Border Keep
(Site of Bordermarch Annual Melees, Battle Of the Pines, and more!)
BAM! BAM! BOP!
(Bordermarch Autumn Melees, Spring Melees, Battle Of the Pines!)
The original Bordermarch *CASTLE MELEES* idea came about as a result of the 1980 ANVIL WAR between two neighboring Baronies: Bordermarch and Stargate. The FIRST ANVIL WAR, which was fought at White Park in Anahuac, presented a variety of interesting melee scenarios and battle strategies different from those offered at previous events. Looking for ways to perpetuate the ANVIL WAR's fighting challenge and atmosphere, Bordermarch participants eventually developed a melee event to feature fighting on and around a castle (built of treated landscape timbers).
By SECOND ANNUAL ANVIL WAR in 1981, an initial test structure was set up in Bordermarch. The castle-melees were performed in and around a single tower made of hay bales stacked at Claiborne West Park on Interstate 10 in Orange County between Vidor and Orange.
The fighters' enthusiasm over the CASTLE MELEES led to the construction of Bordermarch's (and Ansteorra's) first permanent tower later in 1981.
Half a year later, Bordermarch added a second tower and bridged the two structures with a parapet to form a 10-foot wide gateway. The CASTLE MELEES were well under way. Fighters from Ansteorra, Meridies and beyond came twice a year to BAM-BAM, the Bordermarch Autumn Melees and the Bordermarch Annual (Spring) Melees. The construction itself brought teamwork and deepening friendships as two-dozen men and women and a few laboring children worked spare weekends in heat, mosquitoes, and mud to build a dream. One season, a treasured scroll of the Rusty Nail was presented to each member of the populace who had sacrificed many weekends to construct the castle. "From the populas of the Barony Bordermarch, in acknowledgment of the extensive labor, lengthy sacrifice and devoted perspiration, we do, each and severally, present these letters of appreciation unto .... that all may know the accomplishments of your labors in the completion of the Castle and Showers of Border Keep! Given the 22nd day of September, A.S. XiX. Signed by The Populace"
When warriors gather, they must be fed! And their cooks must be well cared-for. Early on, BAMs evolved into events where artisans or non-combatants enjoyed merchants' row, the campfire cooks outdid themselves to feed the masses, the visual beauty of the courts and field attracted many mundane and plenteous news media. Mundane families traveling from near and afar for their picnics in the park were nudged in by the SCA children's activities such as quests, plays, and arts classes. Thus did Bordermarch grow, surrounded by mundanes in the multi-play-fields of Claiborne West Park. School-day field trips were drawn to the park. And, since the castle was an added parks attraction every weekend of a year, and we held such a fine rapport with the parks officials, in 1983, Orange County allowed us to build a restroom and shower house near the castle and the park's baseball field.
The castle site proved so durable and enjoyable for melee scenarios that GULF WAR representatives asked for plans for the Bordermarch Keep and permission to replicate and enlarge it on the GULF WAR site. The BAM-BAMs, or at least one MELEES per year, continued through 1994-95. Circa 1995-96, the populace of Bordermarch built its castle keep at Jones Country off Highway 69 near Colmesneil, 70 miles north of Beaumont. As Ansteorra grew, other groups vied for event dates on the kingdom calendar. Our good friends and extended family in Nacogdoches, the Shire of Greywood, replaced the Bordermarch Annual Melees with their own annual event, the Battle of the Pines, BOP, which maintained similar melees atmosphere and activities.
ANSTEORRA KINGDOM WARLORD has been conducted at Border Keep several times. It is appropriate to remember that the Border Keep bears two memorial plaques on the front walls, telling that the castle is dedicated to the memory of Lady Diedre of the Misty Glade and Lord Omar the Turk, Cindy Savage and Neile Savage. In December, 1999, Bordermarch and Greywood organized the next phase of the dream, organizing a castle building committee to consider designs for an improved cinder block and steel addition to its wooden castle. Construction began during Summer of 2003, and many hardworking people sacrificed much for the enjoyment of all.
(Chronicled by two who lived it and loved it, Simonn and Tessa, Founding Baronet Bordermarch)
GO to History Part Two- The stone castle
Last modified July 29, 2007