Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
History
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
Here is the greatest of all the Castles. It is Windsor Castle--the
castle of the King of England. It stands on a hill beside the River
Thames, higher up the river than London. You can see the Round Tower
in the centre of it. In all the old castles there was a strong refuge
in the centre for final defence in case a besieger should effect an
entry into the outworks, and this most important part of the castle
was called the “keep.” At Windsor the Round Tower was the keep. Here
to the right we have the church of the castle, called St. George’s
Chapel. In the old times there lived within such a castle as this of
the King of England almost a whole town of his servants. You will
remember from the second lecture that the Parliament and the Judges
used to sit in the King’s Palace at Westminster. In modern times
people think it healthier and more comfortable not to be crowded.
[Sidenote: 20. Windsor Round Tower.]
Now we go inside the castle and stand beside the Round Tower. You see
from the slightly pointed heads of the windows that the Tower belongs
to a later time than that of the Normans, who built with round-headed
windows.
[Sidenote: 21. Windsor from Home Park.]
Here is one more view of Windsor Castle. The Round Tower is in the
background to the right, for this front of the building is new, and
is in the nature of a palace rather than a castle. These wooded
slopes are the beginning of the beautiful park which lies round the
castle. Here are the rooms in which used to live Queen Victoria, our
Empress, the mother of King Edward.
Western history is divided into three periods which are generally
known as Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Times. The last
of these periods began about four centuries ago. The Middle Ages
included about a thousand years. The Romans belonged to Antiquity,
but King Alfred is of the Middle Ages, and so are most of the castles
and cathedrals, except St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was built about
two hundred years ago, when the earlier cathedral of London had been
destroyed by fire.
[Sidenote: 22. Hatfield.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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