Raglan Castle

Raglan Castle is one of the last medieval castles to have been built in England and Wales. Most of what can be seen dates from the mid to late 1400s and mid 1500s, including the state apartments, garderobe tower, gatehouse and closet tower seen in the photograph. The castle was built on the site of a smaller castle/fortified house. The large building whose remains we see today was the work of William Herbert (d.1469). Later owners in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries turned it into a Renaissance palace with extensive gardens, lakes, fountains and other landscaping features. The seventeenth century owners' loyalty to Charles 1 proved the building's undoing because after its capture the Parliamentary forces under Thomas Fairfax "slighted it" i.e. destroyed enough of it to render it unusable. The photograph I took in May proved less satisfactory than this image from July 2018.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Monnow Bridge, Monmouth

I posted a photograph of this fortified bridge in May, and on a recent shopping expedition to Monmouth I took another shot in the colder, harder light of November. The gathering of gulls, swans and ducks also added something to the shot. However, in my mind, as far as birds go, this image is a missed opportunity because, seconds after I pressed the shutter, a pair of kingfishers, iridescent blue and jewel-like in the low sun flashed from right to left and disappeared under the nearest arch, heading upstream!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100