Category A-Zchallenge
The large and very, very small rooms of Nunnington Hall #atozchallenge
Nunnington Hall in Yorkshire, as it stands now, is the creation of the Viscount Preston, who was the owner in the late 17th Century, but there has been a house there since the thirteenth century. There are plenty of rooms – the stone hall, dining room, the oak hall, the drawing room and bedrooms, mainly […]
The sad tale of the Montagu Houses #atozchallenge
Continuing my theme of Great Houses – I present not one Montagu House, but several. Montagu House, Bloomsbury Sq (House 1) Bloomsbury was a fashionable part of northern London and between 1675 and 1679, Ralph Montagu, first Duke of Montagu, built a house designed by Robert Hooke. In 1686, it was destroyed by fire. Montagu […]
Little Moreton Hall – less of the little #atozchallenge
In 1504, wealthy Cheshire landowner, William Moreton, began to build a rather irregular shaped house. Described by the National Trust (who now take care of the hall) as a ‘stranded Noah’s ark’; it is decidedly top heavy. The way the building grows with each storey added is not unusual for Medieval or Tudor houses which […]
The Progress at Kentwell #atozchallenge
Have you seen the progress at Kentwell Hall? This was the marketing ploy used by the new owners of Kentwell Hall, a Tudor property in Suffolk that had fallen into disrepair by the 1970s. The family who bought it have spent thirty years working on the restoration project in much the same way most […]
Jodrell Hall – where a name lives on #atozchallenge
Here’s today’s post – Jodrell Hall, a country house in the east of Cheshire, built in 1779 in the Georgian style of red brick and slate roof. Since 1955 it has been a preparatory school by the name of Terra Nova. (Picture? It’s a school, so I can’t find anything that doesn’t have school kids […]
Ightham Mote – who wouldn’t want to live here? #aztochallenge
Ightham Mote (pronounced item moat) is one of my favourite houses. When I lived in Kent, I used to live not far away and relished a visit. Now in the hands of the National Trust, its long history began centuries ago and involved many occupiers. A house’s history is the product of his occupants and […]
Haddon in a hurry #atozchallenge
A quick post about Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Built in 1200s as a fortified Medieval manor and then lived in as a home until early 1600s when it was left dormant for 200 years. Consequently, it skipped over the Georgian period and remains a largely Medieval building. In 1920s the Duke and Duchess of Rutland […]
Glemhall Hall, facades and taxes #atozchallenge
Glemham Hall features a characteristic Georgian façade constructed in front of an old Tudor hall, which once would have a been a grand example of early renaissance architecture. This ‘covering’ up of the old frontage is quite common for England’s Medieval buildings and the give away is the bottom of the roof doesn’t meet the […]
Friars Carse, Robert Burns and a drinking contest #atozchallenge
I’m heading north for this post to Scotland and a hotel near Dumfries called Friars Carse. It has a long history, although not in its current form, only the stables and hermitage are listed. The original Frierkerse was a friary (small monastery) established by Cistercians. (A carse means fertile land near a river.) The monks […]
Eggington House, suffragettes and Huguenots. #atozchallenge
Not all country houses began life as Medieval Great Halls. Eggington House in Bedfordshire is an example of domestic English architecture and was built in 1696. Country dwellings weren’t usually as ‘modern’ as their city equivalents, but the builders of Eggington weren’t going to be outdone by the city folk. Who acquired the estate and […]
The Quiet Writer 