WEOLEY INTERESTING

history lurks all around
skulking beneath the surface of everyday life
concealed in place name
manifest in building
sketched in ruin
buried under housing estate
reflected in right of way
carved into topography
hiding in tree and pond and hedgerow
flowing through stream and culvert...
i grew up completely unaware
that just a mile down the road
stood a bona fide mediaeval monument
a moated fortified manor house
known as weoley castle
which appeared in the doomsday book in 1086
but has lain in ruins
since the seventeenth century
the site is only open to the modern peasant one day a year
nearby steet names reveal the mediaeval powermongers
former feudal lords and rich merchants
descendents of the norman aristocracy
the de paganels
the de somerys
the jervoises
the bottetourts
rumour has it
that parts of the walls were carted off
to build the nearby pub
the stonehouse arms
an early example of recycling
or rather reusing
a woman demonstrates the food of the era
the hoi polloi of course were pretty much vegetarian
a bowl of peasant pottage
consists of barley, leek and onion
only the posh nobles get a bit of beef mixed in
in feudal times
the peasants waited for their leftovers like dogs
while the nobles scoffed down their grub
lives were nasty, brutish and short
like those of some inner-city kids today
we watch a recreation of a sword fight
two armour-clad knights
sweating it out under some rare summer sun
six hundred years later
some things haven't changed all that much
as i gorp i start thinking
some of that armour might come in useful
out on the mean streets...