So before this lockdown came into full effect my partner and I were on a furious house hunt. It became a bit consuming to be honest and a little weird. Every day traveling between tiers, constant phone calls and chase ups, sometimes clocking eight hours on the road a day, occasionally being stopped when out of our tier area and in a higher or lower risk one.. it was a bit nutty to say the least.
But when we were looking at homes in Exmoor (trying to go rural) we decided to hit the pause button and take a break. So we had a look about at what was still open and up popped the village of Dunster and more importantly Dunster Castle One of our normal pre covid hobbies has always been visiting historical sites, mooching about for extended periods, then having lunch somewhere. So in an attempt to play pre new normal normal, and break from the chaos of house hunting we pointed the car towards the coast and made for the village of Dunster.
The castle itself sits on a massive piece of high ground that was once a Tor. Like many 11th century fortifications it was built on former Saxon defensive points. It gave a strategic advantage to spotting coastal raiders, and today still commands impressive view looking out towards the sea and the town of Minehead below. After the Norman conquest a wooden fortification was built on the hill by William de Mohun, and the site was central to controlling more roguish elements of the Southwest. By the 12th century (1135 to be exact) all hell broke loose across Britain with the start of The Anarchy and the castle was battle tested with its first siege which it managed to hold through. Though the castle itself would hold through multiple tumultuous times it eventually fell to attack during the English Civil War.
By the 14th century the castle passed into the hands of the Luttrel family The family itself has a pretty interesting history replete with all the normal stuff that comes with European nobility. Geoffrey Luttrel sacked a rather poor and sincere monastic community in the 14th century in Sempringham, Simmon Luttrel who the castle passed to in the 18th century was a distinguished lord and politician though he held the nickname "The King of Hell" by many... basically he enjoyed brothels and rumpy pumpy with a rumoured Johny Apple seed twist. Given how depraved 18th century leadership could be (kinda like today but more open then) he probably had to put serious work into getting the nickname.
The castle itself has a pretty macabre side that one can't help but wonder about when walking through. One excavation of the dungeon below revealed a walled and sealed off area where multiple skeletons were found manacled to a wall. (Sadly the dungeon was closed apparently due to covid? Either way I couldn't take any photos) Given the revealing blips we get in the history of the Luttrel family it's easy to wonder if any truly strange/cruel occurrences happened within these gilded rooms. Like our descendant centuries from now will inevitably do when pondering the depravities of the past I paused, thought about it, shrugged, then moved on. The Luttrel family would have a couple more documented mischief makers (gambling addict daughters, pick pockets nieces, etc) but more or less would fade like many Irish peerages. The castle would be lost by them due to cost, bought back, then gifted to the National Trust in the 20th century.
Despite its bleak and bright history, I was taken with the Georgian feel of the castle. Each room bears that subtle attention to small detail in arrangement that when all brought together projects a subtle grandeur. It was odd walking around with social distancing and "new normal" directions in every room. It wasn't even that crowded, but still it took something away from the normal rewarding feeling of spending time in places like this. We couldn't sit with the space or take the time to soak in the location as there was a constant worry about the people coming in behind you and causing a back up.
However there still was some reward in it. There's an entire story carved into the houses grand stair case, there's the bedroom where King Charles slept before eventually life leading him to loose his head. It's an odd thing. I used to live right across the road from a castle ruin where King Charles was hidden during the English Civil War, had a meal at a friends country house where at one point he was hidden in a cellar before his apprehension, and inadvertently visited, and or happened upon random places where he holed up during that time. I've never been overly enamoured with that period in history but visiting Dunster made me think maybe I ought to revisit it.
Despite the wonderful history surrounding the site the most amusing and slightly comical side to the entire visit was the Hogarth print collection on one of the staircases. I own a number of Hogarth prints I've yet to have framed, and I've always had a fondness for his work. Most of his works are moral objections depicted in a satirical fashion. In Hogarths day social depravity was an objectionable issue for many in Britain. It brought me to think about our culture today with it's gulp gulp materialism, swipe left, swipe right, flip a coin, rub a groin, entitled gimme gimme traits... and well.. I guess I sorta felt reassured that there are constants in the universe. What is a problem today was a problem then. We've just gotten a little better about bathing.
We left the main castle and wandered down to the mill house attached to the castle. It's actually still a functioning mill and produces flour from local wheat which was sorta cool. It was nice spot to take a pause on the bridge and just enjoy moving slow. We had been flat out and though the visit to Dunster Castle wasn't like our normal visits to historical sites in the pre covid world, we still got some respite from the chaos of house hunting.
After the mill we decided to call it a day and start the long journey home. We thought about milling around the village but decided against it. The long drive added to the social distancing crap involved with going in and out of village shops just seemed like a chore. So we gave it a miss.
Well guys if you made it this far thanks for reading. This was just a quick post to put up some content as I've been inactive for a while. Moving house in a lockdown has been insane to say the least, but as I get settled into the new location hopefully I can get more content out in the coming weeks. Thanks again for stopping by, and best of luck with all your posts and projects.