Ightham Mote

We are off to Ightham Mote today (pretend it is September) and it is only 50 minutes away, providing the M25 is clear of hold ups. Fortunately it was, both ways. I think this will be our 5th visit as we have taken a number of guests here over time.

Ightham is a superb moated manor house, nestling in a sunken valley and it dates from 1320 AD. The American business man Charles Henry Robinson left the property to the National Trust in 1985. The main features of the house span many centuries and include the Great Hall,Old Chapel and Crypt, Tudor Chapel with painted ceiling, drawing room with Jacobean fireplace, frieze and 18th century wallpaper,Billiards Room and the Robinson apartments. There is also an extensive garden and interesting walks in the surrounding woodland of the estate.

What I like particularly about this residence is it looks and feels very livable in. The many rooms are cosy and small with nooks and crannies and many interesting stairways.

Sorry I cannot take you in (as always photos not allowed) but I can take you around the outside of the house and into the inner courtyard before we take a look at the gardens.

If Charles Henry Robinson had not handed this property to the National Trust it was going to be demolished because of the cost of renovation and upkeep.

We will also do a fabulous walk around the perimeter of the estate but that's another post.

We are now walking down the slope deeper into the valley




We will walk clockwise around the outside of the house and mote

The entrance is over the bridge seen here in the centre

Over the bridge and into the cobbled inner courtyard we go

Here we see a Grade I listed dog kennel

Sorry you did not see inside but at least you can see the garden

See the duck half way up the steps

Private cottages in the grounds

Kitchen garden

Part of the cottage complex used as an exhibition area

Hope you enjoyed the visit - do come back and join me on the estate walk

My daughter Janie has not posted for a while. She has just put up a post explaining why, so here is a link if you wish to visit her. You will also see a picture of my second grandchild and one of Oliver.

Waltham Abbey

Yesterday we woke to our first frost of the season which resulted in glorious clear skies so it was not a day to stay indoors. It's a spontaneous decision so let's go somewhere fairly local. Waltham Abbey is the choice, just 30 minutes drive.

On our way into the abbey gardens we pass this little bit of history, the excavated ruins of Bloomery Forge, dating from 1200 AD. It was used to smelt iron to produce metalwork for the abbey.

The wall we see was part of the Chapter House and was restored after the dissolution of the monasteries using the rubble from the ruined cloisters.

. There has been a church on this site since the 7th century. The stone church erected by Harold Godwinson,later King Harold II, in the 1050's, replaced an earlier one which had housed a famous cross brought from Somerset. Harold had been healed of a paralysis after praying before the Cross, and it remained a focus of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and the probably site of his grave lies outside the present building.

The community of 13 secular canons established by Harold was replaced by one of 26 Augustinian canons in 1177, when Henry II re-founded and enlarged the church to 3 times it's present length as part of his penance for the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. It became an abbey in 1184.

Waltham was the last of the English Abbeys to be dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540. The church you see today was just the Nave of the Romanesque church.

We will walk around the outside and look at some of the architectural features.

And now we will take a look inside.

The ceiling

The Chancel

The Lady Chapel

And inside, looking out. A mixture of images and reflections

An ancient Fresco on the wall of the Lady Chapel

The Denny Monument dates from 1600. The Denny family acquired Abbey lands from the Crown after the dissolution.

The site of King Harold's grave

Apparently some locals place flowers on the date of his death

We are now ready for lunch and these little private tearooms face onto the Abbey gardens.

We go inside and have some delicious homemade tomato and lentil soup

Should I mention the Carrot Cake!

The other side of the tearooms which are attached to the Inn in the town square

Some of the old ruins

Time to go home now but I thought this mural of the Bayeux Tapestry at the town Museum entrance interesting.