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!’