The Royal Citadel, Devon, Plymouth.
Brooke family being interred there. I decide to pay my respects to these rajahs who had fascinated me in my schooldays. On a bleak day, I find myself in a
lonely churchyard in the grounds of St Leonard’s Church in Sheepstor. Te wind is howling through the trees, the leaves rustling on the ground. Te churchyard seems to come alive eerily as I look for the four tombstones I am looking for. Tere, before me, protected by a wrought iron fence in a corner of the graveyard are the resting places of the three rajahs – Sir James Brooke, Sir Charles Brooke, Sir Vyner Brooke and his brother Bertram Brooke, lying in silent sentinel far away from their glorious past. You can’t find a place more different from Sarawak than this lonely corner of Devon. At last, I feel the white rajahs actually did exist. Tey are not just characters from a history book. Outside the iron fence are graves of the other Brooke family members, including Sir Anthony Brooke, the nephew of Vyner Brooke, the last rajah of Sarawak. Sir Anthony was the last Raja Muda or heir apparent to the Brooke rule, and he died in 2011
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Plymouth owes its prosperity to its auspicious position at the energy sweet spot nestled between the River Plym to the East and the River Tamar to the West. Both rivers flow into the Plymouth Sound, which is protected from the sea by the Plymouth Breakwater, a stone wall, 1,560m long. Te breakwater harnesses the energy from the water and contributes to the city’s prosperity.
at the age of 98. I met his grandson Jason Brooke last year in London. It was like meeting royalty; the Brookes are considered royal by us people of Sarawak. Te tombs of the Rajahs are important enough to be listed as Grade II monuments by the English Heritage. St. Leonard’s church dates back to the 15th century in this tiny village of Sheepstor. I enter the church through a solid wooden door and it is like entering a surreal world, with a typically English village church but a world of adventure from the wilds of Borneo on the inside. Plaques charting the lives of the Brooke family in Sarawak are mounted on the wall. I see a big bronze bust of Sir James Brooke in a corner placed on top of a faded pua kumbu, a ceremonial tapestry commonly woven by the
women of the Iban tribe in Sarawak. These tapestries are like spiritual artworks, with designs that come to the weavers in dreams, often of stylised people and animals. Tere are other pieces of pua kumbus around the church, gifts from the people of Sarawak. In the southern part of the church
is the Sarawak Window, a memorial stained glass window dedicated to the people of Sarawak and to the British who were killed during the Japanese occupation. It depicts the insignia of the Brookes and also the flora and fauna of Sarawak. Tere are pitcher plants, an Atlas moth and the Rajah Brooke birdwing butterfly named after James Brooke worked into the window panes. On the same wall is the Brookes’ coat of arms bearing the Sarawak flag
JUNE 2014 | F ENGSHUIWORLD 43
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