Scene 3: Hautedesert Castle
Nade he sayned himself, segge, bot þrye
Er he watz war in þe wod of a won in a mote,
Abof a launde, on a lawe, loken vnder boᵹez
Of mony borelych bole aboute bi þe diches,
A castel þe comlokest þat euer knyᵹt aᵹte,
Pyched on a prayere, a park al aboute,
With a pyked palays pyned ful þik,
Þat vmbeteᵹe mony tre mo þen two myle
(ll. 763-70).
…
Þe burne bode on bonk, þat on blonk houed,
Of þe depe double dich þat drof to þe place.
Þe walle wod in þe water wonderly depe
And eft a ful huge heᵹt hit haled vpon lofte,
Of harde hewen ston vp to þe tablez,
Enbaned vnder þe abataylment, in þe best lawe;
And syþen garytez ful gaye gered bitwene,
Wyth mony luflych loupe þat looked ful clene;
A better barbican þat burne blusched vpon neuer.
And innermore he beheld þat halle ful hyᵹe,
Towres telded bytwene, trochet ful þik,
Fayre fylyolez þat fyᵹed, and ferlyly long
With coroun coprounes, craftily sleᵹe.
Chalk-whyt chymnées þer ches he innoᵹe,
Vpon bastel rouez þat blenked ful quyte.
So mony pynakle payntet watz pourdred ayquere
Among þe castel carnelez, clambred so þik,
Þat pared out of papure purely hit semed
(ll. 785-802).
He had not crossed himself, that man, but three times
Before he was aware in the wood of a building [castle] in a moat,
Above a clearing, on a hill, fastened under [the] branches
Of many burly trunks all about the ditches,
The fairest castle that ever a knight owned,
Constructed on a prairie [i.e., meadow], a park all around,
Thickly enclosed with a spiked palisade
That surrounded many trees for more than two miles.
…
The man, he who tarried on his horse, waited on the bank
Of the deep double ditch that marked the place.
The wall went [i.e., waded] into the water wondrously deep
And likewise a really huge height it raised [itself] up aloft,
Of hard-hewn stone up to the cornices,
Built up under the battlements in the best manner,
And thereafter magnificent watchtowers made amongst them,
With many lovely loopholes that looked splendidly unobstructed;
That man never beheld a better barbican.
And within he beheld that very high hall,
Towers raised in the midst, quite thickly crenellated,
Fair turrets that matched, and were wondrously long
With crowing capitals, craftily shaped.
Chalk-white chimneys he surely recognized there,
That shone very white upon turret roofs.
So many painted pinnacles were sprinkled everywhere
Among the castle embrasures, clustered so thick,
That is seemed pared [i.e., cut] purely out of paper.
Hautedesert Castle rises in these passages from the forest, appearing seemingly in answer to Gawain’s prayer. Its local landscape and architectural features are described in detail, while the last line teasingly suggests that it might be like a feast decoration of cut paper as much as a real world castle – thus, grounded as much in fantasy as lived fact.
Beeston Castle, located on a prominent hill that rises significantly above the surrounding plain, could nevertheless be lost in the woods to an approaching traveler who drew close at hand. The images of its grounds provided here thus illustrate how modern readers might ground Gawain’s arrival in modern environmental contexts. Most striking, I think, is the contrast between the wooded paths (on the castle grounds) and the views from the hillside field within the outer walls and especially from the hilltop keep.
This image shows a path through woodland on Beeston’s grounds.
This image shows a path through woodland that hits a crossroads sign at the remains of Beeston’s outer wall.
In the trees, the close-at-hand walls are almost or entirely obscured, and the sense of elevation itself dampened; the forest brings the world in close to the viewer. Even when a crossroads appears at the outer wall of Beeston Castle, the true scale of the fortifications and local topography remains obscured.
This photograph shows a bench on a grassy hillside leading downhill from a castle keep’s walls toward a distant horizon of fields and trees. A footbridge crosses a dry moat to reach the keep.
This photograph shows the gatehouse of Beeston Castle’s keep, as seen from the footbridge over the dry moat. The gate faces a view of the surrounding countryside that stretches out downhill.
This image shows the view from within the remains of Beeston Castle keep, at the top of the hill. Much of the walls are gone, revealing pastoral and wooded countryside that lies predominately below the viewer’s elevation. The doorway of the gatehouse still stands, however.
On the bridge over the moat, on the other hand, the gates and clouds dominate the view, with the local topography suddenly on full display. The castle can be a commanding presence one moment, yet paradoxically hidden the next. The fact that some of the paths pictured lead to recreations of Bronze Age settlements, of course, reinforce the atmosphere of walking into a distant, departed past that such a heritage sight evokes for modern viewers – in contrast, again, to Gawain walking into a “living” castle. The broader Beeston grounds also feature several small caves – on which see further my discussion of the Green Chapel, below.