47 The Castle of the Sheriff of Nottingham: 11 October 2024

In the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Robin Hood attacks the Castle of the Sheriff of Nottingham to prevent his true love Maid Marian from being forced to marry the evil Sheriff of Nottingham.  Wilki describes this part of the movie in these words.

 

On the day of the wedding, Robin and his men infiltrate Nottingham Castle and save the outlaws from being hanged. With the help of Azeem's explosive powder, they free the prisoners, and Azeem inspires the peasants to revolt, forcing the Sheriff to retreat with Marian into his keep. The Bishop hastily performs the marriage, but before the Sheriff can consummate it, Robin bursts in. Friar Tuck finds the Bishop fleeing with gold, burdens him with additional treasure, and defenestrates him. In a fierce duel, Robin kills the Sheriff, and Azeem kills Mortianna in defense of Robin, thus fulfilling his life-debt.

 

****

Today I visited Nottingham Castle.  For a building which was destroyed by a very angry mob in 1831 and engulfed in flames, the Castle is a very impressive building indeed.  The current official name of the Castle is Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery.  Wiki gives this rather turgid description of the Castle.

 

Nottingham Castle is a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion in Nottingham, England, built on the site of a Norman castle built starting in 1068, and added to extensively through the medieval period, when it was an important royal fortress and occasional royal residence. In decline by the 16th century, the original castle, except for its walls and gates, was demolished after the English Civil War in 1651. The site occupies a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "Castle Rock" which dominates the city skyline, with cliffs 130 feet (40 m) high to the south and west. William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, started to build the mansion in the 1670s; it was completed by his son, the 2nd Duke of Newcastle. This ducal palace was burnt by rioters in 1831, then left as a ruin until renovated in the 1870s to house an art gallery and museum, which remain in use. Little of the original castle survives other than the gatehouse and parts of the ramparts, but sufficient portions remain to give an impression of the layout of the site. The castle is owned by Nottingham City Council. After a £30 million restoration from 2018, running of the site was undertaken by independent charitable Nottingham Castle Trust with reopening on 21 June 2022. The castle closed again on 21 November 2022 when the trust went into liquidation owing the council £2.68 million, with all employees made redundant by the joint-administrators. The castle and grounds reopened to visitors on 26 June 2023.

 

 

This is the view you get of the Castle as you walk towards it.

These two fearsome characters guard the approaches to the Castle.  They are perhaps not quite as repulsive as the Sheriff of Nottingham character as portrayed by Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but they are almost as scary as the Alan Rickman character.

 

****

The work inside the Castle is stunning in its quality and in the way it is presented by Castle staff. 

 

The section of the Castle in the photo above contains surviving examples of Christian art works which survived the Reformation of religion forcibly enacted by Henry VIII.  The room is actually much more impressive that it appears in the photo.

 

The artwork shown above is located in Castle gallery shown in the photo just before this one.

Out of all the works in the Castle, the one shown in this photo comes close to being one of my favourites.  The plaque beside the statue says this.

 

Fundelia Ruffa by an unknown artist Meet Fundelia Rufa.  Some suggest she was a priestess, partly because of her distinctive hairstyle and the fact she was found in the Temple of Diana at Nemi. Italy.

 

I doubt that I would find Fundelia physically attractive if I ever met her in real life because she looks so stern.  She exudes authority and the demand to be shown respect.  Some of the nuns who taught me in primary school had a similar air because they were such cruel brutes.  I wonder what Fundelia was like in real life.

This painting is titled In Love.  It is an oil on canvas painting by Marcus Stone, who painted it in 1888.  If you blow the photo up, you will see immediately that Marcus Stone has definitely captured the visible signs of the affection between the two lovers.

 

I also really liked this painting titled Elsie on Hassan by Dame Laura Knight.  Elsie is so skilled and completely at ease on Hassan the horse.

 

This ceramic pumpkin is astonishingly lifelike.  I have cut up and cooked pumpkins that have looked just like this one – although they were never quite as big as this one.

 

****

Update on The Health Insurance Funds

Despite me sending the link to my blogs to the HCF Chairman Mark Johnson and HCF CEO Sheena Jack, and also to the Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson, as at the date of completing this blog, neither HCF nor the Ombudsman have yet got in touch with me to apologise for their appalling behaviour when Margaret was dying.  Perhaps they hope if they just stay quiet, I will go away.  My track record with those organisations should tell them I definitely will NOT go away.