KENSINGTON CASTLE - (Revised Version)

marry me kate

build me a castle samuel

stone

by rough-hewn stone

hopeful love materialised

on the slopes of Kensington koppie,

high above golden plains

where velvet signal grass

grew tall and crested

grey louries called

kweh-h-h

kweh-h-h

from the sweet thorn trees

and where, beneath the

diamond-studded Southern Cross,

the distant anger of the wild

sawed

chirped

roared

across its shrinking hunting grounds

thousands of miles

from Scotland

Rothesay Castle reproduced

and, with a ship’s canon,

offered a haven for a

nervous and homesick bride

beneath the African sun

marry me kate

build me a castle samuel

so he did

(All rights reserved)

Samuel Scott Wilson built a castle for his wife, Katie MacKirdie, who agreed to marry him on condition he build her a castle.  Construction was finished in 1911 in Kensington, Johannesburg, South Africa and the stone used for its one metre thick walls was taken from the very koppie on which the castle stands.  It is believed that the castle was modelled on Rothesay Castle in Scotland.