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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
When I was about nine (or possibly ten), my family and I went on holiday to Devon. We camped, hiked and played on the beach. At some point during the fortnight, my parents took us to a concert in the evening and I had my one and only experience of listening live to James Galway […]
Some houses change over time, others don’t. Before the days of listed buildings (protection orders on historical buildings), owners simply added, removed and did what they pleased to keep the exterior and interior of their home functional and maintained. Theses days, you can’t just simply knock down an outside wall of a Medieval listed building […]
Once upon a time, this house was known by various designations: Station X, London Signals Intelligence Centre, HMS Pembroke (a navy designation because there were supposedly WRENs posted there) and as a postal address it was listed as Room 47, Foreign Office, or sometimes simply B.P. Where is this place? Located near the modern town […]
So I begin this year’s A-Z challenge. One letter each day and on the theme of Great Houses of Britain. Today it’s A for Athelhampton House (Dorchester, Dorset), which I visited a several years ago and has a link to a family member. More on that in a bit. The great hall was built in […]
“I’m going outside to make a snow angel.” Helga pulls on her boots and coils a scarf around her neck. “No! You’ll ruin it. Don’t. Everything is so pretty and white.” Outside, the snow blanket glistens with pinpricks of moonlight. Untainted by footprints, the winter garden is immaculate. “It’s going to melt, so what difference […]
Welcome to this year’s theme reveal for the A-Z blogging challenge. After the previous year’s cathedrals and abbeys, I decided to continue the theme of historical places of the British Isles. With the success of Downton Abbey and The Crown on TV, it would be easy to pick the stately homes of Chatsworth, Blenheim Palace […]
The Quiet Writer 