The 12th century keep at Kenilworth Castle. Photo May 1998
Kenilworth is definitely on my “re-visit” list for some future trip back to England. Besides the new Elizabethan gardens, I want to see the the finished work on the gatehouse, which was still undergoing restoration (and consequently covered in scaffolding) when I was there in 1998.
I was there in April. The gatehouse is restored and open. The mantel piece that Dudley built for Elizabeth was there and available for touching. I.E. not behind ropes. Their initials are entwined at the center and each corner. It is in a ground floor room on the keep side. the room is paneled in the original wood panels of Leicester with the ragged staff carved into the raised bits. I must have a picture of it somewhere. It was pretty amazing to touch the same mantel that Elizabeth used in her chambers.
I missed the gardens though as they weren’t scheduled to open for another month or so…
Ooops – just looked at the pics and Elizabeth’s initials are NOT carved with Dudley’s on the mantel piece – my mistake.
How wonderful! Yeah, I *definitely* need to get back there.