Not so royal Windsor

the castle towering over the town

By Carole Barclay

Royal Windsor on the outskirts of London conjures up sedate images of the castle on the Thames, Eton college, a popular racecourse and Legoland. But behind the veneer of bourgeois respectability lies a much more turbulent past.
    Just down the road is Runnymede, where bad King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Charles Stuart was held in Windsor castle during the Civil War before his trial and execution in London in January 1649, and Queen Victoria narrowly escaped death in 1882 when a “madman” took a shot at her outside the royal railway station.
    The massive fortress that towers over Windsor has dominated the town since Norman days. Although the bastions and curtain walls still follow their ancient course, the castle has long been a royal palace and what we see today is essentially a Georgian and Victorian gothic fantasy.
    The castle was originally built to control a strategic section of the River Thames in William the Conqueror’s day. It was converted into a royal palace a century later and so it remains until this day – but it wasn’t always so.
    In the 17th century Windsor was a Puritan stronghold. During the civil war it was occasionally used by Oliver Cromwell as his headquarters and a gaol for Royalist prisoners. In Cromwell’s day the castle became a home for invalided members of the New Model Army and their families, but it reverted to the Crown after the Stuart restoration in 1660.
    Wandering the streets you will see relics of bygone ages. Shops that go back to Elizabethan days and a 17th century Guildhall designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The grand central station once used by royalty now just provides a shuttle service to Slough; but the massive concourse has been converted into a Victorian-themed shopping centre that preserves many original features such as the Jubilee Arch and the Royal Waiting Room. Outside one of the cafes in the complex there’s even a full-size replica of the steam engine that hauled Queen Victoria's Royal Train.
    Just over the river is Eton college, the paramount public school that has reared the offspring of the ruling class since its foundation in 1441.
    The Duke of Wellington said that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton and he was probably right. Old boys include Boris Johnson and 19 other Prime Ministers, as well as a predictable bunch of military men, artists and sportsmen. It was also the alma mater of Guy Burgess, who went on to study at Cambridge in the 1930s. There some students embraced the communist ideal. Some joined the workers movement, others fought in Spain. But Guy and his friends, Donald Maclean and Kim Philby, went a step further by taking the principled decision to struggle for peace by working for Soviet intelligence.
    The “Cambridge Spies” whose defections rocked the British establishment in the 1950s and ‘60s all ended up in the Soviet Union. Guy Burgess died in Moscow in 1963 and his ashes now lie in his family's plot in West Meon in Hampshire.
    Etonians are naturally ‘conservative’ with a small ‘c’ and most of them are imbibed with the ‘One Nation’ Toryism that one would expect from a school where much of its intake comes from the landed gentry. But the school does encourage open discussion and in October 1998 NCP leader Andy Brooks was invited to address a packed meeting of Eton’s Shelley Society on the communist ideal. One or two of the boys even said they considered themselves to be “Marxists”. I wonder where they are now…

Canterbury Tales

the iconic heart of the city

By Carole Barclay

Canterbury, the historic capital of Kent, has attracted visitors for over 1,000 years. In the past it was the focus for the cult of St Thomas, the archbishop cut down in his own cathedral in 1170 for crossing the king once too often. Tourists now follow the footsteps of pilgrims in the majestic cathedral that is the hub of the Church of England and wander around the ancient streets that are still surrounded by a massive city wall that goes back to Roman days.

Many years ago the Anglican church was dubbed the Conservative party at prayer, so it’s not surprising to find the city’s hallowed streets used to project ‘traditional values’ and the myth of ‘old England’ that the ruling class use to justify their exploitation and oppression. But that was all shaken at last year’s general election when Labour defeated the Tories, who had held the seat in its current and earlier forms for 160 years, to elect Canterbury’s first ever Labour and female MP.

But throughout history the people of Canterbury have stood up for themselves, and beneath the city streets there’s a record of a violent and sometimes revolutionary past. When Wat Tyler led the Kentish rebels during the Peasants Revolt of 1381 his army was welcomed by the people of Canterbury, who help them to sack the castle and the archbishop’s palace.

Thomas Becket may have been a martyr for his church but he was not the only Archbishop of Canterbury to meet a violent end. Aelfheah was killed by Viking raiders in 1012 for refusing to pay a ransom. Archbishop Sudbury, the architect of the hated Poll Tax, was beheaded by an enraged mob in London during the Peasants Revolt and Archbishop Laud, a royalist lackey, was executed for treason by the Parliamentary authorities in 1645 during the Civil War.

The civil war ended with the execution of Charles Stuart in 1649 and the proclamation of the Republic of England, or Commonwealth as it was commonly known.

The end of the monarchy also meant the end of the Church of England, which was abolished and outlawed by the republican government led by Oliver Cromwell. In Canterbury Puritans ransacked the cathedral to purge it of ‘popish’ symbols. The hard-line faction on the city council even wanted the cathedral demolished. Wiser counsel prevailed however, and the building was put to good use to provide much needed accommodation for the local militia during the Commonwealth era.

The restoration of the monarchy that came soon after Cromwell’s death paved the way for the re-establishment of the Anglican church as the official Church of England and now the cathedral welcomes nearly a million visitors per year to marvel at the imposing edifice that is a tribute to the skill of medieval craftsmen.

Nowadays Canterbury is a centre of learning, with a large student population centred around the city’s three universities and other higher education institutions. The performing arts are well-served by the theatre named after Christopher Marlowe, the city’s favourite son, and the Gulbenkian arts complex on the campus of the University of Kent.

But it’s the medieval sites that most tourists come to see. The cathedral is a must, despite the high admission charge, and a walk around the ramparts encompasses a massive Roman burial mound and the ruins of Canterbury castle. The shattered remnants of St Augustine’s priory, dissolved in 1538 when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church, and the medieval buildings and churches that can be found throughout the old city are well worth visiting, along with the Roman and other local museums that trace the city’s history down the ages.

• Canterbury Castle