A Long Time Ago/34 Castles of England

Castles of England

This page is part of A Long Time Ago: A History of the Atkins-Paynter and Allied Families, the chunked book edition on the Wally Atkins Family Wiki.

Book section: Castles of England
Page range in the book: 247-250
Chunk order: 34 of 36

This section details the historic castles, royal fortresses, and feudal strongholds of England associated with the allied families prior to and during the era of American colonization.

Map of Historic English Castles

The map below marks the principal English castles and fortresses connected with allied family offices, knightly service, and royal appointments:

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Feudal & Civic Lineage Connections Diagram

The diagram below illustrates how pre-colonial knightly families connected into the Virginia immigrant generation:

graph TD subgraph Royal_Courts["Royal Service & Courts"] COURT["Tudor & Stuart Royal Courts<br/>Windsor & Whitehall"] --> SGY["Sir George Yeardley<br/>Knighted at Newmarket (1618)"] TOWER["The Tower of London"] --> OFFL["Offley Livery & London Governance"] end subgraph Feudal_Midlands["Midlands Strongholds"] WARW["Warwick & Kenilworth Castles"] --> THROCK["Throckmorton of Coughton Court<br/>Sheriffs of Warwickshire"] end subgraph Maritime_Fortresses["Kentish Maritime Strongholds"] DOVER["Dover Castle & Cinque Ports"] --> BARNE["Barne Family<br/>Governors of Merchant Adventurers"] end SGY --> VA["Virginia Colonial Leadership"] OFFL --> VA THROCK --> VA BARNE --> VA

Castles & Feudal Seats Tree

Historical Perspective

The inclusion of castles in A Long Time Ago provides a vivid architectural contrast between the centuries-old stone fortifications of England and the wooden palisades of early Jamestown and the brick dwellings of Tidewater Virginia. These monuments represent the feudal world that the Virginia colonists left behind in exchange for the broad river plantations of the Chesapeake.