Cache Need To
Know
You are looking for a
lunchbox in a camo bag, the xy's were again not the greatest but
it's a decent sized box and shouldn't pose much of a
problem.
To get to EW05 you
need to walk a short road section to reach the next footpath,
please take care.
All the other info
about the walk in general is in EW01 Ewelme - Walk
Intro.
Don't Need To
Know But Might Be Of Interest
Alice De La Pole (1404-1475),
granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, daughter of Thomas Chaucer was a
remarkable woman. Born into a reasonably wealthy family who rubbed
shoulders with the rich and influential in court circles. She was
married three times and each successive marriage increased her
wealth and influence, however this alone could not have been enough
to see her through a personal life of loss and turmoil living at a
time of war, plague, civil war and political vagaries of the Late
Middle Ages.
Her first betrothal took place
when she was 11 years old, lasted less than a year when her
betrothed died, at this time she was taken away from her family in
Ewelme to live at Donnington Castle nr Newbury. It is said the
marriage was never consummated.
Her second betrothal was to a
military commander, this marriage lasted approx. 7 years until her
husband was killed in France during the 100 year
war.
Her final marriage was to her
2nd husbands commanding officer William De La Pole and said to be a
happy marriage built on love and mutual attraction and where her
link to East Anglia came about as William, Earl of Suffolk, at some
point was awarded the title of Duke of Suffolk and had lands in
East Anglia.
Alice has strong links to
Wallingford Castle as William was Constable for some time, ie
keeper of the castle while the boss was away, the boss being the
King at the time. Wallingford Castle was a significant holding as
it was the County Prison and was also used to keep entertain
various nobles the King wanted kept under house arrest, but for
diplomatic reasons, in good comfort.
Her marriage to William lasted
nearly 20 years until he was murdered during some foul royal
political plot in 1949 on his way to
exile.
All was not lost for Alice!
After Williams demise she showed she was a woman of great strength,
intelligence and resource. She survived being on the wrong side
during the War of the Roses by switching allegiance, surviving a
State Trial and being awarded the post of Castellan of Wallingford
Castle and maintaining her estates whilst others around her were
losing their all, sometimes their lives. Castellan was no soft job,
it would have involved the day to day management of the domestic
running and probably a goodly amount of military running, which no
doubt Alice was more than capable of having been married to two
military men, both of whom were said to value her
advice.
Alice lived to a ripe old age
of 71 and left a very substantial estate to her son John De La
Pole.