Lower Brockhampton Estate

by Judith Arnopp

Lower Brockhamptom is timeless. The timber-framed house and gatehouse nestle in a valley, ringed by a damson orchard and historic woodland. The house emerges as you walk up the drive and the sight halts you in your tracks and mesmerised, you reach for your camera. 

The manor was home to the same family for 900 years. The land has been occupied since Anglo Saxon times, with the house first mentioned in the 12th century, and the current dwelling dating back to the late medieval, extended further in the Tudor period.

As an author writing in the medieval/Tudor period, places like Lower Brockhampton are invaluable. I prefer to visit out of season, when there are fewer tourists, less intrusive signage and visitor attractions to distract from the past I am trying to locate.

I entered the gatehouse first. It was clearly built for status, not defence and according to the guidebook, may have been a ‘visual pun’ in its mirroring of the manor behind. From the outside the gatehouse is a wonky, half-timbered delight, the diamond casements twinkling a welcome.

 

I passed into the shadow of the gate. There have been many repairs and alterations over the years; the staircase is 17th century, the bargeboards on the south gable are modern copies from restoration in 1999. I run my fingers over the magnificent studded door and instinct tells me it is original. The guidebook confirms this and directs me to examine the bargeboards to the north, also original, the carving still remarkably vivid for its age.

The upper floor is uneven, the beamed ceiling aged to a glorious golden brown. On the walls you can trace the vague shadow of religious marks symbolising the Virgin Mary which, again according to the guide book, support the rumours of illegal Catholic masses held there during the Protestant years. I look around at the evidence of summer swallows and house martins, the ancient floors now trodden only by modern tourists, and wish those praying Catholics would show themselves and tell me how things really were.

Inside the main house, the National Trust direct visitors along a trail that follows the history of the manor’s inhabitants. The great hall for instance is laid out in 17th-century style but it is possible to see how it worked as a medieval hall. As you move through the building, the artefacts and the manner in which the rooms were used become more familiar. Close to the end of the trail, the Lounge looks just like my grandmother’s house once did with a fireplace, a writing desk, a radio and a three piece suite. Being contrary by nature, I walked round in the opposite direction so I could emerge with the earlier period fresh in my mind.

It was the outside that made my creative juices begin to flow. I strolled around the moat, examined the much plainer architecture at the back of the building, craned my neck to see the vast Tudor chimneys and was lured toward the silent peace of the ruined chapel.

 

In the undergrowth were small scurrying creatures whose way of life at Lower Brockhamptom hasn’t altered at all. The crows in the wood, the ducks on the moat, the moles who have dug up the meadow and garden provide the sights and sounds that remain unchanged.

 

It was particularly cold, even for late March, with huge cumulonimbus clouds decorating the blue sky. Every so often, the sun burst from their cover, stimulating reflections on the moat that mirrored the manor, the gatehouse, the sky – revealing another world beneath; a world very much like this one but enticing – the place I’d been seeking, the house where my characters dwell. I sat down, took out my notebook and asked if I could join them ...

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Judith Arnopp writes historical fiction set in the medieval and Tudor period. She writes from a female perspective featuring women like Margaret Beaufort, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth of York and Katheryn Parr. Her most recent novel, Sisters of Arden, traces the fate of three nuns during the dissolution of the monasteries

You can find out more on her webpage: www.judithmarnopp.com
or her author page: author.to/juditharnoppbooks

You can also follow her on social media.
Photographs © Judith Arnopp

Sutton Who? Who is buried at Sutton Hoo?

by Matthew Harffy

Sutton Hoo is one of the most important historical sites of Great Britain. The name derives from the Old English (Sutton = South farmstead and Hoo = someone who lives on a spur of a hill).

Sutton Hoo is situated near the village of Woodbridge on the River Deben in the county of Suffolk, the southern part of East Anglia. The history of the place can be split into two distinct eras: recent (from 1930s to the present day), and early medieval (from the early seventh century).

Mound 2 at Sutton Hoo

Before the owner of the house at Sutton Hoo, Mrs Edith Pretty, invited local archaeologist, Basil Brown, to dig into the many mounds that dotted an area of her land, there was nothing much to make Sutton Hoo stand out from a historical point of view. But, as the archaeologists dug into the sandy soil in 1939, uncovering perfect lines of rivets showing the shape of the overlapping planks of a great clinker-built ship buried beneath the largest mound, it quickly became apparent that Sutton Hoo had a historical importance none had imagined before then.

The village of Woodbridge and the river Deben
in the distance (viewed from Sutton Hoo)

All of the mounds had been disturbed over the centuries and most of the treasures that lay within had been stolen. But amazingly, although the largest mound (known as Mound 1) had suffered from the attentions of grave robbers in the sixteenth century (possibly the infamous Dr John Dee, who obtained a royal permit to dig for treasure in burial mounds in East Anglia), Brown found in 1939 that the main burial chamber that had been erected over the ship was largely undisturbed.

Reconstruction of the inside of Mound 1

At least it had not been disturbed by men; the earth had fallen in centuries ago, crushing the items stored within and damaging many of them. And of course, the passing of time had wreaked havoc with the organic materials and iron. However, the treasures that were pulled forth from the earth showed that the man buried in the ship was hugely wealthy, a pagan and almost certainly a king.

Basil Brown during the dig of Mound 1 in 1939

The most recognisable artefact is of course the Sutton Hoo helmet, the remains of which are now on display in the British Museum. Time has taken its toll on the helmet, but when we see a replica showing it as it would have been when worn and buried with its owner, we can but marvel at the workmanship and artistry.

Replica of the Sutton Hoo Helmet (by Ivor Lawton)

There were many other important pieces that came from the grave, each providing invaluable insight into the customs of the time and the identity of the man buried.

Among many other items of value, the following are a few of the most important finds from Mound 1:

• a large Byzantine silver bowl, which had travelled over 1,500 miles to reach its resting place
• thirty-seven gold coins 
• an ornate golden belt buckle 

Replica of the gold belt buckle

• two gold and garnet shoulder clasps 
• a harp 
• nine spears 
• a whetstone sceptre 

Replica of the whetstone sceptre

• a shield with intricate gold fittings

Replica of the shield and gold fittings

The excavation of the mounds was halted during the Second World War, but since that time the investigations of the site has continued to the present day, first under the direction of Rupert Bruce-Mitford (1965-71), then Martin Carver (1983-92). In subsequent digs since the war, many other graves have been found in the area around the mounds. It is believed that these newly-discovered bodies, which were buried with no grave goods, in shallow graves are from a later time. Looking at the evidence, they were probably criminals who had been hanged from a gallows near the highway that ran past the mounds.

The mounds at Sutton Hoo

Other mounds have also been excavated, shining more light into the darkness of the time when these mounds were erected. A young warrior is buried alongside his horse in Mound 17 and Mound 14 probably held the body of a woman, given the grave goods found.

Replica pattern welded sword

We will almost certainly never know who each of these people were due to the period when they were buried and the lack of documentary evidence in what is commonly known as the Dark Ages.

Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to pinpoint the age of the ship burial of Mound 1 as between 590 and 640. Weighing up the finds of such riches, along with the location of the mounds, only four miles from Rendlesham, where Bede says the King of East Anglia had his great hall, and the fact that the burial is pagan, it seems overwhelmingly likely that Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo is the ship burial of the great King Rædwald of East Anglia, who died in 624 or 625.

Artist's impression of King Rædwald

This of course takes us into the second historical era of Sutton Hoo. The early seventh century, when Christianity had yet to be adopted by all the kingdoms of Britain. A time when warrior kings of the Angles and the Saxons held sway over retinues of thegns and vied for power and territory with neighbouring kings in a way that could be compared to the gangs of modern-day cities or the cattle barons of the American West in the nineteenth century.

Such a man was Rædwald, ruler over East Anglia, one of the richest kingdoms of Britain. He had supposedly converted to Christianity when visiting Kent, but apostatised once more on his return to East Anglia where, instead of destroying the shrines to the old gods, he built new Christian shrines alongside them. Claiming Woden as one of his ancestors, as did all of the Anglo-Saxon kings of the time, he would have worn the great helmet that was buried with him into combat, not only as protection but as an indication of his wealth and extreme power.

Artist's impression of the interior of an Anglo-Saxon great hall

Rædwald’s power stretched well beyond the borders of East Anglia. When the young Edwin of Deira fled from his enemies in Northumberland, he ended up finding a safe haven in the hall of Rædwald. Edwin’s sworn enemy, King Æthelfrith, would rather avoid a war with a king as mighty as Rædwald but he clearly believed that the King of East Anglia could be swayed by gold. For we are told in Bede’s History of the English Church and People that Æthelfrith sent Rædwald increasingly large bribes in the form of coins in exchange for Edwin. It seems Rædwald was tempted by the offer until his wife famously told him that it was “altogether unworthy of so great a king to sell his good friend in such distress for gold, and to sacrifice his honour, which is more valuable than all other adornments, for the love of money”. And so, listening to his wife and recognising the wisdom of her words, Rædwald not only rejected Æthelfrith’s offer but instead lent his aid to Edwin and marched with him northward where together they defeated Æthelfrith. Thus Rædwald installed Edwin as King of Northumbria.

The National Trust Exhibition Hall at Sutton Hoo

Visiting the site today and seeing in the National Trust Exhibition Hall the stunning replicas of the grave goods that were buried with Rædwald to be carried into the afterlife in his great ship, one gets an idea of the powerful hold this man must have had on his people. And I think we must consider ourselves extremely fortunate that after 1,400 years and numerous attempts to rob the graves of Sutton Hoo, these most fabulous, iconic artefacts have been recovered and kept safe, allowing them to be witnessed and studied by history lovers for generations to come.

Image attribution:

All photos copyright Matthew Harffy, unless otherwise stated.
The image of the 1939 dig is by Harold John Phillips - Screen capture of image from home movie, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14677136

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Matthew Harffy is the author of the Bernicia Chronicles, a series of novels set in seventh century Britain. The latest book in the series, Warrior of Woden was released on 1^st April 2018.

The previous books in the series, The Serpent Sword, The Cross and theCurse, Blood and Blade and Killer of Kings are available on Amazon, Kobo, Google Play, and all good bookstores.

Kin of Cain, a standalone prequel novella, is currently free on Amazon worldwide.

Website: www.matthewharffy.com

Twitter: @MatthewHarffy

Facebook: MatthewHarffyAuthor

Middle Littleton Tithe Barn

By Richard Denning

Recently I had reason to be driving to Evesham in Worcestershire. Having an hour or so to spare I decided to visit Middle Littleton Tithe Barn which is a National Trust Property in a small village near Evesham.

A tithe barn was a type of barn used commonly across most of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. The tithe was paid by the villagers and farmers around a village and represented one tenth of a villagers income or a farm’s produce. As such the bulk of the tithe would be paid in the form of food or drink. The tithe was was given to the Church to help maintain the local church. In exchange the locals received spiritual care, healing and education. Tithe barns were built to store all this produce and was often close to the village church.

One of the largest and finest 13th-century tithe barns in the country is Middle Littleton Tithe Barn. It was once part of a more extensive estate consisting of a Manor House, Church and surrounding farms and fields. It is believed to date to circa 1250.

This out house once housed a cider press and behind it there is still an orchard between the Tithe Barn and the local church.

Upon the roof of the Tithe Barn is a Finial which was not just decorative but believed to keep away evil spirits.

The interior is a huge space. the roof is supported by what is called a raised cruck roof.

Here is another look at the roof structure:

For more details please visit the National Trust site...

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Richard Denning is an historical fiction author whose main period of interest is the Early Anglo-Saxon Era. His Northern Crown series explores the late 6th and early 7th centuries through the eyes of a young Saxon lord. Explore the darkest years of the dark ages with Cerdic.

Harddwych Gogledd Cymru - The Beauty of North Wales Part III

By Annie Whitehead

In the first two parts of this tour around North Wales, we looked at Castles, Palaces and Churches. But there are many domestic dwellings of less majestic proportions to be seen, that have neither crenelation nor spire.

Close to Pwllheli, and down a track which looks like it's the ultimate road to nowhere, is the medieval house known as Penarth Fawr. A fifteenth century hall-house, it is beautifully preserved and maintained by CADW, if sparsely presented. I've been twice, and both times there was not another soul around. There is no information about who lived here, but one can get a sense of how they lived. CADW's approach to such buildings is to maintain and preserve them, without much fanfare or adornment. No furniture has been added to this property, but its emptiness and the silence of the setting triggers the imagination, even so.

Maintained by another organisation, this time the National Trust, Ty Mawr Wybrnant is a sixteenth century stone-built farmhouse and is famous for having been the birthplace of Bishop William Morgan, who first translated the Bible into Welsh.

Some houses of the early modern age are much grander. Gwydir Castle near Llanrwst was the home of the prosperous Wynn family, whose fortunes were at their zenith in the Tudor and Stuart era. The castle was rebuilt following the Wars of the Roses by Meredith ap Ieuan ap Robert, founder of the Wynn dynasty and a supporter of Henry VII. Gwydir claims links with the Babington Plot of 1586, the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Charles I, and the aforementioned Bishop Morgan. We were lucky enough to visit after the current owners had bought back and refitted the wood panelling in the dining room which had been stripped in the 1920s and purchased by William Randolph Hearst.

commons attribution: Dara Jasumani

Gwydir is reputedly haunted, as is Plas yn Rhiw, on the tip of the Llyn Peninsula. The tourism literature focuses on the restoration work of the Sisters Keating, who moved there in 1939. But the house dates back to the seventeenth century. (For a while it was leased to the owners of Sizergh Castle just down the road from where I live in the Lake District.) It is suggested that Rhodri Mawr (the Great) who ruled in the 9th century, built a house near this site, and it is not unusual to find Tudor and Jacobean buildings on the sites of previous houses. Here though, no trace remains of earlier occupancy, and visitors are drawn to the gardens, and the ruined watermill therein, and the woodlands surrounding the property.

In Conwy, there are two examples of domestic dwellings. The first is Quay House, known as the smallest house in Britain, and which dates from the sixteenth century, while the second is Plas Mawr (Mawr meaning 'large' or 'great'). This was also owned by the Wynn family of Gwydir. Take a tour of the interior, which is furnished according to an inventory of 1665. Herbs hanging in the kitchen and the ornate plasterwork give a real 'feel' for how the place would have been in its heyday.

Conwy is also famous for its castle, but alongside that is the feat of Telford's engineering, the Conwy Suspension Bridge. Modern day visitors to this area wishing to traverse the Menai Strait have a choice of bridge: The Menai Bridge was also built by Thomas Telford, while the Britannia Bridge was built by Robert Stephenson, son of George.

And so we move to the Industrial era. Grand 'castles' were built by industrialists, who grew rich from the proceeds of  Jamaican sugar and local Slate (Penrhyn - pictured below left) and lead mining (Bodelwyddan)

Sadly the Clogau gold mine in Bontddu near Barmouth is no longer accessible, but it is possible to visit the Inigo Jones slate works near Caernarfon which gives a full history of the slate industry and a chance to try slate carving for yourself (harder than it looks!) Take a trip to Blaenau Ffestiniog (you can go by train from Caernarfon) and witness the legacy of slate mining in the area. Or visit Parys Mountain near Amlwch on the northern coast of Anglesey to discover the history of copper mining (my own photo, below.)

A reminder of gentler industry takes the form of Melin Llynon which is a restored and fully working windmill in the centre of Anglesey (my photo, below.)

Before we leave the island at the end of this three-part tour round the area, mention should be made of Plas Newydd, a slightly grander building than the homes we began this section with. It was the home of the first Marquess of Anglesey, who famously lost a leg at Waterloo. Inside there are photographs of the original family home at Beaudesert in Staffordshire, destroyed by fire. Last time I visited, the current Marquess had recently died, and had never visited Beaudesert, which the family still call home, because it would have 'broken his heart', yet the staff all go on an annual trip there, paid for by the family.

Trips and days out remain popular and the Victorians liked them too. On this tour we've already been to Trefiw, favourite of Llewelyn Fawr in the thirteenth century, but it became popular in the nineteenth, too, when the famous spa was excavated and the benefits of drinking the iron-rich water brought health-seeking gentlefolk to the area.

I apologise for any omissions; over three posts I've barely strayed beyond the confines of this map, and yet the places mentioned do not constitute an exhaustive list.

I've not had time to look at Iron Age hill forts or Roman remains, but whichever period of history you are interested in, North Wales will have something for you. Do go, if you can.

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To read the previous parts of this tour:
Part I is HERE
Part II is HERE

Annie Whitehead is a history graduate who now works as an Early Years music teacher. Her first novel, To Be A Queen, is the story of Aethelflaed, daughter of Alfred the Great, who came to be known as the Lady of the Mercians. It was long-listed for the Historical Novel Society’s Indie Book of the Year 2016. Her new release, Alvar the Kingmaker, which tells the story of Aelfhere of Mercia, a nobleman in the time of King Edgar, is available now, and is the story of one man’s battle to keep the monarchy strong and the country at peace, when successive kings die young. Protagonists in both novels have close associations with the Welsh. A frequent visitor to Wales, Annie also spends time attempting, and mostly failing, to speak the language.

Alvar the Kingmaker - Kindle

To Be A Queen - Kindle

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The Lost Houses of England

by Maggi Andersen

The BBC series, Downton Abbey featured an aristocratic family struggling to survive through the First World War and chronicling the changes to society that war caused. Because I write about houses such as these in my novels, I was interested to find out more about the fate of England’s great houses.

The past hundred years has seen the loss of many historical houses due to the Government’s taxing laws, death duties and fire, and some were bombed during the Second World War. The consequence of social changes such as divorce took its toll, making it impossible for many families to continue the upkeep of these expensive estates.  War time requisitioning left many in need of costly repair. With the end of the First World War British society changed irrevocably, when the people who staffed the big houses chose a different life than one in service.

Magnificent houses have been broken up, their contents dispersed and their structures demolished. Underlying the destruction of many was the fading perception that the continued existence of a specific landed family in a country house was still important to British society.

The only hope for many of these houses, whose family fortunes could not sustain, was to hand them over the National Trust. 

The portico of Weald Hall with its massive Ionic Columns, added in the early 18^th Century.

WEALD HALL, Essex had been the property of the Tower family from 1759 who also owned Huntsmoor Park, Buckinghamshire. Robert Adam remodeled the dining room for Christopher Tower in 1778.

The core of the Weald Hall was a Tudor block, probably built by Sir Anthony Browne who bought the property from the Crown. It was remodeled around 1720 possibly by the architect Giacomo Leoni.

 The saloon with its heavily coffered ceiling.

Neither Huntsmoor Park nor Weald Hall was large. In 1883 Weald Hall estate was 2,481 acres and brought in an income of 4,092 pounds. 

Passing down from son to son, Weald Hall was transferred to Christopher Cecil Tower on his marriage in 1913. But Christopher Tower’s enjoyment was brief. He was killed in action in 1915 and the Hall was never lived in again. The Hall’s situation between Romford and Brentwood made it unappealing for a home and it was  placed in the hands of caretakers and a shooting syndicate.

The Great Hall, two stories high, showing the massive painting of Weald Hall possibly by William van der Hagen. Beneath the paintings were Classical busts on shell brackets while chubby putti reclined over the doorcase pediments.

During the Second World War the park was used for military purposes and the house badly damaged by fire. In 1946, the 2,000 acre Weald Hall estate was sold by its owner Captain C.T. Tower who was going abroad. In 1951 the house was demolished. It’s former park is now a public recreation area.

The 1950s were years of crisis for country houses. At least forty-eight were demolished in 1950 alone. The country house seemed irrelevant, white elephants threatening to drag families down. Many were handed over to The National Trust, others found an institutional use for their houses, but many were pulled down. Ancient medieval seats and great piles created by wealthy Victorian industrialists were demolished with impunity.

The demolition of country houses continued steadily throughout the first half of the 1960s, but their tragic history was brought to the public’s attention by the Destruction of the Country House exhibits at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1974. Since then the battle has focused on houses that have been abandoned for many years, particularly those where speculators were hoping to profit by letting the houses they owned fall into decay so that they can be pulled down. Today the main risk to country houses is once again, fire.

It is now impossible legally to demolish a country house of any significance.

For more details on the history behind the loss of these enormous and often breathtakingly beautiful houses, I recommend England’s Lost Houses From the Archives of Country Life by Giles Worsley, Aurum Press Limited.

Historical Romance Novelist Maggi Andersen

http://www.maggiandersenauthor.com