Andrew Cullum wrote The Ballad of Bolingbroke Castle during the Covid lockdown. The ballad explores the village’s rich history and landscape through the eyes of a child.
Andrew first visited Old Bolingbroke in 2002. The village’s rich history rekindled his childhood interests in Henry IV and the Civil War. He writes, ‘We bought a house in appropriately named King’s Court, [where we] watched the owls swooping over the Castle Rout Yard. [We] joined the Friends of Bolingbroke Castle and became involved in village life. [I] performed informally at village functions, [including] a Mummer’s play which was written to amuse the Members of the Friends at Christmas time’.
Although no longer a village resident, Andrew points out that connections to Old Bolingbroke’s medieval past ‘are still around us: there’s John of Gaunt’s House in [Lincoln] High Street, Kathryn Swynford’s house at Kettlethorpe, and her tomb in the Cathedral. And most importantly we are still Members of the Friends of Bolingbroke Castle!’
Click here to listen to the ballad.