Eileen Soper

[Chrissie777]

I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading somewhere that Eileen Soper and Enid Blyton didn't have a lot of contact with each other over the Famous Five illustrations. We know Enid was familiar with Corfe Castle, but there's no solid evidence that she directly based Kirrin (or any of her other castles) on Corfe — and unless she had told Eileen herself that Corfe Castle was one of her inspirations, there's no reason to assume that Eileen ever thought of using Corfe as a model. Unless she happened to live somewhere near Dorset herself and might have been there — do we know where she lived before or during the time she was illustrating the Famous Five books?
I still think any evidence from the illustrations is far too sketchy (pardon the pun) to be taken seriously. There's nothing in any of them that clearly suggests Corfe Castle.

EB's daughter said that it was Corfe Castle which inspired her mother to write FOATI.

[Chrissie777]

I've seen people say that Lulworth Castle was the inspiration for Malory Towers, that's in Dorset.

Yes, we drove by it twice and it looked exactly like Betty Maxey's illustration.

[Chrissie777]

Lulworth Castle does look likely as a Malory Towers model — here's a website — and it's near Wareham, which is on the way to Corfe Castle, so maybe that's the one you were thinking of, Chrissie.

Yes, it's the one.

[Chrissie777]

I like this Youtube clip on Corfe Castle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkjxiBVmT34&app=desktop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

EB's daughter said that it was Corfe Castle which inspired her mother to write FOATI.

Yes, and Enid herself said it was a castle on one of the Channel Islands. Unfortunately that's one of those debates that could go on forever — my own stance on it is that Enid in her imagination probably borrowed elements of more than one castle she'd seen and put them together and came up with a castle that suited her story, perhaps not fully conscious of where she was getting the ideas from in the first place.

The clincher for me, though, is that Corfe Castle looks nothing like Kirrin Castle as Enid describes it — I don't have the book here, but I remember clearly she describes Kirrin Castle as having two towers, one almost fallen down, the other not as bad. Corfe Castle doesn't have any towers, just a keep. So while she probably did take some general ideas for "adventures in a ruined castle" from Corfe, she certainly doesn't seem to have used the actual structure of Corfe Castle as the model for Kirrin Castle.

And again, there's no evidence (as far as I've ever seen) that Enid pointed out Corfe Castle to Eileen Soper as a model for the illustrations, and Soper's illustrations don't look recognisably like Corfe. So I'm not quite sure how the idea came up that Soper had any knowledge of Corfe Castle (either firsthand or from Enid) at all.

[pete9012S]

I like this Youtube clip on Corfe Castle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkjxiBVmT34&app=desktop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Chrissie - I've never been to Corfe, but would love to go!

[Courtenay]

It's really worth it, Pete — very atmospheric and fascinating history. The only downside is that the wonderful Ginger Pop Shop is no longer there in the village. But the castle itself is definitely worth the trip, and if you like steam trains, there's one of those between Corfe and Swanage too.

[pete9012S]

Thank you for that lovely email and the fantastic pictures of Corfe Chrissie.
With your permission I have made them available for all to enjoy here:

Chrissie's Corfe Castle Pics!

https://imgur.com/a/2AvY5wS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Best Wishes

Pete

[Courtenay]

Excellent photos, Chrissie! Thanks to you and to Pete for sharing.

[Chrissie777]

The clincher for me, though, is that Corfe Castle looks nothing like Kirrin Castle as Enid describes it — I don't have the book here, but I remember clearly she describes Kirrin Castle as having two towers, one almost fallen down, the other not as bad. Corfe Castle doesn't have any towers, just a keep. So while she probably did take some general ideas for "adventures in a ruined castle" from Corfe, she certainly doesn't seem to have used the actual structure of Corfe Castle as the model for Kirrin Castle.

We went to Jersey in May 2014 to visit Elizabeth Castle which is cut off from the main land during high tide, but it looks even less than Kirrin Castle to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Castle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chrissie777]

Thank you for that lovely email and the fantastic pictures of Corfe Chrissie.
With your permission I have made them available for all to enjoy here:
Chrissie's Corfe Castle Pics!
Best Wishes
Pete

Thank you, Pete. You are a sweetheart.

[Chrissie777]

Excellent photos, Chrissie! Thanks to you and to Pete for sharing.

Thank you, Courtenay.

[Courtenay]

We went to Jersey in May 2014 to visit Elizabeth Castle which is cut off from the main land during high tide, but it looks even less than Kirrin Castle to me.

No, it doesn't, I agree. I assume Enid meant she got the idea of a castle on an island from the Channel Islands, but her description of Kirrin Castle itself is probably based on "bits" of several castles she'd seen. There doesn't seem to be any one single real-life castle that matches the description well enough to be THE "inspiration for Kirrin Castle", or that matches Eileen Soper's illustrations closely enough to be pinned down as a definite model. That's all I was saying.

[Jack400]

I also love the Nature Plates (a few of my favourites are below) which were used in classrooms to accompany Enid Blyton's Nature Readers. Absolutely stunning.

I can't add anything to this except to say that the last picture, in particular, looks absolutely beautiful to me. I'd love a poster-sized print of it on my wall.

[Chrissie777]

I can't add anything to this except to say that the last picture, in particular, looks absolutely beautiful to me. I'd love a poster-sized print of it on my wall.

Absolutely gorgeous!