Today I visited two places of literary interest. First, the village of Greystoke where I saw the entrance to Greystoke Castle and Park which, unfortunately, are not open to the public because the Castle is a private residence. Not being a great Tarzan fan, I did not enquire any further.
Secondly, the northwestern-most point of the Roman Empire where there is a low remnant of Hadrian's Wall and merely the excavated foundations of one of the sixteen forts that guarded the Wall. Although without the text of The King Of Ys to consult, I nevertheless think that this might have been the fort where Gratillonius, the Romano-British Centurion who became the last King of Ys, was based?
The Normans took stones from the Wall to build castles and churches. In fact, the building now housing the Visitors' Centre, was constructed in this way in the nineteenth century whereas now, of course, the little that is left of the Wall is preserved. Such is our history.
3 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Wait! There is an ACTUAL Greystoke Castle? So, ERB did not simply invent that name. I'll be looking up Greystoke Castle to find out more about Tarzan's ancestral home! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean,
I think that ERB did invent the name and that the real castle is a mere coincidence!
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Oh, certainly! I'm sure Edgar Rice Burroughs was merely excercising poetic or authorial license when he came up with "Greystoke" as Tarzan's family or peerage name.
And I did look up Greystoke Castle. I was interested to see the land was first held by grant from William I to a Norman family whose name evolved to "Greystoke." It then passed to another family called the Dacres, and finally to the Fitz-Alan-Howards in 1571. So Tarzan was the Duke of Norfolk? (Smiles)
Sean
Post a Comment