A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'Z'

I must be a dunce to think that I could find a British river beginning with 'Z'. But then I remembered that 'z' is the last letter of the alphabet - 

Bridge, Buckland Mill, Devon

 showing two of the arches across the River Duntz.

In 1986 the BBC Domesday project included this is part of the "View of Buckland Brewer."

"In our area we have two rivers called Yeo and Duntz. They have quite a lot of small streams joining them. The Duntz is quite narrow with pebbles at the bottom. The Duntz joins the River Yeo which joins the River Torridge. The valleys have gently sloping sides and level floors.

The bridges crossing over the Yeo and Duntz are stone."

To hide the scars from this years A-Z and to maintain the mill connection I discovered a west country stream that rises in Wiltshire and which flows north east for 8.1 miles before joining the Bristol Avon (you could say that that has brought us back from 'Z' to 'A'.)

Mill Lane, Colston runs alongside Gauze Brook

That's all folks!

Photo attributions:

• Bridge, Buckland Mill: 16 February 2008 ex geograph.org.uk by Derek Harper - CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence
• Mill Lane Colston: 24 January 2007  ex geograph.org.uk by Roger Comfort - CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence.

A-Z Challenge 2017 - Houses, some real, some not - 'H'

H - Castle Howard

An ITV television production of Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited was filmed at Yorkshire's Castle Howard between 1979 and 1981. Castle Howard was used again for the later film released in 2008.

Castle Howard
(21 March 2008 - by Pwojdacz -uploaded at en.wikepedia - Public Domain)

The Hon. Simon Howard, who owns Castle Howard, has said:

“It is easy to see why Castle Howard was chosen as Brideshead when we hear the description Charles Ryder gives when seeing Brideshead for the first time: 

'Below us, half a mile distant, grey and gold amid a screen of boskage, shone the dome and columns of an old house.' ”

Evelyn Waugh's novel which opens during the Second World War, charts the life and loves of Army officer Charles Ryder. Arriving at Brideshead Castle for the first time in more than 20 years, he recalls his years at Oxford University, his relationship with Sebastian Flyte and his - ultimately - doomed relationship with Julia, Sebastian’s sister.

However Waugh’s Brideshead Castle was not a castle at all, but a house built of stones from a pulled-down castle a mile away. It was not in Yorkshire either, but was situated in Wiltshire. So you may gain the wrong impression if you have not read the book.

{Note: Chatsworth House (Pemberley), Green Gables and Castle Howard (Brideshead) all featured in my article in The Lady magazine in 2007, entitled 'Houses in Fiction'}.

Old Wardour Castle and the Ghost of Lady Blanche

Old Wardour Castle is located near Shaftesbury, Wiltshire in South West England. The Castle was built by John, 5^th Lord Lovell on land previously owned by the St Martin family.

Old Wardour Castle

Photo by Mike Searle (image from Geograph Project Collection) 

(Creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License)

The castle was bought by Sir Thomas Arundell in 1544. He, a staunch Roman Catholic, was executed for treason in 1552. On his death the castle was confiscated, but later bought back by his son Sir Matthew Arundell.

In May 1643 Thomas, 2^nd Baron Arundell was away on King’s business when Parliamentary forces besieged the castle. His wife 61 year-old Lady Blanche Arundell and 25 retainers defended the Old Wardour Castle for 5 days, only surrendering when two mines exploded under the walls.

After Lord Arundell died his successor returned in 1644 and besieged the castle for four months before retaking it

However instead of honouring the terms of surrender the Roundheads had first imprisoned and then executed Lady Blanche.

The damage sustained by the castle was so great that the castle was never repaired. Abandoned in the 1700s its ruins have since been incorporated in the grounds of nearby New Wardour House.

Old Wardour Castle ruins

 Adapted from a photo by Trish Steel (image from Geograph Project Collection) 

(Creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License)

Lady Blanche has not given up; her ghost did not abandon the castle. At twilight she appears on the walls, haunts the grounds and walks down to the lake.

The family died out in the 20^th century and it is unlikely that one of the castle’s supernatural events will be repeated. White owls, seen as harbingers of death, would flutter round the castle as a warning of an approaching tragedy.

Old Wardour Castle was used for some scenes in the modern film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. What would Lady Blanche, or her ghost, have made of Kevin Costner?