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| Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire, a Norman motte-and-bailey
castle, was built in the late 1000's after William's conquest of 1066,
on the site of the original burgh built by Queen Aethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians, to help defend
her people against the Danish Vikings in the Anglo Saxon era. Aethelfleda
was the warrior daughter of my umpteenth great grandfather, Alfred the Great, and wife of Ethelred, the Duke
of Mercia, mother of Elfwina and one of hero ancestors. Aethelfleda contributed
to Mercia's leadership while her husband was alive, becoming the full
administrator after her husband's death, under the wing of her brother, King
Edward the Elder. She died at Tamworth in 918, and is buried at St Oswald's Priory in Gluchesterm, a city she reconstructed out of Roman ruins.
The castle itself went from William I to Robert Bursar, Robert Marmion, the Frevilles and Ferrers, the Townshends in 1751, then to the Tamworth Corporation in 1897. King John ordered the castle burnt to the ground in revenge for Robert Marmions turning against him, they were both nasty gentlemen, but historians feel it was not damaged in that era. The castle retains a great deal of original architecture, but it's location amidst an active tourist park dulls the air of actual history. There are stairs cordoned off that I would have loved to investigate, fun era hats to try on, a parapet and view to die for, a cellar slash dungeon, the Lady's Chamber, great hall and of course, the Norman tower. The story about the black lady is amusing. Appearing as the founder of the Abbey, St Editha, in front of the third Marmion baron in 1139, smacked him so soundly, putting the fear of the devil in him to the point where he promptly reinstated the nuns he recently had expelled from the nearby abbey. She occupies the haunted room, in the one large Norman tower, the second level below the guard room and above the dungeons. Not a comfy room. Other ghosts include the White Lady, the mistress of the wicked Lord Tarquin. She reportedly walks the battlements, weeping over her lover slain by none other than Sir Lancelot in the Lady Meadows below. |
Start your tour by clicking the thumbnails below
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| Trip Pictures |
| Travel Journal |
| The Travels of Anne and David |
| Packrat Productions |
