Bright were the Castle buildings...

Do you recall, dear readers, one year ago? The time has come again!

In the early fifth century the Roman Empire was under pressure, harsh winters across Europe meant that more and more Barbarians were crossing the Rhine into the Empire. Emperor Constantine was forced to withdraw troops from Britain in order to combat these attacks, leaving Britain open to invasions of Angles, Jutes and Saxons. The Romans had given Britain an infrastructure and population levels that would not be rivalled again until the Medieval period, but all this soon began to crumble as Britain entered the Dark Ages.

"Roofs are fallen, ruinous towers,
the frosty gate with frost on cement is ravaged,
chipped roofs are torn, fallen,
undermined by old age."

- The Ruin

This year, there is a new aspect to the challenge! Not only are we challenged to build within the confines of 32 x 32 studs, but our castle is to be built of primary colours! Yes, red, blue or yellow! At first I baulked at this, not having much in the way of any of these colours. So, I rejected the proposition in favour of building an ordinary castle. Boring old grey! However, I got about 3/4 through building that (more about it later) when the idea for this creation came to me. A ruinous wreck meant that I would not need to strain my meagre collection of red bricks. Furthermore I have always wanted to build a castle in a snowy setting.

Principally, this creation was inspired by one of my favourite Anglo-Saxon poems, 'The Ruin' and the way it describes once magnificent Roman buildings destroyed by the wyrd of time, seen through the eyes of an Anglo-Saxon.

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That is all.