West Country Buddha

Apologies

2012-01-11T09:04:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of postings recently; I've been diverting my time to my passion of painting and textiles combined, but will be back in a while with more travels.

York Minster

2011-12-10T15:43:00.003Z

The York Minster posting is so large that I'm doing it in two pieces, this being the first.

And a view of the Minster at night. (I was on a Ghost Walk and the Minster was our starting point....pretty, I thought)

This is the last cathedral posting - having done Worcester, Gloucester, Durham, Lincoln before this one.

York Minster is a very beautiful place. Like Lincoln, you have to pay to get in. The ticket lasts a year so you can go back as many times as you wish within that time; if I lived closer I most definitely would!

Why's it called a Minster? Yes, it is a cathedral (cathedra, and hence cathedral, being an old word for the seat of the Bishop, in this case the Archbishop of York). It was built at the end of the Roman empire as a centre for the Christian faith in the north of England. Minster (from the Saxon word mynster, simply means a mission church. So it's three things; a church (a christian place of worship), a Minster, (a missionary church) and a cathedral (the seat of a bishop and mother ship to the local diocese!)

I recommend you take advantage of the frequent free tours on offer as you find out so much more than if you would by reading the leaflets or wandering around on your own. I was highly amused.

The Minster is built from magnesium limestone, and is the largest gothic church this side of the Alps, measuring 150 yards by 28 yards.

It has 128 stained glass windows, which need to be cleaned and re-leaded every 80 years. It takes 2 years to remove a window and 22 years to clean and put back in, so you can see they need a lot of looking after - hence the entrance fee I guess.

Much of the cathedral is built out of wood, which means that it burns quite well and there have been a number of fires. In 1840 a candle started a fire and destroyed the roof of the nave (right) which had to be replaced. They tried to restore it to the original condition and did quite a good job except that there is a carving of a baby being bottle fed on one of the bosses!

If you look carefully at this photo on the left, about half way down above the right hand arch, you can see something sticking out into the Nave. This is a golden dragon's head but no one is quite sure why it's there - probably part of a mechanism for raising a heavy lid probably over the font or some reliquary long gone.

There is also a memorial to William Wilberforce in the nave. He was a Yorkshireman who led the fight for the abolition of slavery.

At the far end of the nave is the Quire. (Quire/Choir?? Quire is the place, and the Choir are the singers that sing in the Quire) It's slightly askew to the Nave because of a mistake by the medieval builders. It's still standing though, so no harm done.

In 1829 another fire destroyed the roof and most of the woodwork in the quire, including the organ. It was rebuilt, recreating the medieval and is a most wonderous thing. The organ has over 4,000 pipes which if laid end to end would stretch for over 4.5 miles.

The fire was started on purpose by Johnathan Martin, who spent the rest of his life in an asylum.

These rows of seats (right) are the quire stalls. They have symbols on the back of each seat which represent the various parishes in the north of England.

The organ above the quire stalls.

This is the cathedra, or throne, of the Archbishop of York. The quire also contains 267 memorials.

Another York Minster posting soon.

Durham Cathedral

2011-11-01T01:05:00.002Z

I couldn't quite get to grips with Durham as a city; it seemed very small, and without heart, but perhaps we didn't spend enough time there to investigate it properly. We went to look at the Cathedral, and were there for less than 24 hours.

Durham Cathedral, unlike many cathedrals these days, does not charge an entrance fee, but you are not allowed to take photographs inside. They rely on sales of the guide book I think, and the images on this blog, of the insides of the cathedral, were taken from it.

The outside.

Durham is known for its cathedral, University and Castle. We had heard that the cathedral was magnificent and worth a visit, so off we trekked.

Durham is a city, above Yorkshire but below Northumberland in the top right hand side of England. (the bottom bit of the UK)

The picture above gives the impression that the cathedral is quite austere, and it certainly is "high church". The outside left me with an overwhelming feeling of workhouses and puritanism!

These two towers (the Western Towers) are built above the gorge and date from 12/13th centuries. They hang on the side of the hill and can be seen for miles (below)

The building is huge and is 143 metres long, and is at one end of a very pretty green opposite Durham Castle.

Many of the other buildings around the green belong to the University of Durham, including in this row, the University's Police.

The great central tower (above) is 66 metres high and was the last bit that was built, in the 15th century.

The Insides

The inside of the Cathedral is truly wonderful.

The stone pillars and roof give a feeling of an enormous strong powerful place. They are highly decorated with carving rather than with paint and gilding. I tell you, it fair takes your breath away.

The Nave (looking East)

The Nave (looking west)

Looking north across the nave. (the tomb belongs to a member of the Neville family)

Until the late 1800's there wouldn't have been any seats in the Nave. The carved pillars have stood for almost 900 years and are 6.6 metres round and 6.6 metres high. They support the ceiling.

There is a long narrow slab of black marble set into the floor and this marks the point behind which women had to remain, a restriction that continued until the mid-sixteenth century.

From about 1093 to 1539 the church was highly decorated and the windows filled with stained glass. but during the Reformation the walls were whitewashed and all the windows were broken. What you see in the windows now is mostly Victorian.

The Quire, where services are held every day.

Whilst we were visiting the choir were practising for Evensong, and the accoustics and the beautiful voices actually made me cry. (I really am quite soft, you know!)

The highly decorated organ pipes which were also playing during our visit.

The high altar, and behind it the Neville screen.

The Shrine of St Cuthbert.

The Daily Bread window.

This window is by the main north door, and was designed by Mark Angus in 1984, and paid for by the staff of Marks and Spencers, to mark the firm's centenary. It illustrates the Last Supper.

The Galilee Chapel.

The Venerable Bede's tomb (right, and in between the candles)

Bede was born in 673, a saxon, who joined a monastery at Jarrow where he spent all his life. He was a scholar, historian, theologian, poet, scientist, biographer and wrote extensively about the Bible. He died in 735.

And finally a look at the wonderful architecture of the roof of the central tower.

A day in Whitby

2011-10-30T09:39:00.003Z

Whitby has long been a family favourite. It's a small fishing port and seaside resort in Yorkshire. Captain James Cook, set sail from Whitby in the Bark Endeavour, on a voyage which charted the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. (I shall be taking you on a voyage on a 40% scale copy of the Bark Endeavour at the end of the posting, which will be exciting won't it?! Snort.)

You can read about him on the website for the Whitby Museum here - it's located in the very house he grew up in, on the harbour front.

Whitby's skyline is also famously known for the ruins of St Hilda's Abbey which is on top of the East Cliffs. It attracts hundreds of Goths for the twice yearly Whitby Goth Weekend, and is the largest gathering of Goths in the world!

Why do Goths come to Whitby? Because of the churchyard of the parish church of St. Mary, which gave Bram Stoker the inspiration to write his book, Dracula.

From the Abbey on top of the cliff you walk through the graveyard of St Mary's (above) and down the famous 199 steps to the small town.

It's a pretty place full of Whitby Jet shops and the usual seaside paraphernalia. Whitby Jet is the fossilized remains of a tree from the Jurassic period and is only found along a seven and a half mile stretch of the North Yorkshire coastline centered around Whitby.

There are lots of little alleyways to explore.

And lots of seaside-y and fishing things to look at, like these lobster pots on the quay.

The beach is beautiful but usually quite quiet. There's a fabulous pier to walk down, and you can catch boats here to take you out fishing or for short scenic trips.

One for the textile artists amongst you. What a glorious confusion of texture and colour, washed up on the beach.

This is the quayside with the replica Bark Endeavour. It's a 40% size scale model, but I think you can imagine the real one must have been very tiny... especially when you consider how many crew members there were, and what it would have been like to be on board her for months on end.

The rigging on the front end.

Tied up on the quay.

Out at sea; it took me ages to get the mouth of the cannon lined up with the Abbey on top of the cliff!

And finally so you can experience it for yourself, a short video I took on board. Please forgive the background noise in some places.....it was a very windy day! (Oh, and remember, real pirates don't have to worry about chucking rubbish overboard.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF9072B3Iso

Hardwick Hall - Lousy crumble, lots of exciting beds, tapestries, and furniture.

2011-10-15T16:04:00.003+01:00

Hardwick Hall is the home of Bess of Hardwick. It was built in the 1590's by Bess and is home to some of the finest tapestries in Europe from Elizabethan England. Visitor details here.

I'm not sure who caught who on a bad day, but not my favourite place.

Now before I share photos and history with you, a word of caution. Lots of people enjoy a nice lunch when they go out for a day trip, but you won't find one at Hardwick. The restaurant is sadly lacking; the loos are cramped and scruffy - but clean - and there's not enough of them. After you've queued for a seat in the cramped dining hall (there aren't nearly enough places) food orders are taken by some lovely young waiters, but you have to sit at trestle benches, elbow to elbow with a group of people haven't chosen to dine with, you have to wait for ages for your order to arrive (40 minutes in my case) - the kitchen simply can't cope. I only ordered fruit crumble and it was inedible. Here it is for you to make your own mind up. The custard was made with water and the crumble wasn't crumbly; I suspect someone had torn up soggy, left over pastry. It was a hard yet glutenous mass and the fruit wasn't sweetened. Yuck. I've never left a crumble before. My heart bled. It wasn't even a particularly busy day.

I haven't finished moaning, but onwards to the pretty bits.

The outside
Built by Bess of Hardwick in the 1590s, and unaltered since. It has huge windows in the stone walls that make it look like there's more glass than wall. It has six towers which make a dramatic skyline.

Please note the number of school children in the photo. Great that they're there learning stuff, but you can imagine what it's like to visit a house, to try and appreciate the atmosphere, and concentrate on what you're seeing, with masses of children running around and having lessons in fenced off areas of the rooms, making them no-go areas and filling the space with loud voices, at the same time as having to listen to the teachers trying to keep order and pass on information. Ok, moaning done for now.

Hardwick is a conspicuous statement of the wealth and power of Bess Of Hardwick, who was the richest woman in England after Queen Elizabeth 1st. It was one of the first English houses where the Great Hall was through the centre of the house rather than at right angles to the entrance.

Hardwick Hall contains a large collection of embroideries, mostly dating from the late 16th century, many of which are listed in the 1601 inventory. Some of the needlework on display in the house incorporates Bess's monogram "ES", and may have been worked on by Bess herself.

Up the stairs....

...along the corridor....

.....through the very crooked doorway......

And into the most beautifully decorated, huge room. Just look at all that needlework on the walls, chairs, and canopy. The Great Chamber with a plaster frieze of hunting scenes

...looking through a doorway into another room...

(Same room), ....looking towards the fireplace.

And into the long gallery.

Hardwick Hall has one of the largest long galleries in any English house. The windows are exceptionally large and numerous for the 16th century and were a powerful statement of wealth at a time when glass was a luxury, leading to the saying, "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall"

Bess of Hardwick, rose from humble origins to become on of the most powerful people in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. She married four times, each time gaining more wealth and her fourth husband was the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the richest and most powerful of the English nobles of the time.

For many years the Shrewsburys were responsible for the guardianship of that unhappy Queen Mary Queen of Scots. The dynasty created by Bess included many powerful descendants including the Dukes of Devonshire, Newcastle, Portland and Kingston.

The story is that Bess had a furious dispute with her husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and in 1584 had to leave their home at Chatsworth. She came to the Old Hall at Hardwick and largely rebuilt it as a place for herself to live. However, when the Earl died in 1590 her finances became much more secure and she immediately began the construction of the 'New' Hall. The Old Hall was abandoned and gradually became a ruin.

This canopy and chairs was mid way along the Long Gallery.

Queen Elizabeth 1st

Some of the furniture.

And here we are back with some of my favourite things; the beds and bed headings.

The dining room.

A modern sitting room.

Something we don't get to see very often....the reverse of some embroidery.

These fantastic boxes filled this small room completely. It's storage for all the paperwork; deeds and legal documents relating to the land and property of Bess.

Fountains Abbey - The largest monastic ruin in Britain.

2011-09-22T19:06:00.000+01:00

Fountains Abbey in Rippon, Yorkshire, is a truly wonderful place to visit. It's owned by the National Trust, and is a World Heritage Site. It's huge, and awe inspiring.

The facilities are OK. The restaurant is large with heaps of seating, but there were big queues at the food counter because as usual with the NT there weren't enough people cooking and serving. Loos were a little dated and scruffy but clean. Staff, as ever, helpful and knowledgeable.

The Abbey stands on the floor of the Skell Valley and was built by monks from 1132 onwards.

The river Skell which runs through the site, and the following photos are of a model of what the original must have looked like; it shows how vital this water must have been for milling, transport, and drainage.(the monks' toilets extended out over the river) Fresh water for drinking came from the springs on the hillsides.

You have to put all three photos together to get an idea of how huge this site was.

They've been building Abbey's "up north" as a place of worship since the 7th century, and this one was founded by a group of 13 monks who wanted to return to the simple teachings of St Benedict (6th century). These 13 monks lived at St Mary's Benedictine Abbey in York, but they were frustrated, as the monks there led a life of extravagance in diet, clothing, and lifestyle etc., and the Archbishop of York took pity on them and granted them land at Ripon to start afresh. There was nothing there in the way of shelter etc., and the first winter was hard. It's said they sheltered under an elm tree, and covered themselves in straw to keep warm. The Archbishop sent them rations of bread, but it was a hard life and they nearly gave up. However they got help from the Abbot of Clairvaux in France, and eventually established the first Cistercian abbey in Yorkshire.

The Cistercian movement had a highly organized set of rules and the community at Fountains Abbey had to follow them, including an annual trip to France to Cistercian HQ for decision updates from the parent Abbey.

The Church was the first bit of the Abbey to be built, and the picture on the right shows the nave. This was used by the laybrothers. These were the Cistercian brothers who worked as shepherds or labourers on the abbey's farms. Although an important part of the abbey, and although they took monastic vows, the laybrothers had their own dormitory, refectory and infirmary.

Choir Monks. The first Cistercian choir monks led austere lives (you could either be a laybrother or choir monk) They were known as "White Monks" a nickname which came from their white clothes. Their habits were made of coarse, undyed sheep's wool with underwear only permitted when sent on a journey (nb there was no heating in the Abbey for the entire year, but there was a fire in one room which was used for washing - more later)

They spent their day in silence, using only signs to communicate. They were called to prayers 7 times a day between daybreak and dusk, and had a Vigil at 2 o'clock every morning.

The Cellarium. (right and below) This was where the Abbey's food supplies would be stored.

The cellarer was the monk in charge of managin the estate. His lockable stores for food and produce occupied the alcoves.

(left) This is the doorway to the Chapter House. This is where the monks met each day to discuss religion, and the day to day running of the Abbey.

Each day a monk would read a chapter from St Benedict's Rule, to remind everyone of their calling. This is where the name Chapter House comes from. The book addresses all aspects of life in a religious community and shows a deep understanding of the workings of communal life. The monks were also supposed to confess to wrongdoings here and receive their punishment from the abbot.

Excerpt from St Benedict's Rule
"Idleness is the enemy of the soul. For this reason the brethren should be occupied at certain times in manual labour and at other times in sacred reading."

Right. A close up of a crumbling wall so you can see how they were constructed.

LAYBROTHERS
Laybrothers took care of the running of the Abbey so that the choir monks could devote their lives to prayer. They wore dark brown tunics and cloaks, and attended fewer services, though they would pray in the fields when they heard the abbey service bell.

Their work was demanding so they had longer hours of sleep and more to eat. The dormitory could house up to 200 laybrothers, but more stayed on local farms. By the middle of the 1200's, Fountains Abbey had become one of the richest and most powerful religious houses in the country. The sale of wool was the main source of wealth.

( Right). The little label on the wall says "prison" There was no explanation for this in any of the literature, so we're left to wonder if it was for visitors or miscreants of a more monkish nature.

The refectory. The monks took their seats on wooden benches along the walls, separate from each other, and in silence. One monk would climb the stairs to the pulpit, and read aloud from devotional texts.

The monks on kitchen duty would serve the daily ration of thick vegetable soup (pottage) through a hatch from the kitchen next door.

In summer the monks had two meals a day and in winter, one. Each monk was given a daily loaf of coarse bread made with flour from the abbey's mill and some weak ale to drink. The abbey had fishponds and the occasionally eat fish but not meat. For the elderly, sick, or after blood-letting, meat could be cooked and eaten but in the Infirmary.

Huby's Tower.

This tower is 167 feet high, and was built around 1500 by Abbot Marmaduke Huby. It's made from local limestone.

The tower is empty inside, but you can just see a walkway around the middle on the inside. There's a couple of doors in the corner. There didn't look to be enough space for a spiral staircase, so I'm not sure about why it's there and how you use it.

A couple of builders are repairing the stone work on one of the bridges.

The River Skell. No more than a trickle when we went.

Below: The oldest part of the abbey was the wooden church, and early stone building. As you walk from the Church, you pass over tiles from the medieval church floor. This is where the main altar was.

Warming Room Fires.

Log fires burned in two huge fireplaces from November to Easter. There was no other heating in the Abbey, and monks could come here to warm themselves just for a few minutes (they weren't allowed any longer)

Three or four times a year, the abbot would order blood-letting for the monks, to purify them. They'd go to the warming room for this, and afterwards would be allowed to rest on their beds or in the Cloister.

The blood was buried, as a sign of reverence for the life they believed was in it.

The choir monks were allowed to rest for 6/7 hours each night (service at 2 am though). They had simple beds and slept in their habits.

Right, is a view up the chimney of the fires (I can't resist peering up chimneys!) Above the fireplace was a room used for storing papers - The Muniment Room. It was because it was the warmest and driest room in the abbey. It's believed they stored treasures here for King John at the time of the Magna Carta in 1215.

A roof along a corridor. I couldn't resist the wonderful patterns and textures of these stones.

The Mill.

The mill was needed to turn the increasing amount of grain harvest into flour for bread. Cistercians were known as masters of water-driven machinery.

The Mill escaped damage under Henry VIII dissolution, because it was valuable, bringing in an income of £3 a year. It ground wheat, rye, oats and barley, and produced enough to feed the abbey, servants, visitors and the needy.

I hated this, but took a quick photo. Can't be doing with dank, Gollum-y type places. Ugh.

A bit of graffiti from 1787 on the mill door.

Why did it all go pear-shaped?

Fountains Abbey peaked in about 1200. It was large, rich, and powerful.

At the end of the century however, the mis-management of the accounts led to debts. The abbey made huge money from sheep (wool trade) but it's flocks became riddled with disease. Changing climate meant cooler weather affected the harvests which failed, and raids from hungry Scots, who were suffering famine in Scotland, were followed by the Black Death. Between 1349 and 1350 over 1/3 of the entire population of the country died of the plague. This meant there weren't enough laybrothers to work the fields, so the land was rented out to provide an income. It struggled until late in the 1400's when it underwent a short revival, once again becoming the richest abbey in England under Abbot Huby (see great tower above)

In 1539 however, it all ended with a deed of surrender to Henry VIII, and 400 years of worship at the abbey came to an end, and the asset stripping began.

Fountains Hall

There's not much I can say about this, as although you are allowed in, there's nothing much to see. 3 rooms are open, but have no furniture or architectural features of note, apart from 1 fireplace.

The outside is pretty however. It stands at the foot of a steep slope in the Skell Valley just west of the abbey. It facade is 17th century in the style of Robert Smythson, who was the architect of Hardwick Hall (posting to come)

Finally, there is a lot to see at Fountains Abbey including a walk around the Studley Royal Water Gardens, which include a lake, canal and cascade. There is a deer park to walk around, the De Grey Walk, The High Ride, Lakeside and Seven Bridges, and The Church of St Mary the Virgin to visit as well.

Plenty to do, and it will take you the whole day to do it all. At £9 this was good value. Unfortunately the WestCountryBuddha's time was limited and Durham Cathedral was calling!

Lincoln Cathedral - Posting 3 - video of interior

2011-09-20T09:51:00.006+01:00

Video inside Lincoln Cathedral.

The organist was practising and workmen are in the vaultings.

Lincoln Cathedral - Posting 2 (Inside the Cathedral)

2011-09-19T14:00:00.001+01:00

(All photos subject to copyright)

My main reason for visiting Lincoln Cathedral was that I thought they had a chained library, but alas, no. They told me there was one eons ago, but now they simply have a mock up of one book chained to a stand. There is however a lovely library full of very old books that you can read but by appointment only. No photos were allowed, sorry. However, here's the rest of the Cathedral for you.

The Nave (above) was completed in 1250. It quite often holds 2,000 people, for concerts and services.

Below is part of the great 12th century frieze, which, as you can see, is being restored.

Above a beautiful piece of embroidery, and left a modern sculpture. Neither had an explanation next to them I'm afraid, so I'm unable to tell you much about them.

The following photos did however, and they are part of a very beautiful frieze called The Forest Stations by William Fairbank.

"There are 15 Forest Stations in all, each one tells a story about a moment in time between the better known "Stations of the Cross".

The Forest Stations are exhibited in panels on the North wall of the Nave of Lincoln Cathedral.

Using wood in an imaginative and innovative way, William Fairbank has created an astonishing set of wood panels involving intricate carving, inlay, juxtaposition of different woods, indeed, woods from many countries to create a narrative of the journey Jesus makes to the Cross and Resurection."

Below: St Hugh's Choir. This was the first bit of the church to be rebuilt after the earthquake. The wooden carved bits are the Canons' stalls (this is where they sit for important services). They're made from oak and are very beautiful. On most days an Evensong service takes place here, the Bible is read, and prayers are said for the world.

(nb In the first posting I mentioned we were late arriving in Lincoln because we were caught in a tremendous traffic queue caused by a nasty accident involving a lorry and a van. I left a note on the Intercessions Board, asking for a bit of love to be sent to those involved. It would be nice to think they were alright, but I fear not. We had the misfortune to be stuck exactly opposite the wreckage")

The Stained Glass is medieval. This window has recently been restored and double glazed to protect it.

I loved this carved "walkway" and was intrigued by the plain wood beam underneath it. Do you think it was also like the one above at some point?

A snippet of paint on the carved stone vaulting.

The Lincoln Imp. This area is called the Angel Choir, and dates from about 1280, and was made to house a shrine to St Hugh and pilgrims various. It's named after 28 angels carved and placed up high under the windows.

At the top of this pillar is a small carved figure of the Lincoln Imp.

Here's a bit from Wikipedia about the imp.

.

According to a 14th-century legend two mischievous creatures called imps were sent by Satan to do evil work on Earth. After causing mayhem in Northern England, the two imps headed to Lincoln Cathedral where they smashed tables and chairs and tripped up the Bishop When an angel came out of a book of hymns and told them to stop, one of the imps was brave and started throwing rocks at the angel but the other imp cowered under the broken tables and chairs. The angel turned the first imp to stone giving the second imp a chance to escape.

There are many variations on Lincoln Imp legends. According to one popular legend, the imp which escaped fled north to Grimsby, where it soon began making trouble again. It entered St. James Church and began repeating its behaviour at Lincoln Cathedral. The angel then reappeared and gave the imp's backside a good thrashing before turning it to stone like its friend. The "Grimsby Imp" can still be seen in St James' Church, clinging to its sore bottom. Another legend has the escaped imp turned to stone just outside the cathedral, and sharp-eyed visitors can spot it on a South outside wall.

The font. It's a rare piece of Tournai marble and dates from the time of the Norman Cathedral. I liked the reflections of the roof, in the water (below)

Lincoln Cathedral - Posting 1 (outside)

2011-09-18T16:25:00.001+01:00

Lincoln Cathedral is one of the finest medieval buildings in Europe.

It sits high on a hill overlooking the ancient city of Lincoln and dominates the skyline. (left)

This is a view from the road approaching Lincoln, where we were trapped for nearly an hour because of a traffic accident on the other carriageway. It looked nasty, and we hoped there were survivors.

THE OUTSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL AND IT'S SURROUNDINGS.

Where the Dean et al live? Just opposite the entrance to the Cathedral and very very lovely.

The building is made from local limestone and Purbeck marble and has evolved over hundreds of years, built and cared for by thousands of people. It was obviously built to worship God and is Christian, but even if you have no faith, visiting it will imbue a sense of truth and grace.

Pictures below, but this extract about the architecture is taken from the Cathedral website

"The first cathedral was started in 1072. It was in the shape of a cross — the Christian symbol — with the entrance at the west and the altar at the east. This Norman building style gave the West end an almost fortress-like appearance. The two west towers had steep pyramidal roofs. The arches over the west front were low and rounded.

A fire in 1141 severely damaged the roof, leading to much restoration. The original flat timber ceilings were replaced with stone vaults. A carved frieze was inserted above the central doorway depicting the punishments that would be the fate of sinners.

The collapse of the central tower in the 1230s prompted another rebuilding of the east end. A suitable shrine was needed for St. Hugh Bishop of Lincoln and so the Angel Choir was built. This used high arches, fine, detailed carvings and huge expanses of stained glass to give an impression of light and richness. The European-style apse was extended into a Celtic-influenced square ended chancel.

In the 14th century the central tower was raised and topped with a lead-covered spire, making it the tallest building in Europe. The Choir Screen was also added at this time. Used then as a pulpit, it is in the Decorated style of dense, intricate carvings which would have been brightly painted.

The focus of new building in the 15th century turned to chantry or memorial chapels. The chapels next to the Angel Choir were built in the Perpendicular style, with an emphasis on strong vertical lines, seen most markedly in the window tracery and wall panelling."

In 1141, or possibly earlier, the Cathedral was damaged by fire. Alexander 'the Magnificent' (Bishop of Lincoln, 1123-48) partially rebuilt the damaged Cathedral.

Educated in Laon in northern France, Alexander travelled widely and was acquainted with the most advanced architecture of his day.

Henry of Huntingdon, who compiled his 'History of the English' at Alexander's request, states that the Bishop restored the Cathedral with such subtle workmanship that it was more beautiful than before, and second to none in England.

Given the experimental nature of Gothic architecture, mistakes occurred, and the central tower's collapse in 1237 or 1239 was a major setback.

A new tower was started immediately and in 1255 the Dean and Chapter petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the extended town wall to enlarge the Cathedral.

They replaced Hugh's rounded chapels with a larger and loftier square east end to provide more space for the increasing numbers of pilgrims venerating the saint's shrine.

An earthquake caused structural damage to Lincoln Cathedral in 1185. St Hugh (Bishop of Lincoln, 1186-1200) began work on reconstructing the Cathedral in 1192.

He used the Gothic style, where pointed arches (rather than round ones), ribbed vaults and flying buttresses made it possible to make larger windows (for stained glass) and larger roof spans.

St. Hugh himself was said to have carried a hod to help with the building work, but he died in 1200, before the great Transept and Nave were finished.

A few photos of the streets around the Cathedral. This street is called Steep Street. Made me puff.

Kenilworth Castle - Seige Day 1173 (re-enactment)

2011-09-02T13:02:00.004+01:00

Preparations for Battle between Henry 2 and his son Henry The Young King

We join the castle as it prepares for battle.

King Henry 2 had a son, and the land is in revolt in favour of the son. Henry the elder was having trouble in Normandy and was threatened with invasion from the Scots.

(King Henry was the one married to Eleanor of Acquitaine and who did for Thomas Becket.)

In the custom of the Capetian Kings of France, whose heirs apparent were crowned during their own lifetime, in order to avoid succession disputes, Henry (the son) was crowned as joint king when he came of age. However, because he was never king in his own right, he is known to history as "Henry the Young King", rather than Henry III. As the king's sons matured, it was expected that Henry would inherit the throne from his father,

(above right: I couldn't resist a photo of this little darling dressed for the part)

So, in Kenilworth, the Earls of Norfolk and Leicester have seized the opportunity of unrest in Normandy and with a threatened invasion from Scotland, to besiege all the Royalist castles in the Midlands. The Castle is being defended by Geoffrey De Clinton.

(There were 6 re-enactment groups performing for the afternoon seige and it was fun to wander around their encampments beforehand to find out what life would have been like for those involved in the battle. Above is a photo of a fox fur. There were a lot of furs on display, and were used extensively for warmth and clothing. The players slept in the tents under reindeer skins and I was told it was beautifully warm.)

Right: a falcon used for hunting food. It could catch prey up to the size of a rabbit.

And so, the attack begins. The Perriers (like a small trebuchet and much easier to wheel around) are being loaded. The arm is winched by ropes to ground level before being fired. This is followed by a hail of arrows from the archers which sailed easily over the walls to claim their victims.

(On the right is a picture of one of the stone balls found at the castle on one of the latest archeological digs. I've put my hand in the picture for scale.

For the re-enactment, they fired many missiles, but they were of the grapefruit variety not stone!)

After the initial attack by seige catapults, and arrows, the Earls of Norfolk and Leicester combine forces to storm the walls and erect seige ladders to climb the walls. They try to break through the door but it's held fast.

Casualties as the Earls men are pushed back and fall to the ground (which they did quite literally, being caught in blankets)

Preparations for battle also include tunneling under ground so that explosives could be laid at the foundations of the walls. These would be fired so that the wall is "undermined" and collapses. We saw smoke but the attempt was obviously a failure.

Reinforcements from the Earls arrive to support the attempt over the wall.

Success the walls are breached! Hand to hand fighting ensues.

It looks as if all is lost in the castle.

But then, in the nick of time the Cavalry arrive and storm the attackers.

The two enemies stand facing each other.

And charge.

Battle ensues with hand to hand fighting amongst the knights.

Much thudding of hooves and cheering results in the cavalry winning and the Earls admitting defeat. They are shown mercy and allowed to join the kings troops.

So endeth the seige of Kenilworth.

And enormous fun it was too. A lot of shouting and hard work....not at all like the telly!

The knight/really a lady, in the bottom picture is heading straight for me, but I ducked so avoided being a kebab.

Kenilworth Castle - Posting 1

2011-08-31T16:32:00.000+01:00

I usually separate postings if there's a lot of photos, into the Insides and the Outsides of buildings. There isn't that option for Kenilworth Castle as there's no roof! This posting is about the castle itself, and the next one will be about the Seige of the castle in 1173 (performed yesterday by 6 re-enactment groups.)

For almost five centuries, Kenilworth Castle served as a royal residence. The Kings and barons who created and lived in its buildings are among the most familiar names in English History.

It once stood at the heart of a 1,600-ha (4,000-acre) hunting ground, and surrounded by a vast man-made lake, it represented a rich prize to the generations of royal and almost-royal great men who owned it: among them Geoffrey de Clinton, John of Gaunt, Henry V, and Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester.

Even in melancholy decay its influence has been far-reaching, thanks, in part, to Walter Scott’s best-selling romance, 'Kenilworth', which brought the castle new fame.

Geoffrey de Clinton, Henry I's treasurer, began the massive Norman keep at the core of the fortress in the 1120s, and under Henry II Kenilworth became a royal castle. King John greatly strengthened it between 1210 and 1215, enlarging the surrounding watery 'mere' which effectively made it an island stronghold.

This meant it could withstand an epic siege in 1266, when rebellious barons held out against Henry III's siege engines for six months, succumbing only to starvation.

The delightful thing about Kenilworth Castle is that you are free to scramble around on the ruins and climb to the very tops of the towers if you have the energy.

The groups who were re-enacting the seige of the castle, seemed to enjoy wandering around in costume afterwards, giving us all the chance to have some unusual photos.

Ok, so this gentleman/knight was having fun striking a pose, looking all handsome and powerful into the distance, but there again, I was having equal amounts of fun taking his photo.

Queen Elizabeth 1st at Kenilworth.

Queen Elizabeth I had granted Kenilworth Castle to her favourite, Robert Dudley, in 1563 and he spent a fortune transforming it into a luxurious palace fit to receive his queen and her court.

"The queen visited him there several times on her famous summer progresses away from London. Her fourth and final visit lasted for 19 days, from 9 to 27 July 1575, the longest she had ever stayed at a courtier’s house. In her honour, Leicester built sumptuous apartments especially for her use, with large airy windows with superb views, huge fires and a whole chamber dedicated to one of the queen’s great passions – dancing. Decorated with dazzling plasterwork, hung with rich tapestries and furnished sumptuously, this would have been the summit of Elizabethan luxury. Leicester also devised the most lavish series of entertainments for the queen, and took as much care with the surrounding landscape as he had with the buildings, embellishing his park with bowers, arbours, seats and walks. He wanted Elizabeth’s privy, or private, garden to be as magnificent an outdoor space as the interiors he had created for her.

Two detailed accounts of the festivities survive, one written by the poet and actor George Gascoigne, the other by Robert Langham, keeper of the council chamber door. It is from Langham, a minor official, that we have the description of the garden. Although it was designed as a privy garden, closed to all but the queen’s closest companions, one day, while the queen was out hunting, Adrian the gardener allowed Langham to sneak inside. Langham’s account is written in the form of a long letter, in a curious style which has provoked a great deal of debate. Although he cannot have visited the garden for more than a few hours, Langham left an extremely detailed description of its features. The accuracy of his account is borne out by archaeological evidence, which confirms that an eight-sided fountain once stood at the centre of the garden, just as he claims."

Photos of the reconstructed garden. ( A tour of the garden is here if you want more information.)

The tower which was built by Dudley for the Queen's visit in 1563 has this rather long drop to the grounds outside the castle. I suspect a dunny.

Above right: really thick walls to withstand attack.

Graffiti through the ages.

The shots below are some more of the stones, window arches, and below ground rooms.

To the left are the underground rooms and above is the light pouring through a doorway from a window high up in the wall. Possibly a dungeon?

Looking back through the remains at a row of arches over doorways.

Blakesley Hall, Birmingham - Wattle and Daub, and gingerbread

2011-08-29T15:29:00.001+01:00

The road sign that says "Birmingham Attractions" is not an oxymoron.

Poor old Birmingham is much maligned. It's the second largest city in England, and has a strong industrial past. It was bombed heavily in WW2 and much of the centre is new and commercial. You might think it's a multi-cultural shopping hub without history, but of course it's still there if you look!

Blakesley Hall is in Yardley, and was first mentioned in 972AD when it was a Benedictine Abbey.

The population of Birmingham grew steadily until 1348 when the Black Death (bubonic plague) wiped out over 200 villages in the Midlands alone. One effect of the Black Death was that surviving families became wealthier, as the available land was shared between fewer people.

"The Smalbroke family are known to have been living in Yardley as early as 1275, and in 1440 John Smalbroke was Yardley's first recorded yeoman (yeomen were landowner-farmers who could be called on to serve as jurors) - so this family survived the plague years. The Smalbrokes and another ancient Birmingham family, the Colmores, rivalled each other for wealth and status. At times the rivalry led to fisticuffs, running battles and lawsuits, though there were also marriages between the two families."

It's thought that this earlier house was demolished and rebuilt as the Blakesley Hall we see today in 1590. It would have been built to the height of fashion, having fireplaces with brick chimneys, glazed windows, and an upper floor with rooms opening off a gallery.

The massive front door, made of two layers of thick oak boards still has it's original hinges and locking system.

There is a small garden mostly laid to herbs which you can walk around, but much of the outside space is lawned. This enables children free reign to run around. I imagine that much of the funding for the house has been secured by it's providing educational days out for school children. Much of the inside space is roped off, and appears quite bare of furniture, fittings and information. During the school terms I can imagine hoards of children charging round finding out information for their projects etc. Whilst this is a good use of course, it does leave the space clinical and less interesting for the non-school visitor. The entrance price of £4 is reasonable and there is a tearoom selling small snacks, so is worth an hour or two if you're passing. Click here for more visitor information

The inside of Blakesley Hall

The Hall is laid out like a medieval hall, with service rooms at one end, separated from it by the timber-framed screen and cross-passage, and private rooms at the other end.

The walls, including the timbers, have been lime-washed. This was done to make the rooms fresh and clean, although there is evidence that the walls in the hall were painted a rich red.

"The original floor was of beaten earth, about a foot lower than the present wooden floor. Taking this into account, the ceiling is unusually high for the period. Beaten earth floors coated with a mixture of dung and ox blood, that dried to form a durable surface, were usually strewn with rushes or straw mixed with herbs to freshen the air"

The Boulting House was a space used for storing flour, and preparation of dough for bread; a very important part of the Tudor and Stuart diet. The quality of the bread eaten depended on the status of the diner.

In the Still Room (left) the mistress of the house would make medicines, perfumes and household preparations, using herbs, spices and other ingredients, disguising bitter tastes by grating in sugar from a tall conical sugar loaf.

On the floor at the back is a tiny still oven. A distilling vessel containing water and ingredients would be placed on the top. As it boiled, the steam condensed inside the top of the vessel. This condensate, containing the distilled essence of the ingredients, would drip out through the spout and be carefully bottled, ready for use.

The Great Parlour was used for private dining, sitting and entertaining. It has a door to the garden so people could come and go without passing through the main hall.

It has a high ceiling with moulded beams. When Blakesley was built, plastered ceilings were uncommon, so the joists and floor boards of the bedrooms would have been visible.

The fireplace is original and the carved overmantel is late 17th C and came fromLittle Aston Hall in Staffordshire in the 1980's.

" The painted wall-hangings depict the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers. They are based on a set of seventeenth-century painted hangings at Owlpen Manor in Gloucestershire.

These are replicas.

Painted hangings were used in middle-class homes where tapestries might be used in grander house, both as decoration and to reduce draughts."

This is a turned chair of about 1680. Chairs like this were constructed from turned parts pushed together and were fashionable and came in both three and four legged versions. Three legs are more stable on uneven floors.

The Little Parlour was re-instated in the 2001 restoration. The timber framed walls are hidden behind linen hangings dyed in colours similar to the natural dyes in use in the 17th C.

It was very fashionable to have hangings made of seamed widths of fabric in alternate plain colours forming broad stripes. They were called "paned" hangings.

This room might have been used by the women of the household as a comfortable little room in which to sit and chat (the word parlour comes from the French "parler" or to talk)

An Inventory of the Hall's contents in 1684 listed

"two little table boards one Livery Cupboard six old Chaires on child's chaire one old Grate fire Shovelle and tongs one paire of Snuffers and one Clocke" They had a total value of £2 3shillings.

Wattle and Daub walls. The wattle is

interwoven mesh wood strips, and the daub is the plaster mix on top of them.

The slats or wattle are made from hazel twigs or riven oak, and the daub infilling is made from cow dung, chopped straw, and coarse hair pressed onto the wattle. The whole lot was then rendered with lime and cow dung mixed with chopped straw or hair.

This photo is of the upstairs Gallery. I loved the angle it's on! Having a gallery was quite a new idea as the bedrooms would normally have opened into each other.

Painted Chamber.

The wall paintings in this room date from when the house was built. They were plastered over, probably in the 17thC when they were thought old fashioned, and they remained hidden until the 1950's when post war repairs to the bomb shattered plaster revealed them.

These paintings are of lilies, pomegranates, centaurs and a four line inscription which no one can decipher. It's thought the paintings originally covered the ceiling as well.

There are information sheets in most of the rooms. Informative up to a point, but I would have liked much more. I bought the Guide Book for £5 and that contains all you'd need to know including extra bits on clothing and lifestyle. However, it's for sale in the shop which is quite a walk away from the house, and I didn't know I'd need it! Here's a couple of extra snippets from the book.............

Clothing

Clothing in yeomen's families was fairly modest. Men wore knee-length breeches and tailored stockings, a long shirt and a padded and fitted long sleeved doublet. Women's everyday wear consisted of a shift (a simple undergarment), underskirts, a fitted jacket and an outer skirt, protected by a large apron. They might wear a large lace trimmed collar, and their hair would be covered with a coif or cap. It was not unusual for people to bequeath their best clothes in their wills, as Isabel Wheeler of Yarley did in 1598, leaving her gown of grogram (a coarse silk fabric) a kirtle, and doublet of taffeta to the wife of Richard Smalbroke.

A 1656 gingerbread recipe

Take a quart of Honey clarified, and seeth (boil) it to be brown, and if it be thick, put to it a dish of water; then take fine crumbs of white bread grated, and put to it and stirre it well, and when it is almost could (cold), put to it the powder of Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon, and a little of locoras (liquorice) and Anniseeds, then knead it and put into a mould or print it: some use to put to it also a little Pepper, but that is according unto taste and pleasure.

Upton House - Posting 3 - Painting Collection

2011-08-04T15:43:00.000+01:00

"Upton House is known mostly for it's collection of paintings. Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, bought Upton House in 1927 to provide a setting for his art collection. His father, Marcus Samuel, the 1st Viscount, had made the Bearsted fortune through the creation of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, today part of Royal Dutch Shell.

Walter Samuel enlarged Upton to accommodate his growing collection of paintings and by the time of his death in 1948 had assembled one of the finest private art collections in England in the twentieth century."

There are outstanding examples of both British and European painting. Paintings are hung throughout the house, but there is a picture gallery, shown below. I've included some close ups and details of a few of the paintings, though not all. You'll have to visit!

Explanations of some of the paintings come courtesy of the National Trust leaflets and room guides.

I have posted about the paintings at Upton before, but some while ago, so I've revisited them and added some new ones for you.

Now this chap on the left is an absolute favourite from a painting point of view. I love it for the details of his clothes and his skin tones. The beard and wrinkles are just perfect.

The volunteer steward saw me looking and said that it was her favourite too and didn't he look kind?

I didn't argue but to me his eyes are so shrewd. He's a man with undercurrents of hardness. He was Henry 3rd of France' Secretary of State, so not a man given to naivety. He was 84 when this was painted so he got to a ripe old age; not easy for many reasons, so I think he knew how to look after himself.

This one has "Rembrant" underneath, but isn't. Its now been attributed to Jan Lievens (1607-74) A Magus at an Altar.

I love the light reflecting on the fabrics.

"Paintings such as this using vivid lighting effects were often produced by young artists in order to display their skills. This is one of several versions of the composition. His work is often confused with Rembrant".

Love this horse. The muscles are so wonderfully done. This is a small painting of one of the French kings. It measures about 8" square.

By Francois Clouet (1510-72) Francis 1 of France on Horseback.

"Francis 1 succeeded his cousin Louis XII, whose daughter he married in 1515. He appointed Francois Clouet court painter in 1541 after the death of the artist's father Jean. Another version of this painting is in the Uffizi."

I absolutely love this one below. It's called Death of the Virgin by Pieter Bruegel (the elder) About 1525-1569

"Pieter Bruegel was one of the most significant artists to emerge from the Netherlands in the 1500's Having travelled in France and Italy, he settled in Brussels in 1563, where he produced his best known works. In his lifetime he achieved a considerable reputation and his works were highly sought after following his death. In this unusual work, the dying Virgin Mary is surrounded at her bedside by the huddled forms of Apostles praying, as she grasps a single candle as a symbol of her faith. Her death is presented as a very human event, but a spiritual presence is conveyed by the intense white halo of light around the head of the Virgin. There is an atmosphere of hushed intrusion and grief as the moment of death approaches. If you look carefully you will see further ghostly figures in the background."

As you can see it's very very dark on the whole left side and you can see people in the shadows if you look. The focus is the light from the candle being held in front of the Virgin. It casts wonderful shadows into the room. Spell binding. I could gaze at it for hours.

Conversely, these two give me the creeps.

I'm really interested in using gold leaf in paintings. I have tried bits as experiments only, but I like the effects of it in backgrounds.

And another icon with gold leaf and egg tempera.

Below: Adoration of the Kings (triptych open) Christ before Pilate and Visions of Hell (triptych closed)

Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch (1450 - 1516)

"To our eyes, Bosch's medieval world of half-human creatures and demons appears to have more in common with Tolkien than with the artist's real life in a town near Antwerp. Although much of the symbolism of the painting has been lost to us, his aim was to depict the eternal struggle between good and evil.

The central depiction of the three Kings bringing gifts to the infant Christ is a reduced version of a painting now in the Prado, Madrid. The Moorish king is gorgeously attired in a fringed white robe, as he waits to present his gift of a golden bird mounted on a white globe.

Although Bosch has not strayed from the Biblical text, there are some strange elements. The mysterious figure standing in the stable doorway appears to be suffering from a skin disease, which could identify him as King Herod, who was said to have contracted leprosy after ordering the Massacre of the Innocents. An atmosphere of unease is created by details such as the bearded face peering through a hole in the crumbling wall.

In the background is the skyline of Jerusalem, in the guise of a great European city. The classical stone building or temple in the left panel symbolises the fall of the old, heathen world at the dawn of Christianity. It is a calm scene as the elderly Joseph gathers water and firewood.

By contrast, in the right panel the Kings entourage jostle together, some looking upwards, perhaps at a guiding star which may have been depicted in the top of the original panel.

The infant Christ appears vulnerable under the rickety stable, which stands far from the protection of the town walls, suggesting a dangerous and hostile world.

The triptych form and small scale of the altarpiece enabled it to be easily portable. The outer wings would have protected the delicate inner surface, although they too were often painted with religious scenes, as here."

Below: The Massacre of the Innocents
After Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Moving on from the The Picture Gallery, paintings can be found dotted around throughout the house. Here's some more in situ.

Just another passing look at this one. I forgot to note the painter, but I think it is Reynolds. Certainly looks like one of his.

Below: There are also a couple of rooms full of Shell posters.

And lots more china.

On the right: Reynolds.

On the left: School of Van Dyke. Queen Henrietta Maria daughter of Henry IV of France and who married Charles 1st.

Henrietta Maria, in situ.

There are also examples of Stubbs (dining room - previous posting) and Hogarth (picture room) and many many more besides. (Hogarth is a family favourite for his satirical depictions of 18th century life which exposed the folly and greed of the age.) It's worth a visit if you like paintings, and if you don't there's a really good bog garden and stepped walled garden, to walk around. The tea room is excellent if a little slow.

Upton House - Posting 2 (The Art Deco Bathroom and food)

2011-08-03T16:40:00.002+01:00

Lets imagine it's the 1930's and you're mistress of Upton House preparing for dinner. Not an extravagant affair, just a few friends, who've just arrived and left their luggage in the hallway for the servants to deal with.

After seeing them settled, you go upstairs to prepare for dinner. Perhaps you might have a bath, in your newly designed art deco bathroom, which has been lined with aluminium.

Or maybe a little rest on the chaise longue?

You certainly might enjoy a little music and even a dance or two because your room is large enough.

The maid has prepared everything for you, including an extremely large number of unguents and perfumes .

All the mod cons are available to keep you comfortable, including this new state of the art electric fire.

Or maybe a quick nap, so you can stay up all night if you need to?

The dinner gong has gone, and your guests are preparing to eat.

The room is dressed and ready.

The menu has been decided. It's all in French of course and had been put on the table for the guests so they know what to expect. (translation on the left)

An enormous cast iron stirrup cup on the fireplace. The guests have bought sporting gear so maybe they will take part in the local hunt.

Paintings by Stubbs on the walls. Brandy on the sideboard, and sweets in the dish below.

And all goes well.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, the maid has had a request from a visitor who's escaped the hubbub in search of cake. She's a nice lady, given to blogging under the name of WestCountryBuddha.

The shelves are scoured...................

The large Aga is filled........

And scones are dished out. Lucky WestCountryBuddha!!

Upton House - Posting 1 (Entrance, The Long Gallery, and some china)

2011-07-27T19:58:00.004+01:00

Upton House in Warwickshire is set out as a millionaire's 1930's mansion. Walter Samual, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, bought it in 1927 to house his collection of paintings. The fortune was made through the creation of Shell Transport and Trading Company.

The house has a longer history than that however, and here's what the National Trust have to say about it's heritage.

History of the house

During the 12th century the house belonged to the Arden family (reign of Richard 1)

"In 1452 it became a manor house for the first time. During the next 20 years, they built a new house, part of which can been seen in the basement of the present building.

The Cullens

Sir Rushout Cullen, the son of a city merchant, bought the house before 1695 and his initials can be seen on the rainwater heads at the rear. He developed the nine bays and two wings of the south front which can be seen today.

The Bumsteads (yep, that's truly their name)

On his death the house was sold to William Bumstead, who added the broken pediment on the north front and the Clipsham stone around the front door in about 1735.

From the Childs to the Bearsteds

In 1757 Bumstead sold Upton to Sir Francis Child, head of a major banking dynasty. Upton remained largely untouched architecturally for the next few years and was inherited as part of a dowry by the Earls of Jersey.

Upton House remained a minor residence, empty or let to tenants of the Earls of Jersey, until in 1894 Upton was sold to Mr Andrew Motion from whom Lord Bearsted brought it in 1927."

When you go into the house, the front door leads into a hallway with stairs on the left. Here's the view up the stairs. You can just see the bottom of a lovely painting on the stairway; the full photo is below.

Sometimes you have to look hard for treasures. I've been to the house many times and somehow always missed this painting on the left.

Its Diana and Actaeon, in the manner of Joachim Wtewael 1566 -1638

We then head into the Long Gallery (below) which is stuffed with paintings and displays of china. There is a piano with 1930's music on it, and any visitors who can play are encouraged to entertain the rest of us.

One of the china cupboards. A collection of dust traps.

Now this painting has a title on the frame "Miss Mockel" It is in fact the brother of Miss Mockel. (Cologne school, 1630)

It was common to dress boys as girls until about the age of 6, when they were breeched (put into breeches and their locks cut off) Lots of reasons; ease of care when not potty trained, fear of theft of young boys so they were dressed as girls, and right of passage) I believe there was no separate term for boy and girl either...they were all known as girls.

The Interior of the Church of St. Catherine, Utrecht 1655-60. Pieter Jansz Saenredam.

Paintings of church interiors at this period were very much a Dutch fashion, but this is apparently unusual in that it's an accurate drawing of a real church. It's a painting produced from drawings done much earlier in his life.

You can just see some figures, and it's possible these were added later by his pupils and were added to give a sense of scale so that we could appreciate the architecture and also the smallness of man in the presence of God.

The two shapes in the foreground are kneeling, inscribing a gravestone.

Canneletto. Venice. Bacino di San Marco 1726.

This is it's setting in the room....it's to the left of the window frame.

Village scene in the style of Brugel the Elder 1568-1625

That piano that visitors are invited to play.

Willen-Cornelisz Duyster 1600 -1635

Magnificent hat I thought, though I wouldn't vouch for the brim in heavy rain.

And this is the sister of the little boy in the first painting of Miss Mockel. This is the lady herself, painted with an adult looking face and hands.

Below.

I couldn't find the explanation for this one, although I'm sure it's there somewhere. A beautiful piece of embroidery.

Sir Henry Raeburn c 1800. The Macdonald Children.

Unfortunately the light was hitting this one from an odd angle and I wasn't able to see or photograph it properly, but it's one of my favourites. The two boys on the right are charming. Twins I think; beautifully and sympathetically painted with life and energy.

The sofa is what I wanted to show you here. I would find this quite a useful piece of furniture to have in my own house. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, my family has never won the lottery; as a consequence we are more at home with Ikea.

This is the desk of the Chairman of Shell. When his office was cleared this was left behind and re homed in the house.

Two pictures that can be seen from the library. There is a wooden balcony in the library which overlooks the billiard room area. It's an area stuffed with great paintings including Reynolds and school of Van Dyke.

I have a video of this area which I shall upload separately.

Down the stairs to the same level as the billiard room, and you come to the china collection. Some absolutely wonderful pieces worth the trip to see in the flesh.

I believe this collection on the right is Sevres Tete a Tete.

This whole collection was stolen about 40 years ago but was found in 2002. It was about to be sold at auction in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was returned as soon as it was recognised.

My favourite Sevres teapot. Just right for one teabag.

More on the picture room, and dining room in the next postings.

Upton House, Warwickshire - The gardens

2011-07-27T17:46:00.000+01:00

This is a video of part of the gardens at Upton House. It's taken from the top of the ha ha (or hee hee as it's known in my family) looking towards the lake. The sound track makes it sound like a windy day but if you hang on until the end you'll hear how peaceful it was - apart from the birds, and the bees, oh, and the coughing....!

Here are some photos of the outside of the house - the insides to come in the next posting. The house is presented as it would have been in the 1930's when the heir to the Shell fortune, Walter Samuel, owned it. It's magnificently art deco inside.

This is obviously the swimming pool, which is undergoing repairs. It has a view over the gardens above.

Below are some stills of the garden for those who don't want to watch a video.

Chastleton House - and is it any wonder that the gunpowder plot failed?

2011-07-20T18:13:00.003+01:00

Before I tell you about the house, please read the first posting below as it contains important information about the difficulties of visiting the house.

The images on this posting have been taken from the guide book supplied by the National Trust.

The Current House at Chastleton

Chastleton House is an oddity. The National Trust have undertaken minimal repair and no modification. They have replaced gutters, the slate roof and done electrical repairs. They have done the necessary for fire precaution and to prevent damp, but the whole building is presented showing the marks of age. Great care has been taken researching family history, and examining the building, talking to all who knew Chastleton, to ensure that the true history of the building remains.

The building was first opened to the public in 1940 by the then owner, Mrs Irene Whitmore-Jones, who explained the bad state of the buildings by saying the family had lost all their money "in the war". Not any recent world war you understand, but the Civil War, 300 years earlier!

It was built between 1607 and 1612 by Walter Jones who remained faithful to the King during the Civil War, and consequently suffered fines under the Commonwealth. (Commonwealth = "Roundheads"....who won!) About every 100 years or so since, emergency repairs were done to the house, but in between it was left to decay and is as you see it today.

The furniture in the house is sparse. This photo shows a court cupboard or buffet and, according to an inventory in 1633, there were 13 similar ones in the house. However this is an early 1800's made-up piece incorporating older oak wood. It was used for storing food, candles, jewels and other valuables. They were always dressed with a cloth either of tapestry or embroidery.

The Great Parlour. This was the dining room. It was furnished in 1633 with five chairs and a dozen stools. It's was used for 150 years until the early 1700's when money was short, and it was used for storage.

The chairs you can see in the photo are unmatched and have twist-turned legs and carvings incorporating crowns - typical of the Restoration period (c1660) and originally had caned seats.

However, not that poor, as the National Trust say that the tapestry is from about 1730, from the workshop of Guilem Werners in Lille, and it shows a musical party in a garden. It would have been expensive in it's day, and was probably acquired by John Henry Whitmore-Jones who records buying tapestries in his diary.

In that 1633 inventory, this bed chamber is called "Mr Fettyplace his Chamber". Once the family was established at Chastleton, the Jones' sought to marry into the leading gentry in the neighbouring counties. Henry married Anne Fettiplace in 1609, when the house was still under construction. Anne's coat of arms is in the overmantel. It was very colourful when new. The bed was hung with striped needlework combined with taffeta curtains and there were chairs and stools covered with needlework, cloths to the tables and the court cupboard and freshly coloured tapestries.
The three panels you can just see above are from a set depicting The Story of Jacob (Genesis, xxxiii) and were woven in Flanders around 1600.

Next to this room is a small closet called The Fettiplace Closet. It has one small window as well as the door into the above chamber.

It is entirely hung with flamestitch hangings from the early seventeenth century. The whole is made up of several different sized panels, and could possibly have been a set of bed hangings. It has 12 colours which are sewn onto a jute backing.

The Sheldon Room. This room was the most expensively decorated of all the bedchambers. The field bed was furnished in taffeta and there were rich coverings for the chairs, stools and court cupboard.

The modern gloss paint disguises the original striking interior. You can just see the chimneypiece which has inset marble and touchstone, with painted marbling. This marbling scheme has been found on panels concealed behind one of the tapestries.

The White Parlour. This was a daytime room where guests were received.

The early history of the house and that chap called Catesby.

The name Chastleton is Saxon in origin, and the last bit is easy as tun means town, or habitation enclosed by a fence. The second bit probably means a heap of stones or cairn from the Saxon word ceastel. It's really near to the Rollright Stones which we always visit when in the area. (nb when we visited this time, we were unintentionally entertained by a very handsome young man wearing heaps of bangles and a cheesecloth shirt, who was walking round and round the stones invoking the gods to do something. Sorry, I couldn't hear what exactly, but it involved flinging dirt around a fair bit and "omm"-ing with his eyes closed and head cast upwards to the heavens.)

Sorry, I diverted. Although the current house was built in1607, there is evidence of an earlier occupation. In 777, when Offa, the great King of Mercia made a grant of land to the Benedictine abbey of Evesham, the gift included property at Chastleton.

Immediately before the Norman conquest, it was held by Edwin, Earl of Mercia (grandson of Lady Godiva). Its history is long and complicated being owned at various times by Odo Bishop of Bayeux, and Thomas Chaucer (son of the poet). It continued to be handed on by family until we come to the slightly more interesting owners, the Catesbys.

Left: the conspirators of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, which was masterminded by Robert Catesby.

There was a long lineage of Catesbys at Chastleton, and we join them when the newly widowed Catherine married Anthony Throckmorton from Coughton in Warwickshire. (somewhere local to me that I've posted about before; the link is to the website for the house)

Their grandson was Robert Catesby, the charismatic leader of the conspirators who took part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 against James 1 and the House of Lords. He was devoutly Roman Catholic, despite by law, being baptised as an Anglican. In 1601 he took up residence in Chastleton and whilst there was fined £2,666 13s 4d for his part in the rebellion of the Earl of Essex.. An unbelievable amount, and as a result he was mortgaged to the hilt, and the family never recovered financially.

If you believe in the survival of the fittest, you can see why Darwin might have had a point when it comes to Catesby. Perhaps not the brightest in the bunch? After the Gunpowder Plot failed, Catesby fled north with the remaining store of gunpowder.

He went to Holbeach in Staffordshire, but unfortunately, on the way, the gunpowder got damp. So what did he do when he got there? He put it in front of the fire to dry. A "Doh" moment I think. It exploded of course, killing quite a few inhabitants.

Catesby himself was killed resisting arrest, by the sheriff of Worcestershire, thus ending his family's connection with Chastleton.

There is a much longer and involved history of the house of course, but forgive me for picking out some of the more interesting bits!

Chastleton House - Posting one; the outsides and the problems with entry. Read this first before setting out.

2011-07-19T09:42:00.001+01:00

Chastleton House has no tea room. What? How can that be? What manner of madness is that in a National Trust property in the middle of nowhere?

But fear not dear reader, all is not lost. One cannot go careering around the English countryside without tea...it's a well known law of life, and the neighbouring Church, despite early objections to it not being "Churchy enough" have seen the way of profit and new roofs and donations to community aid. Local WI and other volunteers now man (woman, it has to be said) a tea area amongst the gravestones and sell tea and cake at £2.50 a go.

And very delightful it is to sit in the sunshine amongst the departed eating homemade cake and tea from water boiled in the vestry. If the traveller wants to sample my ideal of English life, this is probably a near perfect example.

Proof positive on my enjoyment!

We found a tree in the churchyard, with this bottle buried in it's trunk. (just right and below the centre of the photo)

A close up of the bottle.

Chastleton House itself has timed tickets for admissions, and these sell out very quickly because visitor numbers are restricted. On our way out, we saw a notice pinned to the gate that said the house was full. If you'd travelled a long way expecting to gain entry, unfortunately you would have wasted both your time and money. Do check before setting off, by giving them a ring and see if you can't pre-book a ticket for a private viewing. The National Trust need to do a bit better on this.

The tickets, being timed, mean that you could have to wait a couple of hours before admission (we had to wait 1 1/2 hours) so after tea, there are only the gardens left to fill this time.

They are pretty, but not spectacular, and there is a croquet lawn which looks as if it's available to use, though there were no notices to this effect. We sat on it and sunbathed!

Interesting topiary and lovely views into the surrounding countryside.

There are doubtless various walks around the fields next to the house, but not everyone wants to walk or is indeed capable of doing so, so bring a book and pray that it isn't raining.

More about the house itself in the next posting.

The Masons and Canons Ashby - additional information.

2011-06-29T09:52:00.001+01:00

I've had 3 emails, and quite a few hits for the first posting I did on Canons Ashy, and I believe the interest stems from the information given about its early Masonic connections, and those origins in the trade/craft of stonemasons.

I am therefore, going to copy out the information from the NT handbook which was in the room, as this gives more information and fuller details for those interested. It is written by Clem Hatzel and the sources are at the bottom of this posting. The paintings were uncovered from layers of paint, and appear as originally painted. The National Trust do a talk about this room, and are able to give much more information; a link to the property if you wish to contact them appears on the original Canons Ashby 1 posting.

The mystery of the Winter Parlour.

In the early 14th century operative masons were organised in site lodges (from the Latin for temporary lean-to site structures) used for meetings, rest periods, tool storage.

These were ruled by a fellow elected from their own lodge membership, master masons were barred from the lodge. The lodge was responsible for work conditions, wage rates, qualifications and regrading of members. By 1350 the population had been decimated by the black death, there was a shortage of masons and wage demands rocketed. The final outcome was that to practice a trade or profession one had to be a member of a guild holding a Royal Charter. Guilds became regional and masters could now mix with the other grades of member. The masons trade contracted severely in the 16th century. Henry VII demolished castles, his son closed the monasteries and associated buildings, a preference for building in brick and wood developed. Masons allowed members of other trades (middle classes) to join their guild provided they were freemen. According to the masons they were obliging the non-operative, members who wanted to retain the old religious ceremonies and rites. My own more cynical interpretation is its good for what little business there is about. By 1666 the masonic lodges were so packed with non-operative members, a new guild was formed to represent the working masons!

The original Drydens come from the right area in Britain to have been associated with early freemasonry. Indeed the motto adopted by Edward Dryden, Antient as the Druids, could have been taken straight out of early 17th century non-craft freemasonry. The Brotherhood was and still is a male club, therefore one room is for entertainment, the other for rituals. As a secret society non-members are barred.

It is possible that a CA Lodge which included non-operative members was formed when Sir John Cope separated his house from the Priory buildings. John Dryden, who was demolishing the rest of the priory and using the materials to build his house was probably a member, he had to provide external site lodge facilities whilst the house was being built and could finally have brought the lodge meeting room into the house when non-operatives exceeded working masons. The Winter Parlour was probably decorated whilst John was still alive.

One last point, it is claimed the servants didn't like the parlour decor when it became their room. Did they not like it or being aware of the rites which had been conducted there were they afraid of it or did Edward decide the sacred decor was not suitable for the uninitiated and had the panelling painted with cream distemper?

The Symbols identified by Dr. Hill:

Crowned head on a platter - the motto probably indicates authority.
Head with slipped crown - probably depicts weakness/dishonour/loss of authority.
Column surmounted by a lion - Masonic symbol for strength
Five Arrows - depicts balance and harmony
Inverted crescent above a dagger - Masonic clouds, associated with the apron and depicted in the Temple of Solomon
Scallop and staff - symbols of pilgrimage to Compostela Santiago, likely to be Templar because the scallop alone was used by pilgrims.
Boar's head on a cushion, no neck - symbolises courage, authority, antagonism. The boar's head without neck is only found in Scottish heraldry.
Red moline cross (surrounded by 8 minor crosses) - the Templar cross appears in the coat of arms of more than one Northamptonshire family.

Sources

Stephen Knight (The Brotherhood isbn 0246-12164-5)
Rev N Cryer - The Development of English Freemasonry from 1350 to 1730
Dr. Peter Hill - Private letter identifying symbols.

Canons Ashby House, Daventry - Posting 3 - Books, Textiles, Graffiti and Poaching Guns.

2011-06-24T16:08:00.001+01:00

Canons Ashby isn't the most exciting or interesting of the National Properties I've seen lately, but it has a warmth to it. It's not dripping in expensive pictures or porcelain, but it has an interesting history and pleasant gardens. The restaurant is also good, being cheap compared to other NT properties in the area, and much nicer. Two courses for £7.50 (chicken pie and veg, fruit crumble and cream)

The Book Room. This room was constructed in about 1590 by Erasmus Dryden. It wasn't always used as a book room, being a parlour and a billiard room in the past.

Henry Dryden had the oak bookcases made in the 1840's. Most of the important books from the Book Room were sold early in the 20th century, including a celebrated copy of the First Folio of Shakespeare, which was recently re-sold in New York for £4.2 million.

The room guide told us that the NT have started to collect appropriate books again, including some of the works of John Dryden, the poet laureate, who was related to this family of Drydens. He visited apparently but never lived here.

Not amongst the most spectacular of my "bed collection" but a pretty one nonetheless.

Close up of the embroidered bed spread, above.

The plaster ceiling in this room has a small painted panel. There is no evidence that the rest of the ceiling was painted anything other than white.

You can see that the fireplace above, has 2 iron rods in it. This is to support the weight of the the fireplace above it and also a bit of the ceiling.

The whole room was apparently moving into the garden and the external walls were in the lead on the journey, being 18 inches out of true, before the NT stepped in to rescue it. The ceiling has a wooden frame underneath, from which the plaster work hangs. They've had to build internal scaffolding behind the walls and above the ceiling. You can't see any of it of course, and it seems to have done the trick.

Close up of the painting on the fireplace. At one point the entire thing was painted white, which suited the room to be honest, but it has been stripped back very carefully to reveal the original colours.

Another, not too grand, bed for the collection.

Opposite the above bed, the NT have done work to recover the original medieval paintwork.

The top pictures are scenes from the bible, but with clothing and landscapes from the area at the time of painting.

The biblical scenes are done in grey, and where you can see a white outline, this was originally thick black lines. The paint has fallen off to reveal the plasterwork.

I thought the donkeys ears were a little large, but what do I know??!

Not medieval graffiti, but definitely graffiti probably left by builders just a little later. When this door way was plastered over and a new one put in, someone couldn't resist leaving their mark.

The tapestry behind the bed. I took this photo as I was interested in the colours of the tapestry which remain quite vibrant compared to others in the house, and I also liked the way the leaves had been done. I can see this being inspiration for some future trees!

Finally, a poaching gun.The spike on the bottom was where the gun was fixed to a fence post. It allowed it to rotate freely. Trip wires were fixed around it, so that when an unsuspecting poacher tripped over the wire, the gun swung towards him and fired.

Nothing was said about how successful it was.

Canons Ashby House, Daventry - Video of The 17th century Chamber Organ

2011-06-23T09:34:00.001+01:00

I was photographing this, when a couple of German ladies asked about it. The National Trust these days are very hands on, and asked if she could play and would like a go. Hence the video above. I feel very lucky to have been able to hear this very old instrument and imagine the entertainment it must have given all those years ago.

As with lots of small organs, it's difficult to establish its exact age, but from the style of the mouldings, construction and stops, it's about 1675. Similar organs exist and are known as "Father Smith Chamber Organs", but this is thought to be older. It's builder also constructed two others at Compton Wynyates and the Galpin Organ at Canterbury Cathedral no less.

It was probably used for music meetings, perhaps accompanying sacred music at services in the house.

Canons Ashby House, Daventry - Posting 1-Masonic symbols, and marmalade cutters

2011-06-22T21:33:00.002+01:00

The outside views of Canons Ashby House (National Trust, maps etc here)

Canons Ashby has been the family home of the Drydens since Elizabethan times. The story of Canons Ashby, which has been little altered since the 19th century, is presented as if it were being seen through the eyes of Sir Henry Dryden, an eminent Victorian.

The Winter Parlour
(Early history and the Masons)

(Since writing this posting, information has been expanded on and can be viewed here)

Its history goes a lot further back though, and in the early 14th century, stone masons organized themselves into site lodges (lodges, from the Latin meaning lean-to storage area) which they used for meetings, rest periods, and for tool storage.

By 1350 the population had been decimated by the black death and there was a shortage of masons and other trades people, and wage demands rocketed, and resulted in a Guild, so that in order to be a professional or trades person, you had to be a member of a Guild which held a Royal Charter.

During the 16th century, the population grew, but Henry VII started to demolish castles, Because there was not much work for the masons, their lodges expanded to include other trades and professions, providing they were "freemen". This was the start of the freemasons.

The Brotherhood was and still is a male club. Edward Dryden was associated with early freemasonry and John Dryden provided the lodge facilities in his house, and the Winter Parlour was probably decorated with lodge symbols during that time. You can see them painted onto the wood panelling above.

Some of the masonic symbols:
Crowned head on a platter - the motto probably indicates authority.
Head with slipped crown - probably depicts weakness/dishonour/loss of authority
Column surmounted by a lion - symbol for strength
Five arrows - depicts balance and harmony
Inverted crescent above a dagger - masonic clouds associated with the apron and depicted in the Temple of Solomon
Boars head on a cushion - symbolises courage, authority, antagonism.

The Kitchen

There was no running water in the house, and no electricity until 1947. This space would have had an open fire for cooking, prior to the range.

Love this one on the right. Its a casserole oven.

There is nowhere to make a fire and no chimney. Hot coals were taken from the fire (see above) and put into a shallow depression in the top of the stone. The pans were then put on top and the stew cooked slowly for several hours. There was a space underneath to rake out the spent coals.

Bread oven.

The dairy. There is light in this room, and it is cold (as well as damp) It was thought that butter was made here.

Can you guess what this is? Its a Victorian marmalade slicer. You put the quartered oranges in the tube at the back and press home with the wooden bung. The handle at the front moves from left the right and slices the orange as it's pushed through.

Warwick Castle - 4th (last) posting. Trebuchet firing.

2011-06-21T16:22:00.002+01:00

Warwick Castle's Trebuchet, firing, here Apologies for the windy day making the sound quality poor!

A trebuchet (pronounced, tre-bew-chay) is a seige catapult. The one at Warwick Castle was made out of the finest English Oak. Now this isn't patriotism on my part, but is due to the genetics and environment in which English oaks grow; they form a dense, slow growing, heavy and therefore very strong wood. The trebuchet pictured above is 22 tons of solid oak. It has an ash arm (ash being lighter and much more flexible which allows more spring and therefore greater distance when firing) The counterweight is 6.5 tons.

If you look at the trebuchet closely you will see some wheels in the centre that look like something a hamster would use for exercise. A team of 4 men would crawl inside the wheel arrangement and walk around, winding a rope around a centre cog. This would pull the arm of the trebuchet down to the ground where it was fixed to prepare for firing. This could also be done by horses pulling the rope away from the trebuchet. The counter weight rises to the top of the frame.

(below, French Trebuchets; photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

A stone boulder is loaded into the sling. This could also be wrapped in burning cloth if a fire ball was required. (There's a lot of wood inside a castle) One trebuchet against a Castle wall wouldn't have much immediate effect but they were used in batteries of up to 40 or 50. As well as boulders, it was important to demoralize the enemy to prevent long seiges, so rotten meat, urine, and toilet waste, entrails, and the heads of prisoners were also fired. Polluting the drinking water and spreading disease were also very important weapons of war.

In fact, spreading disease and mayhem were more important than battering holes in castle walls. It was necessary to gain entry, but a castle was a useful thing to capture, and you wouldn't necessarily want one full of holes! Imagine the horror of rotting carcasses hitting the ground around you at over 150 mph.

Warwick Castle - 3rd posting - Eagles, Victorian goings on including Great Grandpapa's, and the Great Hall

2011-06-20T14:57:00.009+01:00

In 1898, Daisy, Countess of Warwick hosted a weekend party at which the principle guest was the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII.

Part of Warwick Castle is laid out with Madam Taussaud's waxworks to recreate the scene. Most hilariously, you are met at the door by a Victorian servant of some kind, who sticking to her character, primly asks where you are from. She then leads you into the room pictured on the left, and introduces you to the throng. DH and I were announced as the Count and Countess of Royal Leamington Spa!! Made me laugh.

As you near the figures there must be a sensor which triggers a recording as you approach, giving the idea that Daisy is talking to you.

Now, I'm especially interested in this exhibition as family legend has it that my Great Grandmother was Ladies Maid to Daisy, and my Great Grandfather was valeting for the Prince, and they met at Warwick Castle, whilst waiting up for Daisy and the Prince, who were notoriously, having an affair.

My Great Grandfather was in Royal service, becoming Steward of the 5 castles (sort of like a Butler that also did the accounts!) so the story is perfectly feasible. My Grandmother, was the nasty one mentioned on this blog before, here.

The Boudoir

This is a waxworks of Daisy and her ladies maid, or as I like to say, Daisy and Great Granny!!

I'm sorting out some photos for my mother, and found this, very appropriate, one of Gt Grandad done up in costume at one of the Palace fancy dress parties. Fancy dress parties were a very popular pastime I think, as I have many similar party photos but with differing costumes.

Self-explanatory!

The Great Hall, filled with armoured knights and weaponry.

And bits of amazing furniture.

Another bed head

I loved this room. Such a pretty blue with all that gilding.

Plus, another pelmet for the collection.

The Tudors, courtesy of Holbein.

Henry VIII

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn at the top facing Henry, and her sister Mary at the bottom, facing away. This is because Anne was married to him and Mary wasn't. It was Mary though who gave him an illegitimate son, and who slept with him first.

Can you see, on the left, who popped in to show me around!

Lovely, if worn, embroidered chair

One of the eagles from the Falconry display. This was the one, they managed to get to soar over Guys Tower and land. Spectacular.

This is Archie, the son of the above, who will change his feathers when grown.

Warwick Castle - Posting 2; The Kingmaker Exhibition.

2011-06-14T13:10:00.008+01:00

Who is the Kingmaker?

We join the castle as it is preparing for war, and we follow the preparations as the Kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville, redies for the Battle of Barnet.

It's the 25th March 1471. Warwick is now a middle aged man and the power behind the throne of England. We are nearing the end of the War of the Roses; a battle between the House of York whose badge was a white rose, and Lancaster (a red rose).

The origins of war were growing discontent, and disagreements over the conduct of the Hundred Years' War. Warwick had quarrelled with Edward and with French help restored Henry VI and Margaret to the throne of England. Life became very violent.

Edward IV, the opposition, then marched on London where he met Warwick's army at Barnet.

It was foggy and Warwick's troops attacked each other by accident and gave rise to cries of treason. Things weren't going well, and with another part of his army defeated elsewhere in the fog, co-ordination was lost and Warwick was overwhelmed.

He was killed whilst looking for a horse.

So Edward triumphed and went on to defeat Margaret at Tewkesbury. He then murdered Henry VI.

Being fitted with armour by a page.

The smells and sounds give quite an atmosphere of preparation. Horses were kept inside, and this is Warwicks horse, Fortune, being prepared for battle. He is wearing armour, and you can just see a huge spike on the armour over the face.

The horse was trained to use this spike in battle to gore opposing soldiers.

You walk through a series of rooms set out so you can see the various activities necessary for battle. Preparing armour, seeing the blacksmith at work, and the whitesmith (below) who is polishing a piece of armour.

The sign on the left explains the difference between a blacksmith and a whitesmith.

And yes, the plaque does mention a bollock dagger! Click here to find out what one is.

Preparing the long bows and arrows. The art of the fletcher is explained here. (Chirk Castle posting)

This is the Porter Guard, explanation below.

The Scribe. Probably the only man in Warwickshire who could read and write. He stayed at the Castle. He's wearing a very early pair of glasses, and they are fixed to his hat to keep his hands free.

This chap depicts a cobbler, making and repairing shoes.

All shoes were stamped with a Ragged Bear and Staff which was the Earl of Warwick's emblem. If a soldier was killed in battle, a shoe was removed from the body, and that way a track could be kept of how many men had died.

What ails thee? (btw this lady is real not a wax work as in all the other photos)

This lady would have been in charge of medicine, using a wide range of herbs and spices. She would have learned the craft from her mother, by word of mouth. She would not have been able to read and write (see scribe)

She lived in the Castle. Both men and women were considered adult at 7 years old and could be hung for misdemeanours. They would be married at 11 or 12. If they were available for marriage, they wore a band around their head (like an Alice Band today), and when they were married, they wore a cap covering the head day and night.

This piece of quilting is on a felt underhat. It would normally be over an inch thick. It is almost impossible, certainly very uncomfortable, to wear an armoured helmet without this padding. (DH tried)

The man who kept the pennies to pay for everything.

Below, the Earl of Warwick, makes his final preparations.

Finally, after all those preparations, and with the prospect of violent battle and probable death, I thought you'd understand the final photo. The Dunny. The most essential part of the preparations! A straight drop to the outside, via the Castle walls. Only to be used by nobility, it was very draughty, very smelly, very necessary.

Warwick Castle - Posting 1; the outsides

2011-06-13T16:19:00.002+01:00

It's extraordinarily expensive to get into Warwick Castle. I live very close to it and have only been about 3 times in the last 20 years because of this. It's more about family entertainment than history, but the staff are very knowledgable if you take the trouble to ask them anything. The day is filled with events and shows and it's easy to spend the entire day here, seeing falconry displays, watching a trebuchet being fired, seeing the wax works models and historic room settings, and walking the battlements.

There are various options for the day which all have different entrance fees but we chose the most basic and least expensive, so didn't see everything such as the Dungeons, and the Merlin tower. Our basic entrance fee, at the door, was £22 per person.

Lots of interesting photos to come and a video of the trebuchet being fired, but in the meantime, here's some photos of the outside of the castle.

Seige catapult

The inside of the castle walls showing the courtyard.

One of the towers on the battlements. You can walk around these, but be warned, it's a one way system, and you have to walk up 550 narrow stone stairs that are tightly wound in a spiral. Not for those with delicate hearts, who are elderly or disabled. Probably not for those who smoke either, or who like excessive amounts of chocolate. Not good for the pregnant, those scared of heights, or those unable to move quickly if a school party of 15 year old French children are behind you and in a hurry!! There are no turning points and no passing points until you get to the top. But it's worth it for the views, and to say you've done it.

One of the said views. Overlooking the Warwickshire countryside which is beautifully green and leafy.

Guys Tower, where the Falconers giving a display below, train their eagles to land. An amazing sight to see an eagle soaring around and landing on the castellations.

The boat house and the River Avon.

Mill Street. This little road next to the Castle, leads to the small gardens I posted about a few days ago.

Below: view from the Orangery, with peacock.

Snowshill Manor - Posting 3. More stuffed full cabinets.

2011-06-07T01:00:00.001+01:00

Next to the Samurai warriors, is a room lined with these cupboards which have glass fronts to them. The room has the appearance of shop windows through which you can press your nose and stare at the goodies within.

Left: embroidery including some ecclesiastical. Below an embroidered box (some stump work) containing jewellery.

Part of an ironmongers shop by the look of it. Lovely drawers labelled with lovely things for woodworking.

Not sure of the theme of the collection below, but seems a bit random.

A little shelf at the back of a cupboard with chess pieces and china vases, wooden acorns (nutmeg graters) and tortoishell boxes at the front.

Charles Wade painted quite well and this cabinet was dotted with small paintings about the size of a postcard done in watercolours.

One of the postcard sized watercolours.

Below: A harbour scene.

And to finish with today are a couple of childrens highchairs and...

a family of shoes.

Snowshill Manor - a look inside. (posting two:Samurai armour, poison boxes, musical instruments and spinning wheels)

2011-06-06T01:48:00.005+01:00

The atmosphere in this room was wonderful; the music, the lighting which was at a very low level, both in power and height. You had to peer into the gloom to see the warriors which were arranged in small groups filling the room.

He bought these just down the road from the Manor and this is just a small selection of those in his collection.

This small room is off of one of the bedrooms and is for a collection of musical instruments. The music playing in the background was a bit like that they used for the Netherfield Ball in Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth as Mr Darcy)

A close up of all those recorders.

Just a small selection of a large collection of push chairs. Btw, these are for babies not dolls.

One of many dolls houses. I wonder if Charles Wade allowed his children to play with these?

Below are his collection of bikes, and you can just see those pushchairs again in the background.

These are more toys, but also baby walkers.

There is a wooden one in the bottom right which is similar to todays models and is on wheels to allow baby to move around.

If you look carefully at that pole just right of the centre, you can see attached to it, near it's base, is a wooden ring. A child sat in here and was able to move round and round. It's definitely older than Victorian ...you can tell that, because if it was Victorian, there would be machinery attached to the other end, which the child would be operating, and someone would be making vast sums of money out of the whole affair.

Spinning Wheels

Loom.

Any ideas what the scorpion is?? It's a poison box. I thought it was a boot remover but the pincer arrangement is just for show. There is a lock under a clasp on the back of the body, which allows the whole box to be opened. A safe way to store poison apparently.

Again a very dark room with lots more cabinets. This one houses a collection of masks.

Below is the same room but the other end of it.

And this is the right hand side of the same room. The delightfulness of Wade's collection is epitomised in the piano which has a tortoise on it. Of course it does. Why not?

Snowshill Manor - a look inside. (posting one: inside the cabinets and outhouses)

2011-06-05T09:34:00.001+01:00

The photo on the left was posted yesterday and seems a good place to start explaining about Snowshill.

I've said it was remarkable, but haven't explained why. Here's what the National Trust who own the property say.....

"Charles Wade was a treasure-seeker who loved buying and restoring beautifully made objects. His family motto was 'Let nothing perish', and he spent his inherited wealth doing just that, amassing a spectacular collection of everyday and extraordinary objects from across the globe. He restored the ancient Cotswold manor house specifically to display these unlikely treasures. Laid out with creative flair, just as Mr Wade intended, the Manor is literally packed to the rafters with thousands of unusual objects – from tiny toys to splendid suits of Samurai armour. The Manor is surrounded by an equally characterful hand-crafted terraced garden."

Although the collection is amazingly diverse, most of the objects including the Samurai armour were bought locally in Gloucestershire.

He filled the house to capacity and then had to move into the outhouses (above). These next photos show the bathroom and the living areas.

"The manor of Snowshill was owned by Winchcombe Abbey from 821 until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. It then passed to the Crown, and was given as a gift to Katherine Parr, wife to King Henry VIII.

Since then, many alterations and additions have been made by the house's many owners and tenants. The main part of the current house dates from around 1500. It was altered and extended in the 17th century, and the south front displays classical details of c1720.

By 1919, the manor was a semi-derelict farm. It was bought and restored by a man named Charles Paget Wade. Ironically the neglect that the house had suffered from was exactly what attracted Wade. A house with no modern additions or alterations was the ideal place to display his historic and unique collection."

This was his bed.

Look at the swing hung from the rafters for the children to sit at.

Charles Paget Wade

JB Priestly described Wade as 'My eccentric, but charming friend of the fantastic manor house.'

"Charles Wade was an architect and craftsman from Yoxford in Suffolk, who inherited sugar estates in the West Indies from his father. This enabled him to devote his life to amassing his enormous and varied collection of craftsmanship, which he acquired mainly from antique shops and dealers in the UK.

Wade spent many hours in the Manor house arranging and restoring his collection, whilst living in the old priest's house in the courtyard."

I have, as you know, a fascination with boxes. Lots of drawers and cupboards to put things in but delightfully, behind a closed door. Charles Wade was a man of similar tastes and the house is stacked with cabinets like these and they are all brimming with little treasures. The insides of which I managed to photograph but the lighting was very low.

This "treasure" box is made from metal and don't be fooled into thinking that what you see on the lid is the lock. It isn't. It's decorative work designed to hide the lock which is behind it.

It has four bolts which fire across the lid into each of the sides, and the key hole you see on the front is false.

At some point, someone has tried to break in from the bottom, but didn't succeed. I think you'd need gelignite.

The NT are puzzled by this box as each of the drawers is labelled with the name of the month. The top two rows are in latin and the bottom in English.

What do you imagine you could keep in these small drawers? I could only think of seeds collected or to be sown in a particular month, but the guide wasn't convinced. BTW, look at the elephant above. A carving done by someone who had never seen an elephant.

And we get to the nitty gritty and the bits I love. A small cabinet in a passagway, which is stuffed to the gunwhales with stuff.

The label on the cabinet below explains that the carvings were done by French prisoners of war during the time of Napoleon...probably in bone.

Carved ivory balls. Each one of those balls has another inside it, equally well carved. And inside that one is another one, and so on. I couldn't count how many there were but I know they can have as many as 15, each getting smaller and smaller. The truly amazing thing is that they are carved from one piece of ivory and not carved separately and pieced together afterwards like a toy.

This bed was inside the main house and I loved the boxes stuffed on top of it. However, on the bed is another box dedicated to sewing.

I shall leave you today with a peek inside it. Back tomorrow with the Samurai and musical instuments.

The Outside of Snowshill Manor

2011-06-04T10:29:00.001+01:00

Snowshill Manor nestles in the centre of the Cotswolds. It's the most beautiful but also the most fascinating of places.

Today's posting is about the outside and gardens of the Manor.

There are many photos to come of the interior, but they will be on the next posting (including Samuri Warriors, enlessly fascinating cupboards full of equisite bits and pieces, and a collection of old musical instruments, sewing stuffs, spinning wheels, bycicles.....etc)

You don't need me to say anything else, so I hope you enjoy this little snapshot of the heart of England.

The Village of Snowshill

2011-06-04T10:21:00.000+01:00

There is nothing quite like the warm, yellow, buttery glow of summer sunshine in the Cotwolds in June.

We drove along the Fosse Way, with the roof of the car down, into the heart of the beautiful English countryside. Grassy verges nestle beneath meandering dry stone walls, sprouting bright red poppies, dandelions and ox eye daisies. The sound of birds, and sheep bleating in the distance and the wafting smells of newly mown grass and rich bovine earthyness. Ah me, such bliss.

Our destination was Snowshill to see Snowshill Manor (later posting) but we also walked through the village itself, and took these photos for you to share.

Burghleigh House - The Inside, posting 2

2011-05-30T10:19:00.000+01:00

I posted about the outside of Burleigh House briefly yesterday, but include this aerial photograph of the whole house which is taken from the guide book.

Sadly no photos were allowed inside the house, so I've had to use the guide book images to give you a small flavour of the magnificence of Burleigh.

It's the best value and most interesting property I've visited in quite a while and would encourage you to visit if you can, as the following images can't properly convey the overwhelming feeling of grandeur you get in person.

Anyway, I've waxed lyrical enough!

Burghleigh? Who was Burghleigh? Well, he was Elizabethan and lived from 1520 until 1598. He held office under catholic Mary 1 (Henry VIII's daughter with Catherine of Aragon) but being Protestant was more loyal to Elizabeth, so when she succeeded to the throne in 1558, he bacame her principal Secretary and later Lord Treasurer.

If you believe all the history programmes on TV you'll probably have heard of him and how he supported Elizabeth. I like to think of him more as a swan with a gliding demeanour and unruffled appearance, but underneath paddling away like mad. He certainly was very intelligent; speaking French, Italian and Latin fluently, a patron of architects, musicians and gardners and a student of geneology and heraldry.

So, very wealthy and very influential. With the ear of the Queen and the best interests of himself and fortunately England at heart. So there we are, the founder of a dynasty and the builder of a magnificent house.

Although the house is essentially tudor, the family have had great wealth and have used it to make alterations and acquire a vast array of pictures, porcelain, furniture etc.

The kitchen on the left shows the original tudor rib-vaulted roof, and is the only room which reminds you of the early house.

The tour takes you after the kitchen, into the chapel. In the distance behind the arches is the Ante Chapel where household staff waited whilst the family and their guests were at their prayers.

I'm skipping forward to Queen Elizabeth's bedroom. (it's only been known as that for the last 150 years however)

She visited William Cecil (Lord Burleigh) frequently at his other houses, but when she came to visit this house in 1566 she couldn't stay as there was an outbeak of smallpox within the staff. The state bed and suite of chairs that surround it date from the 17th century, and were restored in 1985.

Simply and utterly gorgeous.

The Blue Silk Bedroom

Now previous readers of the blog will know I'm fascinated by curtain headings, pelmets and bed drapes, which probably explains my leap to this bedroom and another splendid state bed.

Supplied to the 9th Earl by Mayhew and Ince (we've met them before at Shugborough! An important and influencial London furniture manufacturer)

The canopy and headboard are in the 17th century style, covered in velvet applied to a heavily carved wooden frame.

The bedspread and and headboard are decorated with crewel work. Wow.

And from the bedroom you nip into the Blue Silk Dressing Room. I have a dressing room; it's the fourth bedroom really and measures about 7 foot by 8 foot and is beige. I much prefer this one.

You can just see the 18th century Chinese export lacquer table which had fold over flaps so you could play backgammon, chess, cards, or have tea on it.

The blue and white porcelain arranged on the chimney is mainly Chinese.

Back to beds! The second George Room.

The spectacular state bed and curtain hangings were supplied to the house, at huge expense, by the London firm of Fell and Newton in 1795.

It was reduced in size in 1844 when Queen Victoria came to visit. If you turn back a few postings, you will see the chair at Hughendon which had it's legs reduced in size by Disraeli to make her Maj. more comfortable. Same thing I guess.

The room was used by Victoria and Albert and has many souvenirs of their visit including a child's wooden spade used to plant one of the trees in the formal garden.

A whizz forward again to The Heaven Room.

"Gods and Goddesses disporting themselves as Gods and Goddesses are wont to do"

It's difficult to get a sense of scale from a photograph, but perspective tricks leave one with a sense of awe. It's truly outstanding.

We visited the Cistene Chapel in Rome during October, and I have to say that this not only compares, but betters it!

That large silver trough on the carpet is in fact the largest silver wine cooler in the world.

Imagine it filled with trifle!

The Fourth George Room, was used by Queen Victoria as a withdrawing room. It's panelled throughout in oak, the dark colour of which was made by staining the wood with strong dark ale.

On the table is a 17th century casket decorated with tortoiseshell, ivory and silver foil. The cabinet against the wall features pietr-dura inlay and is truly beautiful. I'd love to open just one of those drawers. Imagine being able to store you threads in this?

Now I'm going to end with two more ceilings. The last one is the most spectacular of all, but this one isn't bad! It's Verrio's painted ceiling in the Third George Room.

And finally, at the end of the tour, comes the greatest treat of all. The Hell Staircase. It was painted by Verio.

He worked mainly on his own for this project, as he was heavily in debt and couldn't afford to pay assistants. It took him 11 months. Just imagine, all that work in 11 months. It takes me that long to do 3 or 4 textile pieces.

It shows the mouth of Hell as the enormous gaping mouth of a cat. The Grim Reaper (death) is shown as a skeleton weilding his sickle amongst the unfortunates.

The walls were painted by Thomas Stothard (1775 - 1834) over a century later. After the Heaven Room the contrast is one of darkness and despair.

Magnificent, and worth the entrance fee on it's own.

Burleigh House - The outside, posting 1

2011-05-29T09:16:00.001+01:00

The main posting for Burleigh will follow shortly, but this is a random selection of photos of the outside of the property.

Burleigh House is cracking value for money. It compares very well indeed with most National Trust properties being £13.50 to get in and with much to see and do. It's extremely well kept and looked after by a charitable trust. If you want to just see the outside; the sculpture garden and the very children friendly Garden of Surprises then it's £7.80. There are all sorts of concessions on these prices.

This posting is a short one with some photos to give you a flavour.

The sculpture garden was good and with many places to sit and enjoy the sunshine if you're lucky enough to have any the day of your visit.

It wasn't especially busy which surprised me, given some of the struggles we have to get in to some of the National Trust properties. I can't think why as I enjoyed my visit enormously.

I was particularly taken with the sculpture.

Above is the stable block (wow!) It's now used as workshops for various conservators, who presumably have low rents and reciprocate with advantageous prices for the massive restorations at Burleigh.

The Garden of Surprises. A modern development in the spirit of Williams Cecil's beautiful gardens.

Lord Burghley's walks at Theolbalds his Hertfordshire house, were known for avenues and objects of interest including fountains and concealed pipes to spray passers by, a maze, grottoes etc. This modern garden is full of flowing water and fountains which you can control. Children really love it, but there's plenty to amuse the adult too, and getting wet is optional!

A quiet reflective moment by the lake and sculpture garden.

The boat house.

Another random sculpture! I had camera problems and my other sculpture pictures didn't come out well enough to show you but we counted over 30 exhibits, all of a high standard.

Mill Close Gardens, Warwick (with views of the back of Warwick Castle)

2011-05-23T09:55:00.001+01:00

I can walk to Warwick quite easily from where I live, and last week we had such a beautiful sunny day, that I decided to walk along the canal towpath to the castle for some exercise.

One of the places I visited was Mill Close Gardens which is at the end of one of the most delightful little roads, full of black and white timbered houses, nestling under the lee of Warwick Castle.

I don't visit Warwick Castle these days, as though delightful fun if you're in the area, it's £33.60 a ticket which is an unbelievable amount and I'm certainly not paying it. By contrast Mill Close Gardens is £1.50!

The view down the river from a seat in the garden.

The photos were taken with my phone so might not be the best, but give you a flavour of this tiny oasis in the middle of town.

I understand the garden has featured on the TV many times in programmes such as Gardener's World.

This little shelter made me want to come home and knock down the garden shed and do some rebuilding.

Scroll down a couple of photos to see it's backdrop!

The back view of Warwick Castle from the garden gate.

More Castle view from inside the garden. Imagine being quite so close to a Castle in centuries past.

This is the backdrop to that little shed I wanted to build in my garden.

Mary Anne Disraeli's Account Book - a comparison of worths.

2011-05-22T09:45:00.003+01:00

Before we leave Hughendon, I thought you might like to see this. Its a record kept by Disraeli's wife, Mary Anne. It's a very interesting snippet of social history, and is self explantory.

I've also worked out the equivalent values for today but this can be confusing as the results vary according to whether you use the Retail Price Index or Average Earnings. I have given both, so you can make up your own minds.

The differences between the two figures are sometimes interesting in their own rights, and make me challenge some of my long held beliefs about values and worth.

A present for the coachman of £1 for his new baby equates to £70.20 today, using the Retail Price Index and £652 using Average Earnings.

Below. A 10lb piece of beef at 6 shillings and 10 pence (20 shilling to a £). I've checked Tesco for the price of sirloin beef and the same weight today would cost £15.97 per kilo or approximately £45 for the 10lb piece. Average earnings in 1860 show this to be a lot of money, and it's equivalent would be £223.00 (BUT the RPI would only be £24)

Below. Don't employ Mrs Glenheim should she come your way; she sounds a total waste of space.

And they really should have waited a bit with Brown before giving him his snuff box.

In 1847 3 maids and 2 men cost in total £129 - 12 - 6p for a year, but they spent £258 on their own wine consumpton.

Again the calculations that might give this worth vary largely on whether you compare what that amount would buy (£6,680 today) or whether you compare the actual earnings equivalent (Average Earnings Index £93,600) If you use the latter and make the wrong assumption that men and woman earned equally, it gives a rough idea of what a servant would have been paid today which is £18,720. I checked with Butlers salaries via google and they can expect to earn between £50,000 to £100,000. We found a record of a Butler at Burleigh earning £300 a year, whilst the lowly maid was getting £9)

Hughenden Manor - The Victorian story

2011-05-16T11:21:00.002+01:00

This is the second posting on Hughenden Manor. The first is here, and is about it's role in WW2.

Before I begin, I have to say that this is an interesting building, but has it's problems for the visitor. There is an easily missed, extension car park with adequate space at the top of the hill behind the property, so don't turn away thinking they're full like we did. (Ineffective signing) The cafe was poor; expensive, with small portions, little choice, and huge queues (very slow and ponderous)......take sandwiches and a flask if it's a busy day as there is a picnic area.

Hughenden Manor was the home to Benjamin Disraeli and his wife Mary Anne, and they came to live at Hughenden in 1848.

Disraeli was a novelist, and after three attempts, became an MP in 1837. He was a "man about town" and apparently dressed astonishingly; possibly an attempt at being noteworthy rather than eccentric. He married Mary Anne, the rich widow of Wyndham Lewis quite openly for her money, as he had large debts.

He rose to be Prime Minister, and Queen Victoria was said to be very fond of him. He was a flirt, she was lonely after Albert died, so they got on well! Above is the dining chair with it's legs famously cut off so that Queen Victoria, who was very short, would feel more comfortable. Her legs would have dangled otherwise. It does make you wonder if her chin was above table level though.

Anove, the front entrance to the house, and right, the trees surrounding the front of the house. The Disraeli's were fond of trees and collected and planted many. The orginals however were removed in WW2 so that the ground which was flat could be used as a parade ground for military and civilian personnel.

The National Trust plan to lift and replant these trees every 50 years, so they don't block too much light from the property.

The Ground Floor

Left, the entrance hall, with the library in the distance.

The living areas. Love the yellow curtains.

Another pelmet for the collection. This one as you can see is made of wood, and is delightfully gothic.

Above right, here, and two below are Disraeli's library, with his desk.

Information was sparse. We were given a handout to take around with us, and there was an introductory video, but no explanations of the importance of objects or their history. There was a room steward but she was busy flitting from room to room keeping an eye on security and wasn't a source of information. Pity.

Upstairs

Mary Anne's bedroom. Still a lovely pretty yellow.

Loved the dressing table, complete with ear cleaning scoops.

Pre-plumbing days; the washstand with bidet, and slops pot.

Signed pictures of Albert and Victoria. Below is Disraeli's study, that Victoria visited after his death. Victorian society did not encourage women to attend funerals as it was thought they were too weak to bear the strain. Victoria didn't go to Disraeli's but came to the house a couple of days later to pay tribute to him and visit his grave which is in the little church at the bottom of the hill.

No idea what this fan of cards was about. There was no explanation to be seen so we were left to guess. Do you have any ideas??

Back to the dining room.

The wooden ceiling and sideboard.

The gardens outside were laid by Mary Anne, but this is a representation of how they would have appeared, as during WW2, the whole lot was removed and nissan huts were put here. It was the despatch department for the map making that went on at Hughenden. (see previous posting)

A sad note to leave on, but an example of the parts of Hughenden that don't look especially cared for. An attempt at making a recycled garden bed...time for a change I think. It was quite a busy day for visitors and I don't believe there isn't enough money to spend on such things as the cafe and facilities.

Come on National Trust, not one of your finest. Jog Jog.

In search of Jane Austen at Stoneleigh Abbey

2011-05-15T13:42:00.000+01:00

Readers may know that I'm a bit of a Jane Austen fan.

There are two previous postings about her 1) About searching for Jane Austen in Lyme Regis, here. and the slightly odd story of her aunt here. Her aunt features in the Stoneleigh story below.

Above is Stoneleigh Abbey. The biographical books about Jane Austen and her family refer to Stoneleigh and how she and her immediate family rushed here by carriage to lay claim to an inheritance. The Abbey is on my doorstep but I've never visited it before, which is an oversight as I was able to glean much information, as well as see and touch some of the things that Jane Austen saw and which inspired some of her writings.

Entrance is £7, and you will need to go on either a history tour or a 1 hour Jane Austen tour, as there is no other way to see the house. However, it's truly truly worth the experience if you're the least bit of a fan.

(right - the 14th century gatehouse, now the ticket office.)

There are extensive grounds which you can wander around, but if you're coming a long way, you might like to combine your day with a visit to nearby Kenilworth Castle, which is also a half day visit. There's a small restaurant and shop in the Orangery. (left)

In August 1806, Jane Austen, her mother and sister Cassandra, came to the Abbey for a few weeks. Although they only visited once, many of their memories have surfaced in Jane's books.

Why they came to Stoneleigh

When Jane's parents retired, they went to live in Bath on a pension of nearly £600 per year. When her parents told Jane they were moving to Bath, the shock made her faint. She was very happy where she was and she was known to have disliked Bath.

In 1805, her father came down to breakfast one morning, claiming that he felt a bit ill. He went upstairs and shortly afterwards died, leaving a widow and two unmarried daughters without the £600 pension.

Jane's mother had £120 a year from various investments, and Cassandra had £50 a year inherited from her fiance who had died from Yellow Fever. Jane had nothing. She was then unpublished and had no income. Mrs Austen's sons (except Charles) banded together to give the ladies an extra £50 each per year, but even so, they were forced to move from lodging house to lodging house in Bath, moving steadily down the social scale.

I was drawn to this fast moving water, and later heard from the tour guide, that it was one of Jane's favourite places whilst she visited.

Looking back from above to the Abbey

In the end, Frank, one of Jane's favourite brothers, asked them to live with him and his wife Mary in Southampton.

In July 1806 they closed the door on their Bath residence , which was an odd coincidence, as it's the same day that Mary Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey died. The Will of Mary's brother who orginally inherited the property but who was declared insane, took precedent and it stated that the property should go .............

"unto the first and nearest of his kindred being male and of his blood and name, that should be alive at the time."

There were 3 contenders, and one of them, the Rev Thomas Leigh, bustled himself and Jane's family in great haste by carriage and horseback to the house to lay claim to it. There ensued a legal battle for ownership with the Rev Thomas Leigh trying to ensure that provision be made for the hard-up ladies.

Although £2,000 was agreed to be at their disposal it never materialised from that side of the family. Hence, we all think, leading to the awful Mrs John Dashwood at the start of Sense and Sensibility, keeping her money to herself and seeing her family go off to live with the help of distant relations elsewhere. Family history shows this to be a caricature of Mrs Jane Leigh Perrot, the same lady as the one who spent time in gaol (link at beginning of this posting) No wonder Jane didn't like her.

(right - tour guide in costume, who was very informative)

No photos are allowed inside the Abbey, but I was able to get some views from postcards on sale in the shop.

This view on the left, is similar to the one Jane had from the window where she wrote her letters and ate breakfast of tea, chocolate coffee, pound cake, fruit cake, and in her mothers' case, dry toast. Her mother was a hypochondriac, and I wonder if elements of the valitudinarian father in Emma were based on her.

This sunny side of the property faced south over the River Avon, to parkland landscaped by Humphrey Repton in 1809.

There are many references to Repton in Mansfield Park, including proposed improvements to Mr Rushworth's estate (Maria's husband) Many of the descriptions of the Rushworth Estate, and of travelling to it, are mirrored in Stoneleigh Abbey and it's surrounding grounds.

Right, is a small bridge/pier that we found in the grounds. It looks back along the River Avon towards the house.

The Interior

This bedroom was done up in this fashion for a visit by Queen Victoria, but when Jane visited, it was the breakfast room. The windows overlook the Severn which flows through the parkland, although I understand that at the time, there was a large wall enclosing a farmyard right next to the house.

The Austen ladies used this room for writing their many letters.

This is the private chapel. In Mansfield Park the description given by Mrs Rushworth to her visitors, describes this room exactly, The photo is taken from the family balcony looking down to where the servants etc would have sat.

The pews are very low so that the wood surround is almost at chin height; apparently very Georgian. Unfortunately they are quite rare and at the time of Colin Firth's interpretation of Mr Darcy, these were undergoing restoration, or they would probably have been part of the film set.

Here's the balcony which looks down onto the pews. The ceiling is a rather magnificent example of plasterwork.

Right. The Library, although at the time of Jane's visit this was a large bedroom with dressing chamber behind the clock.

Main staircase, showing more plasterwork. All the portraits on show are Jane's distant relatives.

Three tour guides in costume.This is the room that Jane's mother said they all disliked because it was gloomy. The dark wood panelling and red velvet upholstery are very dark, but with a dark wooden floor as well, minus the cream carpet, and with just candles for light, it would be very forbidding.

However, below is the Entrance Hall. This is at the top of a large flight of stone stairs. Imagine how delighted they must have been to have seen this on first entering the house. You'd be a bit excited I think!

Finally I'd like to leave you with a small but true story. Most of the portraits we were shown were of Jane's family going back several generations. It gave you a feel for family features and a glimpse of what life was like for her.

She certainly knew all the history of the characters, and many of them surfaced, disguised, in Jane's books. For example, there was a portrait of a formidable woman in the dining room. She was seated, but looked tall. She was slender, dark haired, and with a large nose.

She had two daughters, but like to hold the purse strings very firmly. She wanted her daughters to marry well, but was a bit of a snob and prejudiced against many of their admirers. Her first daughter married well, but the second fell in love with a Captain Wentworth who was deemed unsuitable, as he was poor. However the daughter married him in secret, and immediately went back home so that no one knew except her sister. Captain Wentworth went to sea and made his fortune. They didn't see each other again until his return.

The mother sent various suiters to her daughter but couldn't understand why she didn't want to marry any of them.

On Captain Wentworth's return to England he was invited to dine as he had made a name for himself and had become a hero, and made such an impression on the old lady, that she declared that had her daughter been able to catch such a man she would be very well satisfied. The truth then came out, and all was well in the end. Shades of Persuasion?

The secret side of Hughendon Manor and why artists killed people with their paintbrushes.

2011-05-10T22:26:00.001+01:00

Hughedon Manor is in High Wycome in Buckinghamshire. It's famously the home of Benjamin Disraeli.

Disraeli was an odd Prime Minister - a most unlikely choice. He was a terrible flirt, and as Queen Victoria was known to be lonely, post Albert, (I was going to say randy), they got on like a house on fire.

Disraeli is the only person ever, that's had a monument put up to him by a reigning monarch. It's in the local church.

However, I'll do the Victorian bit on the next posting. I was more taken with the story of Hughendon Manor in the second World War.

It's a story so secret, that the National Trust, who own the property have only just begun to find out about it, and realize it's huge importance during the war, for top secret operations. All their information has been uncovered since 2004. Now I don't know about you, but I find that just a bit amazing.

The Germans knew about the secret operations going on there because a German pilot was found with a hit list stuffed into his socks and it included Hughendon Manor. Hitler wanted it bombed. The local people of High Wycombe had no idea what was going on there, but they did suffer from a doodle bomb attack; they probably didn't understand the particular reasons why.

It was the operations centre for map making.

60 army personnel and 40 civilians (mostly artists; any kind of artist was seconded; graphic designers, painters, cartographers etc) along with 10 security staff. The south side of the house was in full sun, and was filled with artists who used the light to painstakingly draw maps from photographs taken on the latest missions over Germany. These would be collated with existing maps and new ones drawn to include new proposed targets. The maps would be used in the dark, so they used dark pigments, keeping to black and silver with the exception of magenta (bulls blood) used for target buildings etc.

After the maps had been drawn, they were photographed, printed and despatched overnight to RAF bases around the country. The maps were used for all sorts of raids including the Damn Busters.

The following photographs were taken in the Ice House (left) which was manned by a handful of army men known as the Ice Boys. They produced their own newspaper, and got up to all sorts of pranks.

A camera like this was used to take photographs of the completed maps.

The equipment they used to look closely at the photographs was very crude indeed. I could see the photos better with just my glasses.

Making the ice house home. Tea and cartoons.

A reproduction of the newspaper. Only a few editions were printed because the paper shortage put an early end to it's production.

Both the army personnel and the civilians were kept under strict army supervision for obvious reasons of security.

Sargeant Hadfield was in charge of security, and lived in the top of the house, with his wife, and two young daughters, and his dog.

The National Trust have done up a couple of rooms in the basement of the house to give a flavour of what life was like for the family during the war.

Ration books, recipe books, games, and a sewing machine.

Shottery and Ann Hathaway.

2011-05-07T20:58:00.002+01:00

Today I was in Shottery doing a life drawing class (posting about the class soon here) It's a very pretty little hamlet which is now so close to Stratford upon Avon town centre, as to be hardly distinct. In Shakespeare's day the two places were quite separate with fields in between.

I had a little walk around after my lunch in the local pub, and took some photos of the lovely buildings in the centre of the village.

It is very very pretty indeed. I wish you could have smelt the wisteria which seemed to be growing everywhere.

.

This house looks more modern, but had a lovely front garden, packed with herbaceous perennials

Shottery is most famous for Anne Hathaway's Cottage, which was the childhood home of William Shakespeare's wife. (photos on right and below)

Ann was the daughter of a yeoman farmer, Richard, who when he died in September 1581, bequeathed Ann £6 13s 4d "atte the day of her maryage". The marriage to William Shakespeare duly took place in November of 1582.

There were about 8 children in the home when Ann lived there; 2 siblings by Richard and five others by a second marriage by Richards wife, Joan.

It's called a cottage, but it's quite large, so Richard must have been quite well off. It was built in two parts; the lower bit nearest the road is dated to about 1460. It had an passage with a hall to the left and kitchen to the right. Above this space were 2 bedchambers

The house remained in the Hathaway family for several generations. The male line became extinct in 1746 on the death of John Hathaway, but the property then passed, through his sister Susanna, to his nephew, John Hathaway Taylor, whose son, William Taylor, lived there until his death in 1846.

Financial problems had forced him to sell the house six years earlier, but he had remained in occupation as a tenant, as did his daughter, Mary, the wife of George Baker. She was still living there in 1892, when the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust purchased the property. With it came various items of family furniture, including the Hathaway Bed, dating from Anne's time.

Where there's life there's hope.

2011-04-30T20:07:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure you can see this, but look closely at the trunk of the tree. It's mere fragments; an outside crust of bark; a husk with no middle.

Yet, it's begun to grow vigorously from the merest, tiniest, bit of sappy wood.

Confirms the fact - which at times I have great difficulty believing - that everything really wants to live if it can. (Except humans I guess)

I've also spent some time lately watching 16 nests in a heronery. Lots of chicks which excite me no end. However, I'm refraining from telling you where or giving pictures as there are anglers around who would do harm to the birds simply because they take food from rivers they want to fish in.