Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by sixret »

pete9012S wrote:Image

Above is a fragment of page 84 from Imogen's 'A Childhood At Green Hedges'
She is describing a Summer holiday,just after the war in 1945,according to the previous page.
Notice she says in the first paragraph;
'...Corfe Castle, which my mother used in later stories..'

By 1945 there had already been around four Famous Five stories published,and Kirrin Castle would by then, have been very well known surely.
Notice Imogen does not link Kirrin Castle to Corfe Castle ,which she surely would if that was the inspiration?
So then,if that is correct,what are the 'later stories' in which Corfe Castle was used???
Yes, In Adventure Of The Strange Ruby. :D
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Moonraker »

Enid like most writers use their own imagination and take a bit of the country from there, a castle from there and a cottage or island from somewhere else, mix it up in the pot, and imagine their own locations!
I think you've hit the nail on the head there, Julie. Enid wasn't a travel writer, after all!
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Chrissie777 »

Carlotta King wrote:I don't blame Daphne - it's wonderful to create or describe beautiful locations, castles, houses and things. :)
The Cornwall in Daphne's novels is stunning. My mum is a huge fan of Daphne and has every one of her books as well as all the non-fiction books about her and books about the places in Cornwall that she loved, visited and wrote about.
Many years ago my mum actually went trespassing in Daphne's garden and actually met Daphne there, she was lovely to my mum even though she had in effect 'broken in' to her garden, and they chatted for ages and she signed some books for her and wrote some personal messages in them for her. :)
In 1995 I spent 11 days in Polruan opposite of Fowey and went to see Kilmarth (sp?) where DuMaurier lived at last after having spent 25 years in Menabilly until the Rashleigh family required their house back for themselves.
And 8 years before that trip, I dared to take a picture of Menabilly. It was not easy to find and on the way when passing a pasture for cows, they came running after me :). Maybe I did wear a red T-shirt, I forgot.
Before I was able to identify Menabilly, I noticed a sign in the woods that warned trespassers about the dangerous geese that lived on the property. I was lucky and did not run into them. Maybe it was their nap time.

What an experience to having met DuMaurier in person! I envy your mom very very much (but I cannot complain as I met Lilli Palmer, Utta Danella (famous German novelist) and Mary Higgins Clark in person at bookstores where they signed their books).
I have most of DuMaurier's novels, but didn't care for the later books on some artist or architect. However, her series of autobiographies (The Glass Blowers, Mary Anne, Gerald, Growing Pains) was a wonderful read. I have many biographies, but liked the one by Margaret Forster best. It actually helped me in 1995 to walk on two of DuMaurier's favorite walking trails. When I asked about the trails, native Foweyans were able to tell me where I could find them.

Did you mom also read the 2 books by Martyn Shallcross (sp?)? One is about the movies based on her novels, the other one tells about his many get togethers with Daphne. Very compelling read.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by number 6 »

sixret wrote:
pete9012S wrote:Image

Above is a fragment of page 84 from Imogen's 'A Childhood At Green Hedges'
She is describing a Summer holiday,just after the war in 1945,according to the previous page.
Notice she says in the first paragraph;
'...Corfe Castle, which my mother used in later stories..'

By 1945 there had already been around four Famous Five stories published,and Kirrin Castle would by then, have been very well known surely.
Notice Imogen does not link Kirrin Castle to Corfe Castle ,which she surely would if that was the inspiration?
So then,if that is correct,what are the 'later stories' in which Corfe Castle was used???
Yes, In Adventure Of The Strange Ruby. :D
It's interesting that Imogen says Corfe Castle was used in her Mothers later work, but Gillian was adamant that Kirrin Castle was based on Corfe. Would Gillian, being the elder of the two, have a better recollection & more of an interest in the inspiration for Kirrin Castle? Who knows. :D
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I suppose if Gillian and Imogen had had a great interest, they might have been able to tell us more about the island and castle in Jersey. However, I'm happy that we only have a vague idea of Enid Blyton's inspiration(s) as she surely didn't stick rigidly to the features of any real-life location, but shaped Kirrin as needed for her fiction. I think the sighting of a rocky little island with a castle on the top, and explorations of it, simply ignited a spark within her. The best Kirrin Islands are the ones in our imaginations, free from any real-life restrictions, conjured up by Enid's words as we read the books.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Chrissie777 »

Maggie Knows wrote:Small islands are a bit of an obsession of mine, I've even got a list of all the ones I've been to, and I'm always going out of my way to add more. I wonder if this can be traced back to the number of times I read the stories set on Kirrin Island and Whispering Island when I was a kid - it's entirely probable ... :) -
Same here. I went to many small islands in the past (Herm in May will be my next small island :).
Kisimul Castle in Scotland has a tiny island with a castle. I hope to be able to see it one day.

There are at least 4 different coffee table books out about Ransome's locations:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg_1?r ... 1393598949" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the one at the bottom of page 1 and on page 3 there are more.

Wish there would be a similar book on Malcolm Saville and his real locations.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by John Pickup »

Chrissie, I have a book written by Mark O'Hanlon entitled The Complete Lone Pine. It first came out in 1996 and I have the 2nd edition from 2005.
Section 2 in the book is called Exploring Lone Pine Country and contains six chapters devoted to the various regions that Malcolm Saville set his books in the Lone Pine series. The author describes the locations and by using words and sketch maps takes the reader on a journey through each of the localities. It's a very interesting book. You can buy it from the author by going to his website: malcolmsaville.com
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Moonraker »

Yes, I have the book too, so you are in luck, Chrissie. I have explored LP territory in some detail, and it is as fabulous as your mind can conjure.

In general, I fully agree with Anita's sentiment, but Saville is an exception as he clearly states the locations used at the start of every book.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Chrissie777 »

John Pickup wrote:Chrissie, I have a book written by Mark O'Hanlon entitled The Complete Lone Pine. It first came out in 1996 and I have the 2nd edition from 2005.
Section 2 in the book is called Exploring Lone Pine Country and contains six chapters devoted to the various regions that Malcolm Saville set his books in the Lone Pine series. The author describes the locations and by using words and sketch maps takes the reader on a journey through each of the localities. It's a very interesting book. You can buy it from the author by going to his website: malcolmsaville.com
John,

I tried both Saville websites (witchend.com and malcolmsaville.co.uk), but can only find O'Hanlon's book at amazon.co.uk for ca. 25 £. They don't seem to sell it on the websites - at least I couldn't find it.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by John Pickup »

Chrissie, go to the Malcolm Saville Centenary Website then click on Links at the top of the page. You will see the link to Mark O'Hanlon's site. Hope this helps.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Chrissie777 »

Julie2owlsdene wrote:How fabulous your mum met and spoke with Daphne DuMaurier, Cathy. Fowey as you probably know where Daphanie lived hold a festival there yearly and it attracts thousands of people. I think it is her son who still owns the house over looking the water there.
8)
Julie,

Daphne DuMaurier's sister Angela lived for many years in Ferryside, Bodinnick (sp?), overlooking the Fowey River (which by the way is no real river, it's an inlet). When Angela moved out, Kits and his Irish wife, a former beauty queen, moved in. Kits stands for Christopher DuMaurier. He used to be a photographer and took phots for one or two of his mother's non-fiction books on Cornwall.
We were sitting a little higher up that hill in the very cozy Old Ferry Inn (this was in may 1995) which lets you overlook the entire garden of Ferryside. Kits and his wife were working in their garden. I couldn't resist filming them for a minute. :oops:

BTW in the DuMaurier biography by Margaret Forster there is a wonderful chapter about a very young Daphne (maybe 17 or 18) and her dad told her that if she would sell one of her short stories to a publisher, he would let her spend the winter in Ferryside all by herself.
She sold a story, stayed with an old servant who cooked for her at Ferryside, became friends with some of the Fowey fishermen and often rowed her boat through the harbor area. Whenever I reread that biography, it's my favorite chapter as it's so Blyton-like to be allowed to stay at a remote place in the winter without any family members present. Just imagine...
Daphne did not care at all for the winter season in London which was so attractive to her sisters and parents. She wanted to be by herself, have plenty of undisturbed time and write her first big novel which was "The Loving Spirit" if I'm not mistaken.

Another chapter from that biography that I enjoy is about a teenage Daphne trespassing the Menabilly property to peek inside the mansion and wishing she could live inside. There is an old photo from her with Menabilly.
When Daphne and her officer husband Frederick Browning were stationed in Egypt, she wrote "Rebecca" being very home sick and imagined how it would be to live in Menabilly aka Manderley.
"Rebecca" was such a huge success that the Brownings were able to rent Menabilly from Philip Rashleigh and spent 25 years there until her husband died. Shortly before he died, he signed a contract with Rashleigh which enabled Daphne to move to Kilmarth not far from Menabilly. And that's where she lived until she died in 1989.

Menabilly also inspired her to write later on her novel "The King's General", one of my DuMaurier favorites. I think the small town mentioned in this novel was Tywardreath and there still hangs a metal plaquette inside the church referring to the King's General. I've seen it once.
Kilmarth inspired her to write "The House on the Strand" with all real locations.

There is a lovely autobiography written by one of Daphne's dauhgters, Flavia Lang, called "Daphne DuMaurier - A Daughter's memoir" in which Flavia mentions how much she loved to read Blyton books, but her mother did not approve of that. So my post was not entirely off topic. :oops:
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Chrissie777 »

John Pickup wrote:Chrissie, go to the Malcolm Saville Centenary Website then click on Links at the top of the page. You will see the link to Mark O'Hanlon's site. Hope this helps.
Thank you, John!
The book costs only 20 £ there. That's a decent price.
I will check a few other possibilities, but will get it at some point. Maybe they even sell it in one of the Alton used book stores where we'll search for a few missing EB books in 2 months.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Islander »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:
In her letter, Enid says of Kirrin Island, "It was an island I once visited several times when I was in Jersey - it lay off the coast & could only be reached either by boat or by a rocky path exposed when the tide was out. It had an old castle there and I longed to put the island & castle into a book. So I did, as you know!"
Although there are many castles / forts / towers dotted around Jersey's coast, the only one that has a rocky path exposed at low tide is Elizabeth Castle. Although, at first glance, the castle does not resemble how many people would imagine Kirrin Castle / Island to be, there has been extensive work carried out over the last 100 years or so (when Enid would have visited), including the German occupation in World War II in which a lot of modernisation was carried out. I would assume that the castle was a lot more of a wreck when Enid visited on her honeymoon.

As for the village, Elizabeth Castle sits close to St Helier which, even 100 years ago, would have been too bog to call a village. There are a few smaller places in Jersey, built around a bay (such as Portelet, Noirmont or Ouaisne) which would suit Kirrin Village perfectly though.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Katharine »

That's a very interesting point, I would guess many of us are picturing castles we know of that we've seen within perhaps the last 20 - 30 years at the most. Enid Blyton wrote her first FF book 70 years ago, and was drawing from imagines she'd accumulated over perhaps 30 years previously to that. I would guess that many famous landmarks of today looked different nearly a century ago. Rules and regulations are very tight nowadays about what restoration work can be carried out to listed buildings, but I suspect it was a lot more relaxed in Enid's day.
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Re: Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks, Islander. Elizabeth Castle was suggested as a possibility earlier in the thread and it's interesting to know that extensive work has been carried out on that castle since Enid Blyton visited Jersey in the 1920s.
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