We did all the locks yesterday so that we could go and visit Baddesley Clinton, a National Trust property about half an hours walk from Kingswood Junction. With all the rain we have had, plus loads more over night we guessed it would be muddy, and so it proved. We took shoes to change into though.
This is the NE aspect of the building. Original the drawbridge was on the SE front. Doors and windows have been moved all over the place over the long history of the building.
This is the interior courtyard looking at the entrance from the bridge. The 7 diamonds flower beds are a representative of the Ferrers family crest, seven diamonds.
Looking to the SW in the interior courtyard.
The house has a lovely feel to it, and could be easily lived in. (now that there is heating installed I'm sure). All the rooms are paneled and the great hall looked really comfortable with a massive stone fire place that had originally be upstairs. There had been some characters living in the house. Henry Ferrers 1549 - 1633 was known as 'The Antiquary' due to his love of history, and when he took over he had the stained glass added to many of the windows that plot the heraldic history of the family. Henry leased the building to two daughters of Lord Vaux and they ardent Roman Catholics. They held masses in the house and hid priests too. One is open for display and had to be entered by a rope down a garderobe! Henry apparently didn't know, but also leased a building to Thomas Percy where Guy Fawkes hid the gunpowder that was to blow up the Houses of Parliament! Apparently he was totally ignorant, or extremely lucky to get away with it all. Or both of course.
Looking across the moat from the North West.
In the 1860's Marmion Ferres and his young wife Rebecca inherited but had no money. Rebecca's aunt Lady Georgiana Chatterton and her second husband Edward Dering had similar ideas and they moved in to the building. The Quartet as they became known didn't want to move into the 20th Century and dressed and lived their lives as in the past, with no modern conveniences. Rebecca was a good artist and there are many of her pictures around the house. Lady Chatterton was a renowned novelist too. Lady Chatterton died in 1876 and Marmion in 1867 and Rebecca and Edward married about a year later.
When Rebecca died nephews were unable to keep the house going and after flogging most of the contents off the estate was auctioned in 1940. Luckily it was bought by philanthropist Coker Iliffe and then distant relatives of the Ferres family Thomas and Undine Walker. They loved the house and even changed their name to Ferres. It was their son who handed over the house to the National Trust after having to find loads of money to go with it. He partly did this by opening to the public.
Looking at the south western range of the manor house from the orchard.
St. Michael's Church.
The air must be pretty good round here for this lichen to grow so well. It was almost like been in the southern USA! Mind you the roar of the M40 is a constant in this part of the world.
There was no escaping the mud as the ground was saturated. We walked through some horse paddocks and the horses were looking quite miserable in the mud. It makes you wonder if he poached up fields will ever recover.
We got back to the boat, and after a cup of tea we decided to move on a little. We topped up with water as we passed Tom o The Wood. This photo is coming out of the gloomy Rowington Cutting and looking through Bridge 62 to the land beyond the embankment.
The views from the embankment are great and the countryside of rolling hills looks very appealing.
We didn't go too much further as we moored up where we had on the way north, just past Bridge 61. It is a sheltered spot with no trees around. This means that we will get any sun on the solar panels and, with Storm Kathleen coming tomorrow we thought we had best be clear of dropping debris, never mind uprooted trees in this very wet ground. We thought we would see how bad it is as if we have to stay the moorings at the top of the Hatton locks are awful, muddy, gloomy and possibly crowded.
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