Site of the "Mere"--from King John's time, Kenilworth had a great lake or mere, a hundred acres or more, created by a huge earthen dam |
On the earthen dam, used for jousting tournaments from King John's time |
View of interor buildings |
The Gatehouse, itself a mansion |
Dudley's crest, Robert (of) Leicester, now in a beautiful hearth in the gatehouse |
Original great hall |
Ruins |
The Hall Dudley built for Elizabeth |
Monday morning we drove out to Kenilworth Castle. It is a ruin now, "slighted" after the Civil War, but an impressive ruin, and, outside London, few sites in the UK have more history and lore associated with them. Mortimer, Gaunt, King John, the Edwards, the later Henrys, and most importantly Elizabeth, all had dealings with Kenilworth. At its heigtht, in Elizabethan times, it was one of England's three or four great palaces, which the Queen gave to her favorite, Robert Dudley, whom she made Earl of Leicester. She visited Kenilworth three times, the last for nearly a month, Dudley's final attempt to persuade her to marry him. The rest is history. And literature, as in, e.g., Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth.
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