The
Silence of a Proclaiming Tree – Trees in Lucy Tower, Lincoln Castle
The
Lucy Tower is the stone Keep in the castle wall at the edge of the
escarpment. You can enter the tower if you pay, however you get a
clear view of it from within the castle grounds. It's this distancing
that is of interest here – distance from the interior soundscape.
And the remote silence of this historically turbulent site.
There
is a lot of noise silenced here – battles, sieges, conflict,
hangings. Even the massive trees you see growing out above the tower
walls were recently under threat of being felled. The Keep's circular
space encloses a morbid interior, the robust tree rises skyward
growing tall nourished on bone and gore. Standing in the castle
grounds you will hear nothing of this.
The
tower, originally one storey higher, was built on a motte in the late
12th century and named after Lucy of Bolingbroke. Nicolaa de la Haye,
one of Britain's few women castle governors, holed up in the castle
during the Battle of Lincoln, said to be a pivotal event in British
history. Who speaks of it now?
In
the early 19th century the space within the tower became a burial
ground for numerous hanged convicts. Their silent utilitarian grave
markers are harboured under the trees.
Can
you hear the sound of this history? The arched entranceway seen from
where you stand at this distance appears like a gaping mouth – a
silent mouthpiece for the proclaiming tree.