Well. Sort of. It has my surname, at least. Apparently, at one time there were actually several towns in England with this name, but now there's just one, and it comes with a castle! I have no idea from which of these towns my family actually originated, since we've all been in the US and Canada for centuries. But just on the off-chance that this was "my" castle, I jumped at the chance to visit.
See what I did there?
I'm not going to tell you my last name, just because I'm not terribly comfortable putting up too much personal info and all, but if you can guess it from these pictures, I'll be pretty impressed!
Anyway. I had a day to visit and it was the most perfect day! All of the stereotypes I've harboured for rural England were fulfilled, from scones and tea, to the families playing at the park being serenaded by a brass band, to the ancient trees on the castle grounds. I even took a train to get there!
The castle has an old part, that was at one point a fortress tower, with a well at the centre. I took the liberty of tossing in a Canadian penny, to join all the thousands of other coins.
Before I go anywhere new, I like to do as much research as I can. I've always found the extra information enriches the experience; what otherwise might have appeared insignificant, gains meaning when you know the history behind it. So before I took my little day-trip, I checked out my own last name, as well as the town itself. Ancestry.ca has some pretty cool info on the origins of surnames in England. Do you know where your name/family comes from? Mine has to do with ferns and homesteads.
