The Round House, Ridgmont
Today what remains
is barely an outline of the house.
You get charred oak, perilous walls,
an imminent avalanche of tiles:
shambles, tumbling ruin.
Nature resuming possession.
Rolling back the years would give again
the elegant manor, make whole
the hanged, drawn and quartered remains
of John Okey, regicide. Show him
entertaining Oliver Cromwell, walking the round
which gave the house its name.
Further back, cleared of scrub, you'd see
the mighty oval rampart, the fosse,
the stone fortress Rouge Mont castle; hear
Norman French spoken by
William de Wahull to his retinue, and
English men obeying new rulers.
Peter Stileman