Bowl turning on a pole lathe, jousting, birds of prey and an unlucky king at Carisbrooke Castle.

Carisbrooke Castle is a very interesting place. It lies just outside Newport, the Isle of Wight's biggest town. There are signs of settlement there going back to pre-Roman times, but most of the fortifications date to later than the Norman keep that sits on the motte (or mound) overlooking the site.

The castle has been remodelled several times, which can be seen even at the entrance gatehouse.

The lower part was built in 1335 and has cross-shaped firing points, for bows and crossbows. The gatehouse was extended above the horizontal lines around it in 1378, when the French threatened to attack it during the Hundred Years War. The extended part has circular holes with slits and would be used by defenders firing handguns.

There was extensive remodelling of the castle during the sixteenth century under the guidance of Sir George Carey, due to the threat from the Spanish Armada. However, some of the buildings from this time are now in ruins.

The chapel of St Nicholas in Castro was renovated in 1904, after falling into disrepair through lack of use because the church in the village was more accessible to most people. It is now a memorial to Charles I as well as being the war memorial chapel for the Isle of Wight. There are some nice Edwardian woodcarvings on the pews, showing the symbols for the writers of the gospels.

The castle houses a very interesting museum with many of the exhibits concerned with King Charles I, who was imprisoned at Carisbrooke for fourteen months before being taken to his execution. His daughters were also imprisoned there and one, Princess Elizabeth, died there.

Quite a few of the exhibits are of interest to a carver. One is an ivory gaming piece, dating to Norman times, from a game called 'tables', which was similar to backgammon.

This chamber organ was built in 1602 and is still in working order. It shows the arms of the Earl of Montrose and has Flemish inscriptions taken from the bible carved onto it. I don't think that the electrical flex is connected to the instrument!

There are also other carved pieces on show:

As well as this fragment of a medieval saw blade:

While we were visiting Carisbrooke, there was a 'medieval' joust and displays of medieval skills such as falconry and bowmaking. The joust took place on the bowling green, where Charles I played bowls whilst he was imprisoned. It was previously the drill ground for soldiers stationed at the castle and may well have seen jousting in medieval times.

One of the exhibitors was 'James the Bowl', who was making wooden bowls turned on a pole lathe. I had an interesting chat with him about what he was doing.

James told me that a lot of the designs for the equipment that he was using came from an image of a turner making equipment for the Mary Rose, although the image doesn't show a toolrest, which would have been vital. Many early images don't, perhaps because it would obscure the view and confuse the viewer.

Apparently, many kinds of timber were used to make the turned bowls found on the Mary Rose. Bowls have even been found made from oak, which tends to split and can taint food so is not normally used for this purpose. One timber that was not found is willow.

The shapes of the gouges used to cut the bowls have been worked out from the cut marks on found ones. Robin Wood, a well-known pole lathe bowl turner, has done a lot of work on this subject.

The mandrel, which holds the wooden blank to be turned into the bowl, is also not shown on old pictures. James' one has three flattened points, which he explained helps to keep the blank on. He said that other methods were known to have been adopted, Viking finds have had many points stuck into the blank and sometimes a simple round mortice and tenon was used, with a sliver of green wood in the mortice to wedge it in. The mandrel needs to be pretty tough and could be carried between places, so having iron bands on each end of it to prevent splitting would make sense.

It was very interesting to see what bowl turning in medieval and Tudor times was like and how people have filled in the gaps in historical knowledge by practical experience. The jousting was a lot of fun to watch too!

If you would like to see James' blog, it is at:

http://jamesthebowl.blogspot.co.uk

Robin Wood is a very well-known and respected pole lathe bowl turner and his website is at:

http://www.robin-wood.co.uk

This is an interesting overview of historical pole lathe turning:

http://www.turningtools.co.uk/history2/history-turning2.html

Carisbrooke Castle museum has a website here:

http://www.carisbrookecastlemuseum.org.uk

Two very different castles: Portland and Clun

Portland castle overlooks the harbour on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. It was built in 1539/40, by order of King Henry VIII, to guard the important anchorage there known as the Portland Roads. It only saw real action during the English Civil War of 1642 to 1649.

The building doesn't have the feel of a Tudor building from the outside, probably because the hard-wearing stone hasn't weathered too much. There's no timber framing visible either! The low profile of the fort made it harder to hit with cannon fire and the side facing the sea is rounded, so that cannonballs would be deflected off. 

We didn't have a chance to go inside, but you can and the building is looked after by English Heritage. 

Looking at the castle from the side facing towards the mainland, you can see the crosses in the wall through which defenders could fire towards the sea. The castle looks very small in front of the towering apartment blocks nearby, which were built for the Navy and also to house athletes competing in the sailing events at the recent Olympics.

The Isle of Portland is famed for it's limestone, which has been quarried for use in construction all over the world. The 'island' is connected to the mainland by a tombolo, a causeway of shingle that is part of Chesil Beach. In the photo above, you can see the flat top of the island, from the quarries that covered it.

Many of London's finest buildings are made of Portland Stone. As Portland castle shows, the stone from the best beds is hard but carves well and this is the material of choice for many British stone carvers. These carvings set into the wall by the Chesil Beach Visitors Centre are examples of such work:

This is the address for the English Heritage website page about Portland Castle:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/portland-castle/#Right

Clun castle was already in ruins when Portland castle was being built. It is situated in the village of Clun in Shropshire, on the Welsh borders. The castle is thought to have been established by Picot De Say not long after the Norman invasion and was owned by the Fitzalan family for many years. 

The Great Hall built by them was impressive, but impractical. It is on the side of the motte, or mound, so would have been very vulnerable to being undermined during a siege. Eventually, the Fitzalans decided to spend their time on their more luxurious Sussex estate at Arundel and by the 16th century the castle was a ruin. 

Visiting Clun castle is still worth it though. The remains have a romantic, ruined grandeur about them and the area around is very beautiful.

The ruins of Clun castle are also looked after by English Heritage and their web page is here:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/clun-castle/

The Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle) in Sintra, Portugal

This national monument lies near to the town of Sintra, west of Lisbon. The heavily wooded area is a National Park and is very beautiful, with the trees growing on and around huge granite boulders. The area around the castle is so special that it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Castelo dos Mouros is a castle begun in the ninth century by the Moors, the Muslim rulers of the area at the time. It was modified by later Christian occupiers after 1147 AD, having passed backwards and forwards between Moors and Christians until then. It was also altered by King Fernando II in the 19th century. There isn't much of the associated buildings left, but the castle is very beautiful even so, with the forest that surrounds it now also filling it's courtyards.

The photos below shows the castle keep, where the Alcaide would live (the castle governor during the Muslim period).

Another national monument, the palace of Pena, sits on the next hill and so both can be visited in a day.   

An adult ticket for both in high season costs 17 euros. However, there isn't much in the way of disabled access. 

You might also need a good head for heights in parts of both the castle and the palace!

When we visited, the castle was in the middle of a large project to restore and improve it, including the building of a visitors centre. Once the large metal mast nearby has gone, it should look good, I think. The holes in the ground next to it are the cisterns, where water stores were kept in case of a siege.