Portchester Castle

When I went to Chichester to see King Lear last weekend, I was able to tale the opportunity to stay with my sister and brother in law, and, as well as lots of catching up and a certain amount of rather nice food, I also paid a flying visit to Portchester Castle.

Portchester Castle from the shore

The previous evening had been very stormy (both inside and outside the theatre, for me!) but by Sunday morning the wind had a dropped a bit, and the sun was out.


K and I strolled along the shoreline, and then I took a quick look around the castle (hurrah for English Heritage membership!)

View from the castle towards Portsmouth

It has a particularly long history as a fortification - originally, there was a Roman Fort, (and parts of the walls are the original Roman ones) then a Saxon community, then a medieval castle was built in one corner of the original fort. Various Kings of England used the castle as a stopping off point when travelling, Richard II had a set of new Royal apartments built there, and Henry V used it before departing to invade France. (It's probably also where the traitors plotting against him,  were executed) 

In 1632 Charles I sold the castle (apparently by this time, Portsmouth had become a more important port, so presumably he felt it was less important to keep the castle in Royal hands.

It had rather less glamorous roles after that - it was used as a prison for Dutch prisoners of war in the 1660s, and for French (and French colonial) prisoners during the Napoleonic wars. Inside the castle there was a display about its use as a prison, including information about around 2,000 black and mixed race prisoners from the Caribbean (the French Revolutionary government declared the abolition of slavery in 1794, and recruited large numbers of former slaves into their armed forces, many of whom were then taken prisoner when the French garrison on St Lucia surrendered to the British, (the French having negotiated to ensure that these soldiers would be treated as prisoners of war, and not as slaves)

They ended up in Portchester Castle, although they were later moved to prison ships in the harbour, partly to protect them from the European prisoners kept in the castle, who were in the habit of stealing the warmer clothes provided to them.

Very interesting, and according to the information, it was common practice for the Navy to actively recruit prisoners of war, so it's quite likely that some of these men ended up serving in the British  Navy.

There were several pieces of art on display - I particularly enjoyed this ship, on the crest of a wave formed from one corner of a chart, showing (a little depressingly) British Prisoner of War 'depots' across the war during the later 18th C.

It would have been interesting to spend a little longer there, but we had Sunday Lunch to cook, so I didn't. Maybe next time.!

In Which There is a Dalek

After watching Neil unveil and officially open 'his' road, I spent some time navigating the one-way systems of Portsmouth in order to park near to the Guildhall, where his evening event was taking place.

Portsmouth Guildhall

Fortunately the Guildhall is not difficult to spot!
The Guildhall has a handy, and surprisingly affordable 'VIP' option which lets you sit inside eating cheese and biscuits and drinking wine, rather than queueing outside, which made for a relaxed start to the evening, with my new friend Kelly. (I do like meeting new people, especially at Neil's events when all the people are so interesting!).

Once inside the auditorium, however, the relaxed atmosphere was slightly marred by an unexpected extra guest on stage...

Mercifully, we made it through  the evening without anyone being Exterminated, although I feel that the fact that Portsmouth Guildhall seems to have a Dalek on staff is perhaps something which should be looked into while there is still time..

Neil was interviewed by Dom Kippin, and talked a little about his roots in Portsmouth, and about the road naming, Doctor Who and Dalek mythology as the earliest mythology he learned about, and about  the the books (Make Good Art, Chu's Day) which have come out this year. He told us that Chu's Day was written out of a determination to get a picture book published in China, after being told his previous picture books were not acceptable as they showed children knowing better than their elders, being disrespectful, and at times being naughty but not being punished. He also mentioned that there is a sequel!

Neil also answered questions from the audience, giving his recommendations for reading aloud to children (Diana Wynne Jones, The Mary Poppins books, Narnia, but not E.Nesbit because of the long, Edwardian sentences..), talked about his appearances in Arthur and The Simpsons and of course about The Ocean at the End of the Lane and how although the family is not his family, and the events not true events, the viewpoint of the protagonist is very much the viewpoint of 7-year-old-Neil.

Neil finished by reading part of Fortunately, The Milk which sounds as though it will be lots of fun, and then we were all threatened with the Wrath of the Dalek if we didn't queue properly for the signing...

I was lucky enough to be seated in one of the first 2 rows to be called forward, which meant I was able to get Vol. 1 of my Absolute Sandman signed (given the 2 hour drive home, I had already decided I wouldn't be able to stay and queue for very long) and to hand over a small box of flapjacks and muffins, as the ones I made last time seemed to be appreciated (and although  didn't know it when baking the ones i took to Bath, flapjacks made from porridge oats and blackberries are particularly appropriate for The Ocean at the End of The Lane)

I got home just after midnight, which so far as I could tell when I checked twitter this morning, was probably about an hour before Neil finished signing..

In which There Is An Ocean, and a Lane.

Yesterday, I took a trip to Portsmouth, to see Neil Gaiman officially unveiling the street named after his latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

I got there early , as I wasn't sure how long it would take me to find, or how easy it would be to find, but felt that a bit of extra time by the sea would not be a bad thing!

In fact, I didn't have too much trouble finding Canoe Lake (no canoes, but giant swan pedalos) and the lane is very close (map here )

View The Ocean at the end of The Lane in a larger map
and people quickly started to arrive. (including some gentlemen from the council who carefully covered the road sign up so it could be unveiled, and a little later  closed the road and set some chairs up for the visitors, and there was time to catch up with old friends and acquaintances and make new ones.

Neil lived near here when he was a child, and still has family in the area, many of whom had attended. There were also people who had known the family back then - there were clearly lots of people who hadn't seen one another for a while happily catching up, and I overheard one lovely, elderly gentleman saying to his wife's friend "look at all these people, I'd no idea David's boy was famous - did you know?"  I love that he (and others) had come out because it was "David's boy" or a former neighbour who was being honoured, and not just because he is a famous writer!

Then Neil arrived, together with the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Lynne Stagg (who, to my disappointment was not wearing her full ceremonial robes) and Sam Cox, Portsmouth's Poet Laureate.

Happy Neil about to unveil his road

The Lord Mayor introduced Neil, linking him with other literary figures who lived in Portsmouth (Dickens,  Conan-Doyle, Kipling) and then Neil gave a short speech, and unveiled the road.(there is an audio recording of Neil's speech here ) and we heard 2 poems from Sam Cox.

After the unveiling, Neil stayed around and chatted and had pictures taken. Someone gave Neil a Cornetto, which he managed to eat while making polite conversation and giving an interview to the local Jewish newspaper, someone else, (or possibly the same someone,) got him to sign a giant model cactus, and everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves.

(with thanks to the lovely chap who took this for me, whose name I didn't catch)

And as you can see, the weather was lovely - they'd forecast rain showers, but it stayed bright and sunny (albeit rather breezy) for the whole of the event.

A really enjoyable afternoon. And the evening still to come...