Today we went to Kimbolton Castle. This was the castle where Katherine of Aragon lived after Henry VIII devorced her in Tudor times. A man and woman who knew all about the history of the castle gave us a tour round it. We were in the man’s group, and he was very nice.
She lived there until she died at the age of fifty. When she was kept in the castle, she wasn’t allowed to see any visitors or relatives – well, it was much better than some of the other wives of King Henry VIII!
Most of Kimbolton Castle had been deleted and replaced (I say ‘most’ I mean about 95%). But there were a couple things that had been left when the first person discovered the castle after Tudor times. One of them had been covered up by a stone slab, but it was still there underneath. And what was that thing? It was a well. Presumably you’d think that you’d at least drink out of it, or wash from it, but no – the water was too dirty. Instead, rich people drank wine, and poor people drank beer. But, Katherine loved beer, the ‘poor’ drink, so probably drank beer too!
The other one was known as the ‘Tudor Wall’. Like I said, there have been lots of changes in Kimbolton Castle, so most of the stone walls the Tudors would have had would be covered up with wood now. Some of the walls used to be golden-brown panels, some huge stone bricks – but this one was the best of all. This one we hadn’t covered up. Instead, we had left it there. This one was a huge stone-brick one, and Katherine of Aragon would have walked past it.
