PRIORITIES ?

This picture shows the long slog along the shingle spit from Keyhaven to Hurst Castle on the southern shore of the Solent, close to Lymington.   It`s a few years ago now that we walked from the car park at Keyhaven all the way along well over a mile of hard pebbles and shingle to reach Hurst Castle, which was built on the orders of King Henry V111 between 1541 and 1544 to protect the narrow channel between the mainland and the Isle of Wight from French invasion. 

When we reached the castle it really was like going back in time - an almost eerie feeling that you could reach out and touch the island, it seemed that close.  Was it worth the slog?  Well, maybe;  the exertions of getting there and the sea air did us good although we were not sure that our then golden retriever, Barney, was too impressed.  Rather than slog all the way back, we took the little ferry - the ferryman taking pity on Barney so he allowed Barney aboard where he was impeccably behaved and a lesson in good manners to the children who were also aboard.

The point of all this is that I read yesterday that the east wing of the castle had slid into the sea as a result of the foundations being undermined by the power of the waves;  this despite the fact that English Heritage, who own the castle, did not heed the early warnings about the problems with the foundations and didn`t act in time to prevent the east wing collapsing.  Here`s what it looks like:-

Maybe it`s a question of priorities but perhaps if English Heritage had spent less time rewriting our heritage and more time looking after it then maybe this important piece of our history would still be in one piece.  For example, last year they announced that all 950 of London`s blue plaques would be `reviewed` for potential links to slavery.  I wonder why they stop at `just` slavery - maybe they will also be looking into links with torture, raping and pillaging as well.  Maybe things like that do not offend quite as much?