Beckington Castle
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 44 " N , 2 ° 17 ′ 18" W.
Beckington Castle is a historic house in the village of Beckington in Somerset , England. The building is classified as Grade II * as a Listed Building .
It was built at the beginning of the 17th century on the site of a medieval building and was the residence of various notables and also served as a school and hotel. Today it is used as an office building.
history
The building was built in place of an earlier medieval structure at the beginning of the 17th century by William Long, a cloth maker and founder of St George's Church . In 1569 his son Thomas lived here. Sometime before 1616 it was sold to James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough .
Several local merchants owned the house during the 18th century, including Christopher Brewer, Samuel Love, and Nathaniel Mortimer. In the 1780s, Beckington Castle came into the possession of the Chislett family, who held it until 1870. For the first time in 1839 the name "Castle House" was applied to the house. This later became "The Castle" and finally "Beckington Castle". In 1870 George Esdaile bought the property for £ 450 . The next owner was Colonel Augustus Hill, who owned it from 1896 to 1901.
Edward Milles Nelson owned the house from 1902 to 1926. Nelson was President of the Royal Microscopical Society and author of The Cult of Circle Builders . After that, it was the home of Captain Hamilton of the Coldstream Guards who later inherited the title of 3rd Baron Hamilton of Dalzell . In 1942 his son, the politician Archie Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom was born there.
The property also served as a hotel and an antiques showroom. From 1945 to 1970 it was used by the Ravenscroft School . When a fire broke out in the boiler room of the building in February 1966, most of the interior was destroyed. The school was closed for a week and then continued to operate in the outbuildings until the damage was repaired.
Beckington Castle was bought by Systems Engineering & Assessment Ltd (SEA) in 1989 in disrepair; this company provides technical and procurement assistance to the UK Department of Defense. In 1995 and 1996 Beckington Castle was renovated with the support of the city council and English Heritage and has since served SEA as its headquarters.
The building has a reputation for being haunted. It was possibly the first property in England to feature this feature in an advertisement. An investigation for paranormal activity was conducted in 2007.
architecture
The three-story building has three tall gables with crowns and gable turrets at the front and two similar side gables on each side.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The Castle ( English ) In: Images of England . Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ↑ Beckington ( English , PDF; 7.3 MB) In: Conservation Area Appraisal . Mendip Council. 2010. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ^ Robert Dunning: Somerset Castles . Somerset Books, Tiverton 1995, ISBN 1861832787 , pp. 71-73.
- ^ Castle history ( English ) SEA. Archived from the original on May 30, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ^ Rubric 'Births' in: The Times , January 2, 1942, p. 1
- ^ History ( English ) Beckington village. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ^ SEA ( English ) Cohort PLC. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ↑ Beckington Castle Directions ( English ) SEA. November 27, 2008. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ↑ Business ( English ) Beckington Village. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ^ Hauntings ( English ) Psychic Truth. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
- ↑ Beckington Castle, Beckington, Frome ( English , PDF; 125 kB) Wessex Paranormal Research Organization. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
