CARISBROOKE AND ITS MEMORIES
Carisbrooke is the central attraction for visitors, just as, by
position, it is well-nigh the centre of the island. Even from childish
days the picture of the patient donkey walking in a wheel to draw up
water from the well, or the touching tale of the little Princess
Elizabeth, who pined to death in the castle, has been familiar to
everyone. The donkey who now holds the office is probably just as great
an interest to the thousands of tourists--one Whit-Monday has been known
to bring ten thousand--as the historical associations with which the
castle is so richly endowed. The well is 150 feet deep, but that the
work is not unduly hard is evidenced by the longevity of the donkeys,
one of which lived to the age of thirty-two and another to twenty-one
years. There are two at present, who relieve each other, both
comparatively young and much petted.
Carisbrooke is bound up with the history of the island. Its origin goes
back into the dim mists of antiquity, and the earliest record is of a
British fort which stood on the site. This was eventually succeeded by a
Roman camp. The Romans called the island Vecta, or Vectis, and held it
from A.D. 43 to A.D. 530, when Cedric the Saxon seized it. The Saxons
used Carisbrooke as a strong place and fortified it, but when William
the Conqueror established himself in England he bestowed it upon William
Fitz-Osborne. One little incident which stands out in William's reign is
that of the seizure of his half-brother Odo at Carisbrooke, where he had
taken refuge. King William himself crossed over on this occasion and
dragged out the rebel with a strong hand. (See plan of Carisbrooke, p.
62).
In the time of King Stephen, "Baldwin de Redvers made an insurrection
against Stephen at Exeter, was there besieged and starved out, and then
fled to the Wight, an island situate between Normandy and England, but
nearer to England than to Normandy. He there occupied his castle, which
was most grand built of stone and strengthened by very great
fortifications. It was considered impregnable, and being well stored
with provisions and plenty of water, Baldwin determined to defy the
King, but by the providence of God intervening the well was dried up
suddenly. Baldwin on this was so discouraged that he fled to the King to
ask forgiveness and to be allowed to retain his own property; but he did
not get his request granted. He then repaired to the Court of Anjou,
which received him with much honour" (Gesta Stephani).
With the treaty which provided for the succession of Henry came the
re-establishment of Baldwin at Carisbrooke, whereupon he at once sank a
much deeper and better well, the one which is now in existence, probably
with an eye to future contingencies! The family of de Redvers, which
continued long in possession, was Norman, and the description of the
island as lying "between Normandy and England" is not really so absurd
as it sounds in view of the fact that it was an appanage of Normandy,
and when Normandy was lost to England it continued to be so, until
Edward I. bought it from its "lord," Isabella de Fortibus, the last of
the line of de Redvers, who is said to have had "a man's courage and
lion's heart." She sold it to him as she lay dying, childless and a
widow. The sum was one which in these days would be equal to £60,000.
Since then it has been an integral part of England. It is true that the
Duke of Warwick was called King of the Island by Henry VI., but the
empty title died with its only possessor. Among the Wardens and
Governors have been many whose names stand out in history: Humphry, Duke
of Gloucester, Richard, Duke of York (killed at Agincourt), Piers
Gaveston the Favourite, Edmund, Duke of Somerset, Anthony Woodville, who
was Lord Scales in right of his wife, and became Earl Rivers when his
father and elder brother were beheaded. The same fate befell him when he
was only forty-one, because he had dared to espouse the cause of his
nephew, Edward V., against the Duke of Gloucester.
Cromwell, the "Hammer of the Monks," was another Governor, but did not
long enjoy his position; he was made Constable of Carisbrooke Castle in
1538, and it was only two years later that his downfall came. One of his
last letters written to the King from the tower where he was imprisoned
ends, "Your Highness's most heavy and most miserable prisoner and poor
slave." Among the names of our own times there is that of Prince Henry
of Battenberg, whose wife succeeded him in the honorary position at his
death.
[Illustration: YACHTING AT COWES. _Pages 41-45._
Where the Royal Yacht Squadron have their headquarters, and where the
famous "Cowes Week" takes place in August.]
At the time of the Spanish Armada the castle was most strongly
fortified. The works were placed in charge of an Italian called
Giambelli. He it was who devised the bastioned enceinte around the
castle. The shape is an irregular pentagon, faced with stone and
defended by a ditch. The men of the island contributed £400 to the money
given by the Government, and voluntary labour was freely offered. That
the work was not unnecessary was shown by the appearance of the Spanish
Fleet at the back of the island. It had been looked for for many a year;
as early as 1583 the island had been provided with a train of artillery,
every parish giving a piece of brass ordnance, and each part of the
coast had been put in charge of a "centoneer," who had watchers under
him. Beacons were to be lighted to give the alarm, and the names of
these show the districts: Brook, Mottistone, Swanston, Kingston,
Nunwell, Yaverland, Bembridge, Stenbury, and Wolverton. At this time Sir
George Carey, Lord Hunsdon, cousin to the Queen, was the Governor of the
island.
When, therefore, the fleet did come, hundreds of the island folk
gathered on the high cliffs to watch with nervous excitement for
developments. The great galleons, lying heavily on the water, looked
formidable enough, but they could not move easily, while the smaller
English craft could be towed about by their long-boats. Lord Howard of
Effingham himself came up, and Captain Hawkins actually took a galleon,
while Sir Martin Frobisher was so sorely set upon by several at once
that other ships--the _White Bear_ and _Elizabeth Jones_--had to go to
his assistance. The English would probably have won, but that the powder
fell short, having been blazed merrily away; and the Spanish ships,
being in the same plight, at length sailed off.
Among the entries in the register of Carisbrooke church, written in
faint, discoloured ink, is the record: "1588. The very year that the
great and huge fleete of the Spanyard came to the ile of Wight was at
Maudlinestide, in the yeere of our Lord God, 1588, the which God
defended us, our Queene and Realm this day and for evermore, and send us
truthe and quietnes within ourselves, anno 1588."
At the beginning of the Civil War it was held by Colonel Brett, and with
him in the castle was the Countess of Portland, wife of the Governor of
the island, and her five children. Gallantly was the castle held till
there were but three days' provisions left, and the besieging hordes,
fighting for the Parliament, were around the walls. Then it seemed that
surrender must be made, but the Countess herself appeared on the walls
with dauntless courage, and, telling the roaring mob that unless they
granted honourable terms, including the lives and freedom of the
garrison, she would herself put the match to the first cannon and fight
till the walls crumbled, so impressed them that her conditions were
granted.
Sad indeed is the story of the ill-fated King Charles I., who came to
Carisbrooke of his own free will after his escape from Hampton Court in
November, 1647. This was not his first visit to the island; that had
taken place very many years before, when, as a small boy of nine, he had
been brought by his father to hunt in the great forest of Parkhurst.
When he arrived as a fugitive, he was courteously received, and at first
treated as a guest, but bit by bit all his attributes of royalty were
stripped from him, and he realized the bitterness of imprisonment
without honour. As he grew more sensible of the hopelessness of his
future, he ceased to care for his appearance, and lived very quietly,
eating little and reading much, such books as Hooker's _Ecclesiastical
Polity_, and Bishop Andrewes' _Sermons_. While he was at Carisbrooke he
was said to have written the _Eikon Basilike_, the authorship of which
is now generally attributed, however, to Bishop Gauden. The King
certainly did write at least one poem at the castle, one verse of which
runs:
"The fiercest furies that do daily tread
Upon my grief, my grey discrowned head,
Are those that owe my bounty for their bread."
Once in the month of March, 1648, and again in the May following, he
made attempts at escape abortively. The first time he found the window
through which he tried to pass too narrow for his head, and the second
time, though the obstructing bars had been sawn through, it was of no
avail, for the plot had been revealed, and guards were waiting below.
The small window which was the scene of both attempts is one of the
principal details of interest for visitors.
Towards the end of the same year the King had a long conference with the
representatives of the Parliament at Newport, but the issue had been
predetermined, and the commission might have borne as its motto the
celebrated words of the tyrant to his victim: "You will be tried and
convicted." Eventually the King was seized and carried over to the
mainland, there, on the last day of January, 1649, to meet his death at
Whitehall.
In the following August there arrived at Carisbrooke two pathetic little
figures, the Princess Elizabeth, then fifteen years old, and her brother
Henry, Duke of Gloucester, aged ten. The Princess was described as "a
lady of excellent parts, great observation, and an early understanding."
Already she was delicate in health, and deformed in figure, owing to the
complaint of "rickets"; no doubt the shock of her father's terrible
death had preyed upon her mind, and she was in a state to succumb
rapidly to any malady. The opportunity soon came: she caught a chill at
a game of bowls, which acted quickly on her enfeebled constitution, and
less than a month after her arrival she was found lying dead with her
face resting on an open Bible, a gift from that beloved father she had
so soon followed. Thus, sculptured by Baron Marochetti, the tender
attitude in which death found her remains fixed in marble in Newport
Church, where she was buried. Her little brother Henry was kept two
years longer at Carisbrooke before being sent abroad to join the elder
members of the family. He died of smallpox at the age of twenty. The
children seem both to have been well treated during their
imprisonment--a fact which is to the credit of the Parliamentarians.
Among other prisoners the castle has held are two especially well known,
Sir William Davenant and Sir Harry Vane.
One of the most impressive features of the castle is the great Norman
keep, one of the oldest existing parts, which stands on an eminence, and
is a prominent feature for miles around. It is reached by a flight of
seventy-one steps. In interest and architectural grandeur it is rivalled
by the gate-tower, chiefly the work of Earl Rivers, though he was
beheaded before the building was completed. Like all historic places,
the castle belongs to all ages, and is the result of slow growth, here a
bit and there a bit, with added wings and walls, with rebuilding and
accretions. It offers pictures from almost every standpoint, and the
crumbling bits of masonry, seen in a setting of trees or brushwood,
carry continual delight to the observant eye. Carisbrooke well deserves
the homage it receives.
The tiny priory of Carisbrooke formed a cell to a more important
monastery. The monks were French Benedictines, with which Order the
island has always been popular. Its ancient connection with France,
combined with its own peacefulness, seems to have drawn them
irresistibly. Of these settlements, those at Quarr, near Ryde, and
Appuldurcombe are the most famous. Quarr was founded by the same Baldwin
de Redvers who built the well at Carisbrooke, and so richly endowed was
the abbey that the abbot became a personage of great consequence and
dignity. By licence of Edward III. a sea-wall was built, enclosing an
area of 40 acres; the wall was designed to prevent the unwelcome visits
of sea-pirates, who at one time were a scourge. Many distinguished
persons were buried in the abbey, including a daughter of Edward IV. At
present Quarr is a farm, and among the farm-buildings many parts of the
ancient abbey walls may easily be traced; it is said, indeed, that the
barn was the monks' refectory.
Appuldurcombe (curiously pronounced with a strong accent on the last
syllable) was a Benedictine abbey of importance also. After the
dissolution of the religious houses it fell into the possession of the
Worsleys by marriage with an heiress. The name of this family is
indelibly written in the annals of the island, because for three
centuries its leading men took part in all public movements; many of
them also were Members of Parliament in the happy days before the Reform
Bill, when the island sent six members to represent its opinions,
instead of one as at present! Several of the Worsleys succeeded one
another in the office of Governor of the island. The first owner of
Appuldurcombe was James Worsley, who married its heiress in 1510. His
son entertained King Henry VIII. and Cromwell at Appuldurcombe, and two
years later, when Cromwell was beheaded, the office of Constable of the
island, which he had held, was bestowed upon Worsley. The great mansion
belonging to the family was built in 1710. It stands in a fine park,
where there is on the crest of the hill a gigantic obelisk, put up in
1774 to the memory of Sir Robert Worsley by his descendant Sir Richard.
This is still conspicuous, though it was shattered by lightning, and the
huge blocks hurled hither and thither. It is chiefly notable as marking
a spot from which one of the finest views in the island may be seen--a
view embracing Freshwater on one side and Culver on the other.
[Illustration: THE UNDERCLIFF. _Page 53._
Is a beautiful portion of the coast stretching from Ventnor to St.
Catherine's Point.]
The Sir Richard to whom the obelisk is due was really the most
distinguished of his family. James Worsley, his grandfather, had
collected materials for a history of the island, which Sir Richard
edited and compiled. It is still the principal authority. He was a Privy
Councillor and a widely-travelled man, while the objects of art he
collected on his travels formed a costly museum. He died in 1805,
childless, and the property passed to the Earl of Yarborough in right of
his wife.
Carisbrooke is only a mile or so from the chief town of the island,
Newport, though it must be added that Ryde claims the distinction of
being the largest town. Newport has been said to "stand at that spot
marked by Nature for the capital of the island, at the confluence of the
two streams into which the estuary of the Medina is divided." In its
first charter the town is called "the new borough of Mede."
The wide estuary of the River Medina comes up to the town, and enables
considerable trade to be water-borne. Further down are large cement
works, and small vessels bearing timber, malt, wheat, and coal come
right up to the junction of the streams which feed the estuary, one of
which, the Lugley, comes down from Carisbrooke.
The church is modern, but has a high tower, and stands well. There is
very little of interest in it, the chief monument being the beautiful
marble one to Princess Elizabeth already alluded to, which was made at
the expense of Queen Victoria. That and a fine old pulpit put up in
1658, and carved richly with allegorical figures representing all the
virtues, besides the graces and arts, are really all there is to see.
Newport does not lay itself out much for visitors, holding itself with
dignity as the capital--a place for a resident rather than the floating
population which so enriches the coast towns in the season. The Jacobean
Grammar School, wherein the historic Conference, culminating in the
Treaty of Newport, took place between the King and the Parliament, is by
far the most interesting object in the town. The discussion on the
Treaty of Newport was not the final act before King Charles's death, but
it was an important turning-point. Rumours of violence were abroad
toward the close of the Conference, and the King's guards were doubled
in order to prevent his possible escape. They were "not only set before
the house and at every window, but even within doors also; nay,
sentinels at the King's very chamber-door, so that the King was almost
suffocated with the smoke of the burning match in their gun-locks." The
King's followers were alarmed, and urged him to escape. Colonel Cooke
had the password which would take him forth; horses were ready at hand;
a vessel was waiting Cooke's orders at Cowes; and the only question was,
would the King avail himself of these means? His answer was: "They have
promised me, and I have promised them; I will not break first."
The next morning the King was aroused by a great knocking at the door,
and when he asked what it was, he was told that some officers had come
from the Parliamentarians to remove him to Hurst Castle. A jolting,
heavy-wheeled coach was brought to the door, and in it he was carried
off _en route_ for Hurst Castle.
Perhaps the most exciting episode in the history of the town was when
the French landed on the island in 1377 and burnt it completely, while
those of the population who were not slaughtered ran away. So complete
was the destruction that it is said no one returned to live there for
two years.
The Medina is the principal river of the island, and its name has been
connected with the root of "middle" or "mid," and is supposed to be
related to the names Medway and Maidstone. The only two other rivers are
both, oddly enough, named Yar, and besides them there are numerous
streams.
Parkhurst, now chiefly associated with the closely-guarded prison, was
at one time a forest for hunting of over 3,000 acres. It was so from the
Conqueror's time, being mentioned in Domesday Book under "Watching
Wood," which is rated lightly because part of the land formerly
belonging to it has been taken into the King's park. A curious little
record which has been preserved tells us that in the reign of Edward
III. one John Maltravers should in the season for buck-hunting attend
the King at Carisbrooke for one day, at his own charge both for himself
and horse, and afterwards to remain so long as the King wanted him, but
at the King's expense.