The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Mrs. E. Talbot, Post Office, Wool. The card was posted in Weymouth using a 1d. stamp on Tuesday the 5th. August 1919. It was sent to:
Mrs. C. Galliott,
46, Eastland Road,
Yeovil.
The pencilled message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"c/o Mrs. Taylor,
4, Prospect Place,
Chapelhay,
Weymouth.
Dear Ma,
Just a card if you
should want to
send on the money
we asked for you to
draw out for us.
Love from Babs."
Lulworth Castle
Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, England, situated south of the village of Wool, is an early 17th.-century hunting lodge erected in the style of a revival fortified castle, one of only five extant Elizabethan or Jacobean buildings of this type.
It is Grade I listed. The 18th.-century Adam style interior of the stone building was devastated by fire in 1929, but has now been restored and serves as a museum. The castle stands in Lulworth Park on the Lulworth Estate.
The park and gardens surrounding the castle are Grade II listed with Historic England.
-- History of Lulworth Castle
The foundations for Lulworth Castle were laid in 1588, and it was completed in 1609, reputedly designed by Inigo Jones. It was built as a hunting lodge by Thomas Howard, 3rd. Viscount Howard of Bindon, a grandson of the 3rd. Duke of Norfolk.
In 1607 Viscount Bindon wrote to Robert Cecil, 1st. Earl of Salisbury, crediting him with the origins of the design:
"If this little pile in Lulworth Park shall prove pretty
or worth the labour bestowed in the erecting of it,
I will acknowledge, as the truth is, that your powerful
speech to me at Bindon laid the first foundation of
the pile in my mind, which ever since has laboured
for a speedy finishing for the contentment of those
for whose further liking of that place the care is taken."
According to the NHLE listing, the building was subsequently remodelled 1609 - 1611 for Thomas, Lord Suffolk; remodelled again in 1641 for Humphrey Weld; in the early 18th. century by the Bastard brothers of Blandford Forum for the then owner, Edward Weld; and in the 1780's by Catholic architect John Tasker for Thomas Weld.
Tasker also built the Roman Catholic chapel in the grounds.
Pevsner's assessment of the castle building two hundred years later views it as a Jacobean case of one-upmanship among wealthy landowners whose residential needs are already satisfied elsewhere, hence a series of "mock castles, such as the Elizabethan castellated house par excellence that is Longford Castle" which probably inspired Bindon.
In 1641, Humphrey Weld purchased it from Howard's heir, Lord Howard de Walden. The castle was seized by the Roundheads during the English Civil War, who used it as a garrison. Weld regained the property after the war finished and held on to it despite growing debts.
Having married off his only daughter to an earl, Humphrey chose his catholic nephew, William Weld as his successor. William struggled with near insolvency, but partially rescued the estate finances by ensuring that his son, Humphrey III (died 1722), married well into the Simeons family.
Margaret Simeons and her parents helped out with a dowry and managed the estate after she was widowed. Humphrey was succeeded by their son, Edward Weld (Senior) who had the means to decorate the interiors of the castle, build extensions and lay out the grounds, despite personal legal difficulties he managed to overcome.
Thomas Weld, Edward's youngest son, eventually inherited the property after his eldest brother, also Edward, died as a result of a riding accident in 1775. Twenty-five-year-old Thomas set about refurbishing the interiors in Adam style. He enriched the collection of books in the magnificent library, a few of which are extant.
He also entertained George III at Lulworth. Thomas and his wife Mary produced fifteen children, most of whom survived, and together with their descendants were able to retain Lulworth as the family seat into the 21st. century.
-- St Mary's Chapel, Lulworth
Thomas Weld built a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Mary to serve as the family chapel in the grounds of the castle in 1786. Pevsner relates that he would receive permission from King George III on condition that it did not look like a church from the outside.
It was to be the first Roman Catholic chapel to be built in England since the time of the Protestant Reformation. It was designed by John Tasker in the form of a Greek mausoleum at a cost of £2,380. The building has been Grade I listed.
In 1986 the Baltimore-born organ builder William Drake restored the 1780 Seede organ at the Roman Catholic Chapel at Lulworth Castle, a project that attracted attention internationally.
-- Restoration of Lulworth Castle
The castle was gutted by a fire on the 29th. August 1929 and was left as a roofless ruin, the family building a new residence for themselves nearby. In the 1970's, restoration work began with the help of English Heritage.
The restoration, finished in 1998, included a new roof and restored surviving walls in the interior, but no new internal walls or replacements for the destroyed upper floors were constructed.
-- Lulworth Castle Today
The castle is still owned by the Weld family and is a tourist attraction, holding medieval-themed events. Part of the Lulworth Estate is in use as an MoD firing range as well as a wildlife conservation area.
Since 2017, the site has been used as the location for the Bestival music festival, with the castle's foreground being the location for the main "Castle" stage.
Seweryn Chajtman
So what else happened on the day that Babs posted the card?
Well, the 5th. August 1919 marked the birth, in Warsaw, Republic of Poland of the Polish engineer Seweryn Chajtman.
Seweryn developed the Alternative Theory of Organization and Management (ATOM). He died in 2012, and was laid to rest on the 23rd. August 2012 in the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery.
Rosalind Hicks
Also born on that day, in Torquay, was the British literary guardian Rosalind Hicks.
Rosalind, who was the only child of mystery author Agatha Christie, died in 2004.
Herbert Ward
The 5th. August 1919 also marked the death at the age of 56 of the British explorer and artist Herbert Ward.
Herbert, who was born in 1863, was a member of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, and recipient of the Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honour.
Ward died as a result of injuries sustained in action on the Western Front when he was rescuing wounded soldiers whilst under bombardment. He was laid to rest in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
