Bodiam Basement

We all have our addictions. Blipfoto for example. It is not my addiction, yet. I have another one, ever since the summer of 1989 when I first visited Bodiam Castle.

In November 1483 Buckingham's rebellion - as it is now called - had just collapsed. Only a few embers of resistance were left, among which Bodiam Castle in Kent. From Exeter Richard III issued a commission to the Earl of Surrey and others to "levy men in the counties of Kent en Sussex to besiege the Castle of Bodyham which the rebels have seized." So far historical fact.

This is the basement, for as far as I have been able to reconstruct it, as I believe it was during the siege. About one hundred years after it was built. Not everything is fact, but I promise you it does come close.

There have been quite a few people before me who have attempted to reconstruct Bodiam Castle. Only occasionally with more than one floor plan. And I haven't seen any without mistakes. I suspect I too made a few. I have not been able to explore everything that still exists. Parts of Bodiam, owned by The National Trust, are not open to the public. These spots remained blank to me. Over the years, even before there were digital camera's, I must have made at least 300 photographs. They helped me draw the picture. A total of four plans. The basement - which you see above - the ground floor, the first floor and the second floor with parts of the roof. The upper floors in the towers are even higher than that.

For your co-ordination, the left is facing north.

I'll save the rest for later. The next time I don't have a blip ready just before midnight. Coming days I need to take pictures of our new house as is now, to show the progress and maybe one for the woodland season series.