Notes from the Tudor Torture Chambers

Hokay … so the Boardman floor is almost totally removed and revealing hidden secrets.

While two of the Norfolk Museums folk play the "You look down; I'll look up, then we'll change round and start a nod-a-thon" game, Tim notices some Tudor graffiti that was hidden within the floor thickness and inexplicably gives a Nazi salute.

Looks like I'll be putting in yet another section of glass floor to display this from up above. Some nice sideways lighting to bring out the relief more sharply and an explanatory touch-screen doohickey.

There appear to be two sets of figures kneeling at a crucifixion, one with the traditional Catholic Christian cross and one with the Greek Orthodox cross, plus an angry-looking man brandishing a sword above his head. No doubt we'll learn more once it's carefully cleaned and recorded.

More scratchings from the Tudor torture chambers, including what looks like Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar on the way to the Life of Brian film set … "Following a star? Following a bottle more like!"

Plus some swords, crosses, heraldic devices and a couple of unfortunate cement plaques from "10/9/31" which would have been the tenth of September, 1831 just as Salvin was re-facing the keep.

More from the pages of history as we turn them …

Wide Open Spaces

 

Enjoy these. For the first time ever we now have the complete keep stripped out and it's BIG!

No more prison buildings, no more Tudor torture chambers, just lots and lots of wide open space.

Just a few more pieces of Boardman's floor to be removed and we can begin reconstruction.

Once the Great Hall is complete you'll be able to walk in through the main arched doors from the Bigod Tower (top right) and not fall to your death. Groovy!

Innovative wiring solutions!

Boardman's roof-supporting stone columns and arches sit on top of the remains of the original spine wall, destroyed by Soane to make way for his prison cell blocks.

It's a fantastic space to just stand and gawp.

Unfortunately it will never be seen like this again (at least for many more centuries) so make the most of it. I just wish you could stand there and breathe it all in with me.

Next time: Tudor torture victims' graffiti uncovered at last!

Floating Æthereally

Gabriela gazes up at the top of the Bigod Tower, Britain's first flat-roofed porch extension.

Nobody's been able to see this properly since the 1700s but we're changing that. Where I'm standing is in the upcoming, glass-walled Education Centre atop what was the old 1960s block (currently being smashed to bits for which HUZZAH!); Gabriela is floating æthereally in the air just outside.

Hokay, so she's actually standing on some scaffolding and leaning on a safety rail but were that not there she'd be floating somewhat æthereally … or falling with a scream … er …

Betwixt us and the keep, one floor down will be a spiffy glass-roofed atrium so visitors will be able to see the east keep wall and the Bigod Tower in all their glory once more.

While we're here, let's nip up on the roof and see what we can see …

Quelle surprise: it's Norwich Cathedral.

This is from the south-west; I usually see it from the east end out of my office windows.

…and here's my office from the castle keep roof.

An award-winning 1969 Brutalist "masterpiece" overlooking the river and Pull's Ferry. I'll be moving out of at the end of the month as it needs a complete overhaul which will take at least a year.

 

The temporary office we're renting is only a two-minute walk from the castle which should make things a whole lot easier for my creaky old hips. It also has the unheard of luxuries of heating and cooling! No more scarves, woolly hats, thermals, lap-blankets and hot-water bottles in the winter and the ability to breathe in the summer. 

When we - eventually - move back those amazing things will have been added to our old office. I can't wait! In the meantime, look out for more Norwich Castle updates.

More Progress at the Castle

The unfeasibly small hammer from the previous post has at last done its work (each flint had to be recorded before being removed for storage while we tunnelled through the wall) and so here's a photo of the interior of the keep as never seen before.

All the prison era crap and Victorian tat has been stripped out of the keep and we're ready to get mediæval on its ass.