Chastleton House
Chastleton House (tʃæsəltən.haʊs) is a Jacobi Victorian country house in Chastleton near Moreton-in-Marsh in the County of Oxfordshire . The UK Grade I listed property has been owned by the National Trust since 1991 .
Building history
The mansion was built between 1607 and 1612 for the lawyer Walter Jones (around * 1550, † 1632) from a wealthy Welsh wool merchant family ; he had acquired the property in 1604 from Robert Catesby , the designer of the 1605 powder conspiracy . The previous building was completely demolished at Jones' new building. The so-called Cotswold stone, a yellow limestone from the Jura, was used as building material . The construction was a narrow yard, the Dairy Court ( dairy created).
Chastleton House differs from other properties of this type in several ways: The park with an entrance embedded into the landscape is missing. Further it was inserted into the village of Chastleton. As a result, the economic facilities that are required for a manor house and are usually structurally connected to it, such as a laundry, a bakery or a fish pond, were already available and are therefore missing on the property. After all, the property was owned by the same family for almost 400 years, who ran into financial difficulties soon after the building was completed in the 17th century because the property belonging to the property did not yield enough funds. The decline of the wool industry in the 17th century and the support of the opposition party (royalists) by the owners may have contributed to this situation. The landlords also did not collect their lease with ultimate consistency. In any case, due to a lack of money in Chastleton House, the modernizations of the building and its furnishings, which were otherwise regularly carried out in accordance with the prevailing tastes, hardly took place. As a result, the construction and furnishings of the time of origin were largely preserved.
The National Trust also focuses on preserving the property in the condition it has taken over and largely dispenses with restoration measures. This gives the visitor, to whom most of the rooms have already been made accessible, a rare insight into the living conditions of the 17th century. The Long Gallery with its stucco-decorated barrel-vaulted ceiling is of particular architectural importance . With a length of 22 m and her age, she is incomparable in England. It is worth highlighting the Great Chamber, which was set up for the entertainment of important guests and for musical performances. The design has roots in the Italian Renaissance . The design of the wall panels shows influences of classicism , as do the painted rondelles around a frieze depicting the twelve sibyls . In the room there is a glass from the Jacobite period , whose engravings with the Jacobite symbols, roses, oak leaves and a compass rose reflect the political sympathies of the family in the 18th century.
In 1919 a number of tapestries were discovered in the building. This work will be interpreted as evidence of the work of a tapestry weaving in the mansion of William Sheldon († 1570) in the near Shipston-on-Stour located Barcheston (county Warwickshire ). One of these tapestries is on display in the Middle Chamber, while another is a permanent exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Chastleton Garden
In contrast to the building, the garden, which is included in the list of Grade II architectural monuments in Great Britain, has undergone various changes over time, so that little is known about its original condition. In 1828 the Whitmore-Jones family laid out a garden that mimicked a Jacobean layout. This was gradually forgotten and the garden was considered an original from that time. It was only after the National Trust took over the facility and extensive archive studies that it was recognized that it was not an original facility. The enclosing walls are proven to date from the 17th century, so it should be clear that its current extension is likely to correspond to that of its first complex. The latter follows the recommendations of Gervase Markham , which he in his work The English husbandman ( The English compatriot ) from 1613 resigned: an atrium on the house front with a lateral so-called Base court at a house site, including the stables and agricultural Nebengelasse; the other two sides of the building should be surrounded by a garden, which is divided into an orchard , an herb garden and an amusement garden planted with ornamental trees . A large part of the ornamental garden is taken up by a historic croquet meadow that can be used by today's visitors.
Others
- In Chastleton the rules for lawn croquet were codified for the first time in 1865 , so that Chastleton House can with some justification also be called the "Home of croquet".
- The property was one of the filming locations for the BBC- produced four-part television film Elizabeth I - The Virgin Queen , which aired in January and February 2006.
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ Oliver Garnett: A Short Guide to Chastleton House , The National Trust, London 1997
- ↑ On the occurrence and composition of the "Cotswold stone", see the English Wikipedia: Cotswold stone .
- ↑ Nicholas Cooper, Stephen Freer and Jonathan Marsden: Chastleton House . The National Trust (Enterprises), London 2001, p. 5
- ↑ Nicholas Cooper, Stephen Freer and Jonathan Marsden: Chastleton House . The National Trust (Enterprises), London 2001, pp. 21-24
- ↑ See the website for more details [1] (PDF; 816 kB).
- ^ Katie Fretwell, Case Study 2, Chastleton House. In: Fiona Reynolds (Ed.), Rooted in History. Studies in Garden Conservation. London, The National Trust 2001, 18
- ↑ See the English book text in the Gutenberg Project [2]
Coordinates: 51 ° 57 ′ 34.8 " N , 1 ° 38 ′ 24.5" W.