(♪ High Germany, Jon Boden ♪)
At the end of the last ice age, the melting glacial waters flooded into a yawning valley
on the south coast of what is now Cornwall. The result was the Carrick Roads, a deep
meandering estuary which local claim is the third largest natural harbour in the world.
For centuries, the Carrick Roads have been a gateway between England and the rest of the world.
But in times of war that meant they needed to be closely guarded.
Standing sentinel on a penninsular overlooking the water
is a majestic circular fortress ringed with stone ramparts.
Pendennis Castle was Henry VIII's answer to escalating tensions with France and Spain
and from its imposing battlements you can see for miles across the breathtaking Cornish coast.
Pendennis Castle was built by Henry VIII between 1540 and 1545 and it's part of this
huge undertaking to defend the English coast that was known at the time as 'the device by the king.'
Paired with St Mawes Castle over the water, it defended the Carrick Roads, this remarkable
deep water estuary. Pendennis is a sophisticated structure designed to give
a 360-degree field of fire. It's really all about firepower; cannon. And the technology
of war was something that Henry VIII was fascinated with throughout his life. At the
time that Pendennis was constructed, Cornwall had a very clear sense of its own identity,
very much as it does today, the Cornish language being spoken and local gentry had a great deal of
influence. The economy was based around fishing and tin mining was thriving. It might have been
a long way from London but this was a really important place strategically and that's because
the dangers associated with crossing the channel at its shortest point, closest to France, meant
that ships would often journey down the coast and moor here in the Carrick Roads before setting out
on longer journeys. Pendennis didn't just protect the Carrick Roads; it protected the fleet.
Pendennis might look like it has stood unchanged for centuries, a symbol of a bygone era, but in
fact it's a dynamic place which has seen constant use and change. It has been added to repeatedly
and had played an important role in most of England's major conflicts of the past 500 years.
Pendennis has been part of the military infrastructure of Britian for centuries.
Whilst built in the 1540s the site was in use right up to 1956 and many of the buildings on the
site actually come from these later periods. This means it's been used during the civil wars of the
17th century, in fact it was besieged in 1646, the American war, the Napoleonic wars as well as both
World Wars. During the Penninsular War in the early 19th century Pendennis was used as
a supply base. From here ships would have left with supplies for troops in Spain and Portugal
and in fact troops themselves would also have left from here. In the past, when you said goodbye to
somebody before a long journey there was a real possibility that you might never see them again
and certainly this would be the case if you were heading off to war.
Pendennis could have been the last part of Britain that some troops would ever see and people are
people and even in the past the emotions felt would be every bit as recognisable to us today.
Thousands of farewells have taken place at Pendennis over the centuries
and in keeping with this long history we've selected a lament of two lovers separated by
war. If Pendennis Castle is a symbol of nationhood and military power,
this song turns instead to the ordinary people caught up in those conflicts.
Just like the many soldiers who would have parted ways with their loved ones at Pendennis without
knowing what the future held, this song contains a promise to return which is far from certain.
The poignant lyrics of High Germany, sung for us here by Jon Boden, really capture that sense of
longing for a future reunion which is held suspended by the fates just out of reach.