Chepstow Castle in Wales is important to the story of my first Lady Apollonia West Country Mystery, Effigy of the Cloven Hoof. Two of the young men in Lady Apollonia’s affinity, Alwan and Owen, have a Welsh background. Both can speak the language and love to sing Welsh songs and ballads whenever they are together serving the Lady. Apollonia sends them on a mission to Chepstow Castle in Wales which is only five miles away from Aust. Today it requires ten minutes to drive that distance using the modern motorway bridge across the River Severn, but in 1400, Alwan and Owen had to use the ferry to cross the mile-wide river.
Their assignment took them to Chepstow Castle, the oldest post-Roman stone fortification in Britain, having been started in 1067, a year after the Norman Conquest. The castle had been enlarged and strengthened in the centuries that followed, but by the time of Alwan and Owen’s visit, it was declining in military importance and had fallen into a state of decay by the 18th century. Although much of it is in ruins today, the castle has become a tourist destination in more recent times, managed by Cadw, the official government guardian of the heritage of Wales. My husband and I, along with our younger son and his wife, visited the castle in 2003. The picture above shows the castle at the time of our visit.
The footprint of the castle is unusual as dictated by its geography. It is not laid out concentrically but rather stretches along the River Wye which is another of England’s tidal rivers. Particularly at low tide, the steep river banks below the high walls of the castle make it a formidable obstacle to attack from the river. Because it is situated on a narrow ridge parallel to the river, even an approach from the land side is imposing and challenging.
For more details on Chepstow Castle, click on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chepstow_Castle or on
http://www.castlewales.com/chepstow.html .
Tags: Chaucer's England, historical fiction, medieval mysteries