Road to Home 2022 Day 4: Conisbrough - Firbeck

17.5 km

Today was a "half rest day": I took the morning off walking to visit Conisbrough. 

The name Conisbrough comes from the Old English Cyningesburh (first recorded c. 1000) meaning "king's stronghold" or "king's fortified place", presumably a reference to Conisbrough Castle, famous as the inspiration for “Coningsburgh Castle” in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe.  The castle was initially built in the 11th century by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, following the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Hamelin Plantagenet, the illegitimate brother of Henry II, acquired the property by marriage in the late 12th century; Hamelin and his son William rebuilt the castle in stone, including its prominent 28-metre-high keep, and the castle remained in his family into the 14th century. By the 16th century it had fallen into ruin, its outer walls affected by subsidence.

Conisbrough Castle was the first castle I ever saw as a child, and it set the standard by which I have unconsciously judged all castles ever since! I was surprised to read that its octagonal keep is "unusual in shape": in my mind, any castle that doesn't look like this one is just not a proper castle! As a child I was obsessed with everything medieval, constantly reading and re-reading The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia... So you can imagine what an impression Conisbrough Castle made on me whenever I came over from Prince George (Canada), where there are no buildings more than, say, fifty years old! 

Today it did not disappoint. Everything was as I remembered it, except that the middle floors of wood have been replaced and the figures of various inhabitants are projected on the walls, explaining how things used to be. 

 

Before the castle, I visited the village church, another great wonder to me when I used to come to the village as a child. And I was right to be impressed, because it is believed to be the oldest building in southern Yorkshire, and one of the oldest churches in the UK, with parts dating back to at least the year 750! The remains of a stone cross from this period still stand in the churchyard. 

Norman grave cover

The aisles, chancel arch and south door were added in the 12th century; further additions were made in the 14th century, and the tower was refaced and the windows completed in the 15th century. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conisbrough) 

The last time I was in St. Peter's Church was for my grandmother’s funeral in 1994. 

Today I was very lucky to be able to see it, as it has been kept closed and locked since the pandemic began. As I was wondering whom I could ask to let me in, a lady came over with the keys. She only needed to get something for a meeting in the parish hall across the way, but she kindly let me in and showed me around the church. 

With these two historic treasures, the town of Conisbrough deserves more visitors than it gets! One would think two such prominent national monuments would provide sufficient incentive for tourism to revive the local economy, now that the era of coal mining is over. But unfortunately there are still plenty of boarded-up shops in the town centre, forty years after the mine closures. 

My Grandad was a miner, but he was already retired when the mines closed. Retired early due to poor health, from spending his days down the mine. When I was small, he used to take us up the Castle. The next time we came over from Canada, he would take us to the bottom but he wouldn't go up the stairs. And the time after that he wouldn't go out at all, but stayed at home with his oxygen tanks on hand. 

After the Castle and the church, I had one more "historic" site to visit on my pilgrimage to Conisbrough: the house where my grandparents lived. 

Palm tree is new - result of global warming perhaps?? 😅🌴

After a short break in my hotel room upstairs from the pub, in the afternoon I walked 13 km to the village of Maltby, and then two more to the ruins of Roche Abbey, and another two to the Black Lion pub in Firbeck. 

Follow the yellow grass road

Crossing a potato field 

Roche Abbey - must have been magnificent! 

The Black Lion at Firbeck

From here a kind man gave me a lift to Maltby, where I could catch a bus back to my hotel in Conisbrough. 

The Lord Conyers is a fine establishment, providing me with a small but clean and comfortable room, with a somewhat tropical climate: the heating in my room seems to be stuck at ON - low, fortunately, so I solved the problem by removing the quilt from the bed and drying my laundry on the warm radiator.  Similarly, the shower dispenses hot water only - unmixed with cold: the British still haven't quite got the hang of blending hot and cold water in a single stream!! 😂

The mixer tap is still unknown on this side of the Channel 

I wonder if the same applies to hiking boots? 🤔