Bodiam Castle

No sooner had we got back from Budapest than we were looking for somewhere to go for the day and continuing our theme for March for the last half dozen years or so decided it needed to be somewhere beginning with a B (Barcelona, Brussels, Berlin, Boston, Budapest, Brighton, etc.). And so, we picked Bodiam Castle, away on the furthest fringes on East Sussex, to which the quickest route takes us through Surrey and Kent to get there.

It is a National Trust property, and we are not members, although we did make the decision whilst wandering around that we would probably become members, only to get back to the ticket office and it be shut and so we couldn’t do it on the day.

It is very picturesque, and even if you didn’t know it was Bodiam Castle then you have probably seen pictures of it, taken from an angle across its moat with the castle reflecting on the surface of the water. It is probably one of the most photographed castles in the country.

We arrive just in time to join one of the free (if you’ve bought on entry ticket that is) guided tours. And it is both funny and informative, as these tours should be really, despite my inherent nature to want just the facts.

I did have my silly head on though, and so it struck me that Bodiam is really I am Bod, spoken by Yoda — “Bod, I am.” And I was then stuck between saying Bod I Am in a Yoda voice, and humming the annoyingly catchy theme song from the old children’s TV programme Bod. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bod_(TV_series)

From the moat side of the castle, it does look as if it is intact, but inside none of the roofs remain

There are two towers you can climb up, the one above the gatehouse at the entrance over the moat. And as I’ve said several times before, it’s not a day out unless you climb some uneven steps. Or in my case bang my head on the low arched doorway out on to the roof. (No warning signs or tape there. Not up to English Heritage standards.)

I don’t know why I do it, as looking out over the side makes my head spin and knees go funny. Yet, having been up one tower, we then proceed to the tower opposite it at the back of the castle and climb up that one as well.

There are decent views over the surrounding countryside, but you do wonder what exactly it was built to protect.

It was built in the 1380s by Sir Edward Dallingridge, supposedly to protect his lands at Bodiam, having seen the French successfully attack nearby Winchelsea and Rye, and having been part of the forces to turn them back (and a mercenary in France earlier in the century). The license to crenellate the castle was granted in 1385, one of the first orders of business at the parliament of that year for which Sir Edward was an elected member.

To build the castle with its moat, he diverted the River Rother around the site, back then the river was navigable to beyond Bodiam.

The original entrance across the moat was not straight from the north as it is today, but was at a ninety degree angle to it from the west joining up with the current crossing at the octagon, something that would have made attacking the castle more difficult, both in being able to use a battering ram without much room for a run up, and easy shooting for bowman as any attackers crossed the west-east section of the crossing.

The castle had many owners over the centuries but fell into disrepair and by the early nineteenth century many of the internal walls and roofs had fallen down and the stone carted off for use elsewhere. It is likely that prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars were kept at the castle. For the next century various owners worked to slow or reverse the damage, until its final owner Lord Curzon, 1st Marquess of Kedleston gave it over to the National Trust to care for.

In the grounds is a World War II pill box, which was manned to take down the old stone bridge near by to prevent the crossing of the River Rother.

We head back, and despite the ticket office being closed, the exit through gift shop is open, with fridge magnets, pens, and guidebooks available, as is the café, which gave a chance for refreshments before heading on to our next place of interest.

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