A foggy start to the day and chilly. We were glad we’d kept the stove in.
An important job this morning proving that we do exist to Scarborough Borough Council so that we can vote in the General Election by proxy. At the weekend we had received our latest pile of post, which contained my new photo card driving licence. My passport had run out last year and my driving licence was about to do the same, so I am glad I exist once more.
A walk up to Kingswood Junction and on up through the village, across several fields on the Heart of England Way past expectant Ewes brought us to Baddesley Clinton. Our membership to the National Trust is now paying for itself, half of today was free!
View across the courtyard of the house
The house passed through 12 generations of the same family (Ferrers) over 500 years. When first built in 1400’s the house was surrounded by the Forest of Arden, the moat surrounding it was dug to protect livestock from bears and wolves. The house was added to from 1526 onwards by Edward and then Henry Ferrers.
The Great Hall
The Armada Bed, meant to have been made from wood from the Armada
In 1590 he rented the house to two sisters, it then became a hiding place for Jesuit priests. There are three priest holes in the house. One had access on the first floor through the toilet, down through a cavity in the wall past the ground floor and down into the sewer! In 1591 eight priests hid as protestant soldiers searched the house, no-one was found. Henry also had a house in London which he rented to a Mr Fawkes who stockpiled gunpowder there before moving it to the Houses of Parliament.
Henry Ferrers added numerous coats of arms to the house.
Eagle lectern made from a German ships figurehead
The estate fell into decline from the 17th Century. In the later part of the 19th Century Marmion Ferrers moved in with his wife Rebecca. His very good friend Edward Dering and wife were invited to move in, they had money and helped restore parts of the house and pay off debts. The four became known as The Quartet. After Edward’s wife died, Marmion followed a few years later leaving Rebecca and Edward on their own to mourn for a year, after which they married. (What I’ve told you is only part of the story, but it is quite complicated, involving bad hearing, a proposal that never was, a true gentleman and love winning out in the end) Much of the house is filled with paintings done by Rebecca who lived until she was 93.
There are stories of Nicholas Brome who killed a priest he found with his wife. A blood stain on the floor in one room was thought to be from this, but the room didn’t exist in that time and the blood is from a pig. For his penance Nicholas was buried standing up under the doorway into St Michaels church nearby.
Frog
Baddesley Clinton is a house that has been lived in until the 1980’s so various things have happened to it to bring it up to date at various times in it’s life. Brown radiators, pipes and electric cables are not hidden in much of the house. The architecture is interesting, but the furniture and dressing we found a bit befuddled. The gardens are lovely and the quantity of Daffodils was impressive. The frogs were busy spawning in the Great Pool and many children were running around making the most of the sunshine. We made the most of it by sitting down and enjoying an icecream.
Plane overhead in the clear blue sky looks like an xray.
Horse checking on todays view
On our walk back we picked up what vegetables there were in the village store to go with our joint of beef tonight. The doors and hatch are wide open again. We’ve decided to move up the locks tomorrow where we can moor nearer to Packwood House that we plan to visit on Thursday.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 large puddle, 8 kissing gates, 1 pool of blood, 1/2 free entry, 26 frogs getting jiggy, 1 dressage horse, 2 magnums, 2nd sunny day.
NB Lillyanne 