing the gatehouse as a defence to the
bailey within the castle walls.
The fortifications were never tested
to any degree, although during the Civil War the
interior of the castle was virtually gutted. After
surrendering, Bodiam Castle was then left to deteriorate
until the early 20th century. At that time, Earl Curzon
undertook a sympathetic re-building programme in order
to restore Bodiam Castle to its former medieval
appearance. However, little remains of the interior
buildings other than remnants of fireplaces and
doorways. The doorway to the Great Hall and some
doorways and windows of the kitchen area are still
standing.
The excavation works of Earl Curzon
also uncovered a wide range of artefacts in the grounds
of the castle, which can be seen in Bodiam Castle
museum. Walking around the landscaped grounds - which
are believed to follow the design by Sir Dalyngrygge to
compliment his original construction of the castle -
some spectacular views of Bodiam Castle can be seen. The
construction of Bodiam Castle appears to have been a
perfect combination of medieval defence strategies and
remarkably comfortable accommodation, thus creating a
magnificent fortified building in an idyllic rural
location. Birling
Gap is a beautiful and tranquil enclosed
pebble beach set below the dramatic backdrop of the
Seven Sisters cliffs. Accessible from the pretty Sussex
village of East Dean, the short drive to the beach
offers wide views of the rolling Sussex downland.
The Seven Sisters are a
famous series of chalk cliffs by the English Channel.
They form part of the South Downs in East Sussex,
between the towns of Seaford and Eastbourne in southern
England, and are within the Seven Sisters Country Park.
They are the remnants of dry valleys in the chalk South
Downs gradually being eroded by the sea. The cliffs are
occasionally used in film and television as a stand-in
for the more famous white cliffs of Dover, since they
are relatively free of anachronistic modern development.
Beachy Head is a chalk
headland on the south coast of England, close to the
town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex. The
cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain,
rising to 162 m (530 ft) above sea level. The peak
allows views of the south east coast from Dungeness to
the east, to Selsey Bill in the west. Its height has
also made it Britain's most notorious (and probably most
often used) suicide spot. The chalk was formed in the
Cretaceous period when the area was under the sea, 65
million years ago. During the Cenozoic Era the chalk was
uplifted, and was later eroded to form the dramatic
cliffs of the Sussex coast. Much of the grandeur of the
cliffs was lost in 2001 when, after a winter of heavy
rains, its main distinguishing feature, a chalk pinnacle
known as the Devil's Chimney, collapsed into the sea.
The name appears as Beauchef in 1274, was Beaucheif in
1317, becoming consistently Beachy Head by 1724, and has
nothing to do with beach. Instead it is a corruption of
the original French words meaning Beautiful Headland. |
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