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Scarborough or 'Scabro' as the locals say |
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Yeah, so I am in the middle of essays and stuff, and I made a deal with myself (note- this is what you do when you really don't want to do any work but you have to somehow force yourself to do the work). The deal was if I could get a rough draft of one of my essays done by this weekend, I would take off and go check out a local spot I have not yet seen. Well, this wouldn't be much of a report if I didn't get the rough draft done... so I went to a town that is south of Whitby, east of York, eastern coast of England, on the North Sea called Scarborough. It is supposedly named after some tough viking named Thorgils Skardi, which means Thorgils Hare-lip... tough guy. You gotta love old Viking names- there is this one guy called Hal Sarcastic, and another guy called Halfdan Fart- great names. I wonder what I would be called if I was a Viking? Perhaps, Simon Homerun-swing... Well, I guess there is what you'd like to be called, which is one thing, but you usually don't assign yourself a name. In that case, going off what a friend recently put in a Email to me, I would be called something like Simon Floppy-manboobs. I guess it could be worse... I could be Simon Shortpecker, Simon the Desperate, or some other terrible name. Simon Floppy-manboobs it is then. If you can think of good Viking name for yourself Email me- I would be curious to know what you come up with.
Anyway, so I get on a bus this morning, and I take off for Scabro, as the locals say. It takes about an hour to get there, and when I get off the bus I realize I forgot my little book with the map of the city. I do remember the castle being far from the bus-stop, so this is not a trivial matter. I get off the bus, and luckily there are signs all over the place pointing you towards the castle. The walk is about a half-hour to 45minutes, and you steadily are walking upwards. Today it was overcast there, and the fog hadn't burned off, so the pictures were kind of muggy looking- not the clear days at Whitby. |
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So I enter through the gatehouse, and there is this narrow walkway up to the keep. The castle literally sits on this elevated rock outcropping jutting out into the North Sea. It is pretty cool... impressive. The keep here just didn't fall down because of neglect either. During the Civil War in the 17c the sucker got hammered real bad with cannon and literally came undone. Even though the keep got smashed, the people in the castle were still able to hold off for a while. The causeway I am on, is this little strip of man-made bridge connecting the rock outcropping to the land proper- there is a sheer drop off the face of this rock in all directions- awesome defesive placement. |
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Here is the Causeway on the right, and you can kind of get the idea on the drop off. The stone bridge is actually a later addition to the castle. Oh, by the way, the castle was started in the 12c, and a couple kings of England put in major pounds in upgrading it over time and making a tough nut to crack. Anyway- the castle would have had a number of drawbridges along that Causeway, so if one fell they could fall back to defend another.
The castle itself had two bailies, which are like big courtyards- one, the outer, larger than the inner. The bailies are seperated by an elevated wall and a ditch. So if the outer defenses were breached (i.e. the outer baily), the men could fall back to the inner baily and they are back in a secure position. If the inner baily falls, then you fall back to the keep. That is the way these things work. A little Castle 101 for those who don't know. Of course this was all built in medieval times without the forsight of anyone shooting 65 pound cannon balls at it- so there you have it. |
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Yeah- this picture I am standing in the outer baily almost to the cliff's edge. The sea is right behind me, and the drop is hundreds of feet off a sheer cliff. One of the generals during the battle where the keep was smashed had his hat blow off and he tried to save it- Oops! The bastard fell off one of the cliffs. Of course it wasn't the one behind me, but I just can imagine some pansy chasing his hat and falling off a cliff. He actually recovered from the fall (six weeks in bed) to order the cannons to open up on the keep then he got shot through the gut and killed when he ordered a charge once he saw the keep fall to pieces under his guns.
The outer baily is really large, and the walls stretch hundreds of feet on either side of it. There is no wall though at the edge of the cliff because no one would be able to climb that sucker. |
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This is still in the outerbaily straight out from the keep. I am using my zoom here- I am right on the cliff's edge. What you see are the remains of a church that used to stand in the outerbaily. The wall beyond it is the wall of the innerbaily. I was actually standing next to the remains of a Roman watchtower- all that remains are stones in the earth like the church in front here. The Romans built a long line of coastal towers to light signal fires on top of when the Germans (Anglo-Saxons) would attack by sea- think of the Lord of the Rings movie where the signal fires are lit (Reality is always better than fiction). |
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Here is a closer view of the innerbaily wall. You can see that the wall is on an elevated rise just as if it was the outer wall, and there is a ditch right in front of me. I thought of climbing down into the ditch, but I didn't want to get dirty or anything. About the only thing populating Castle Scarborough now adays are the seagulls. They are everywhere- note in picture- and their cries are part of the experience really. |
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Yeah- so I set my camera down on the wall, and took a picture of myself within the innerbaily. Notice the innerbaily wall to your right, and the keep to your left. You can get a feel of just how big the keep is by looking at the small little people in front of it. A final note on the Castle- it was last attacked during WWI if you can believe that. The Germans pulled up a couple ships and opened fire on the town and the castle. The rally cry for the English entering the war was "Remember 9/11!"... Wait a minute- I mean "Remember Scarborough!". Hey! At least the English had enough sense to rally and fight the perpatrators of the attack- they didn't barge off in their blood-lust and attack Iceland to satisfy their greed for the dwindling supply of seal-pelts.
After the castle, I went down into the town. I got lost because I didn't have my map or anything, but I was able to find my way easy enough. I am actually quite comfortable now being lost in places- it is actually pretty easy to find things if you just keep your sense of direction about you. As far as Scarbro the town- it was a nice little place. The locals in York don't like it much, but I liked it. It wasn't nearly as pretty as Whitby, but it had its own little charm to it. It is a busier kind of place- a little closer to the main track for tourists and whatnot- not that Whitby doesn't get its tourists, but Scarborough really had a boatload of people there today and it is the first week of the tourist season. Anyway- I know I only have less than two months here, and I have a lot of work to do in that time. I am planning one last hurra before I go. It will be a circuit of sorts. I don't want to give it away, but it should be really fun. Anyway- hoped you liked Scarbro and I ask you- What is your Viking name? |
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