Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

Tonight however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home as her parents host their first Hunt Ball since 1914. Lady Sadie has been completely consumed over the last month by the planning and preparation of the occasion, determined that not only will it be the event of the 1922 county season, but also that it will be a successful entrée for her youngest daughter, still single at twenty-one years of age, to meet a number of eligible and marriageable men. Letters and invitations have flown from Lady Sadie’s bonheur de jour* to the families of eligible bachelors, some perhaps a little too old to be considered before the war, achieving more than modest success. Whilst Lettice enjoys dancing, parties and balls, she is less enthusiastic about the idea of the ball being used as a marriage market than her parents are.

We find ourselves in the lofty Adam design hall of Glynes with its parquetry floors and ornate plasterwork, outside the entrance to the ballroom antechamber, through which guests must pass to enter the grand ballroom where tonight’s Hunt Ball is being held. From the ballroom, the sound of the band hired for the evening to play can be heard above the hubbub of happy voices as like an exclusive club, aristocracy and local county guests intermingle. At the entrance to the ballroom antechamber stand the Viscount and Countess Wrexham, Leslie and Lettice, all forming a reception line where they have been standing for the last half hour, since the clocks around them struck eight and the first guests began to arrive. Now a steady stream of partygoers appear across the threshold of the house, through the door held open by Mardsen, the Chetwynd’s tall first footman. He acknowledges each person with a bow from the neck which is seldom acknowledged in return as ladies and gentlemen in thick fur coats and travel capes, fur tippets and top hats alight from the motorcars and in a few cases, horse drawn carriages that pull up to the front door. Bustling with idle chatter they each sweep through the door with a comfortable sense of privilege and self assurance, gasping with pleasure as they feel the heat of the blazing fire in the hearth of the foyer: a delightful change to the chill of the evening air their journeys were taken in. Bramley, the Chetwtynd’s butler takes the gentleman’s topcoats, capes, hats, gloves and canes, whilst Mrs. Renfrew, the Chetwynd’s housekeeper, helps the ladies divest themselves of their capes, furs and muffs, the pair revealing spectacular fancy dress costumes of oriental brocade, pale silks and satins, colourfully striped cottons and hand printed muslins.

Standing next to her mother who is dressed as Britannia, Lettice, costumed as Cinderella in an Eighteenth century style wig and gown, smiles politely, yet vacantly, as she greets guest after guest, watching the passing parade of Pierrots, and Columbines, Sinbads and faeries, princesses and Maharajas, pirates and mandarins.

“Oh good evening Miss Evans, and Miss Evans,” Lady Sadie exclaims, placing her glove clad fingers onto the forearms of the two spinster sisters who live in Holland House, a Seventeenth Century manor house in the village. “How delightful to see you both. Do come in out of the cold and make yourselves comfortable. It was good of you to come up from the village for tonight’s festivities when I know you were both poorly before Christmas.” She smiles benignly as they twitter answers back at her in crackling voices that sound like crisp autumn leaves underfoot. “You remember my youngest daughter, Lettice don’t you ladies?”

“How do you do, Miss Evans, Miss Evans,” Lettice replies with a nod, accepting the two ladies from her mother like a parcel on a conveyor belt, smiling the same polite painted smile she, her parents and brother have been wearing since the first guest arrived. She glances at the two old women, who must be in their seventies at least, one dressed as Little Bo-Peep complete with shepherdess’ crook and the other as Miss Muffet with a hand crocheted spider dangling from her wrist, both looking more like tragic pantomime dames than anything else. Both women have worn the same costumes to every Hunt Ball Lettice can remember, and she is surer now that they are at close quarters, that the costumes are made from genuine Eighteenth Century relics from their ancestors. “What delightful costumes. Miss Bo-Peep I believe?”

“Indeed, Miss Chetwynd!” Giggles the elder of the Miss Evanses. “My how you’ve grown into a smart young woman since the last Hunt Ball your parents threw before the war.”

“We read about you often in the London illustrated papers, don’t we Geraldine?” pipes up her sister.

“Oh quite! Quite Henrietta! What a marvellous time you must have up there in London. It’s good of you to come and join us for these little parochial occasions, which must be so dull after all the cosmopolitan pleasures you enjoy.”

“Not at all, Miss Evans. Now, please do go in. You must be freezing after your drive up from the village. There’s a good fire going in the antechamber. Please go and warm yourselves.”

“You are too kind, Miss Chetwynd! Too kind!” acknowledges Henrietta.

The two rather macabre nursery rhyme characters giggle and twitter and walk into the ballroom antechamber.

“Ahh, Lady Sadie,” a well intonated, yet oily voice annunciates, causing Lettice to shudder. “What a pleasure it is to be asked to the event of the country season.”

Lettice turns to see Sir John Nettleford-Hughes, tall and elegant, yet at the same time repugnant to her, dressed in full eveningwear, yet also wearing a very ornamental turban in deference to the Hunt ball’s fancy dress theme. Lettice shudders again as Sir John takes up her mother’s right hand in his and draws it to his lips and kisses it.

“Oh, Sir John!” Lady Sadie giggles in a girlish way Lettice seldom hears from her dour and matronly Edwardian mother.

“Well, I must kiss the hand of the brave and bold defender of the Empire.” He smiles up at her with wily eyes glittering with mischief. “You are Britannia, are you not?”

“Indeed I am, Sir John.” Lady Sadie chortles proudly. “Well done. Now, you remember my youngest daughter, Lettice, don’t you?” She turns Sir John’s and her own attention to her daughter beside her.

“Good heavens!” Sir John exclaims, his piercing blue eyes catching Lettice’s gaze and holding it tightly as he eyes her up and down. “Could this elegant Marie Antoinette be the lanky teenager I remember from 1914?”

Lettice feels very exposed by the intensity of his stare, and she feels as he looks her over, that in his mind he is removing her gown and wig to see what lies beneath them. She feels the flush of a blush work its way up her neck, the heat of it at odds with the coolness of the Glynes necklace of diamonds and rubies, lent to her for the evening by her mother, at her throat.

“I’m actually Cind…” Lettice begins, before stopping short and gasping as she feels the sharp toe of her mother’s dance pump kick firmly into her ankle beneath her skirts. “So pleased to see you again, Sir John.” she concludes rather awkwardly.

“Do you know, Sir John,” Lady Sadie gushes. “I do believe we have a painting of Marie Antoinette in our very own Glynes gallery.”

“Is that so, Lady Sadie?” he replies, without disengaging his eyes from Lettice.

“Yes, one of Cosmo’s ancestors brought it back from France after the Revolution, when all those lovely things from the French aristocracy were being sold for a song.”

“Then I should very much like to see it, Lady Sadie, and make my own comparison between the woman that was,” He takes up Lettice’s right hand and plants a kiss on it just as he had done to her mother. “And the lady who is.”

Lettice quickly withdraws her hand from Sir John’s touch, feeling more repugnance for him by the moment.

“I’m sure that could be arranged, Sir John,” Lady Sadie says with a beaming smile. “Lettice, perhaps you might show Sir John the painting of Marie Antoinette in the East Wing Long Gallery after the buffet supper tonight?”

“I shall look forward to that, my lady,” Sir John says without waiting for Lettice’s agreement, his gaze still piercing her, until suddenly he glances away and strides confidently in the wake of the two Miss Evanses.

Lettice greets the next few guests politely, yet vacantly constantly gazing at the top of her glove clad hand where she felt Sir John’s pressing lips. She is still distracted by it when a cheerful voice interrupts her uneasy thoughts.

“I say, Lettice my dear, are you quite well?”

Brought back from her unsettled imaginings, Lettice finds herself staring onto the most friendly looking pirate she has ever seen.

“Lord Thorley!” she says with a genuine smile forming across her lips. “How do you do.”

“You are looking a bit peaky, my dear.” he replies, lifting up his black felt eye patch so that he might see her with both eyes. Looking concerned, Lord Thorley Ayres continues, “Are you quite well?”

“Oh, quite, Lord Thorley. It’s just a little… a little warm in here, what with the fire and my costume.” She starts fanning herself with her hand.

“Oh, I thought you looked a bit pale, rather than flushed, my dear.”

“Don’t nanny poor Lettice so, Thorley,” mutters his wife, dressed as a Spanish Infanta of the Seventeenth Century in a magnificent panniered gown and fitted bodice that pushes her already evident breasts further into view. “The poor thing probably feels quite overwhelmed by the ball. It’s been a few years since there was a ball here last. Now move along and let me see the woman who was once the girl I knew.” She shoos her husband along with a wave of her hand.

“Lady Ayres,” Lettice says with a pleasurable smile. “How very good to see you. It’s been far too long since we had a ball here.”

“Quite right. But all that sadness and austerity of the war is behind us now, thank goodness!” She rolls her eyes implying the tediousness of the Great War just passed. “Now we can enjoy our fun and frivolities again, just as we used to. Now, of course you remember our son, Nicholas.” Lady Rosamund grasps the slender shoulders of a young man in a Pierrot costume and forcefully moves him forward to meet Lettice.

“Of course I do.” Lettice remarks kindly, smiling at the young man around her age, who is obviously reluctant to be there. She remembers the stories friends from the Embassy Club have told her about Nicholas Ayers, the reluctant heir to a vast estate, Crofton Court, in Cumbria. They giggled and blushed as they told Lettice in less than hushed whispers that his visits to a well known Molly-house** near Covent Garden and his debauched ‘at homes’ on Fridays were amongst the worst kept secrets in London. She gazes at his pale face, which was evidently white enough before being given a liberal dusting of white powder. How ironic, she thinks to herself, that his face is painted up so sadly with Pierrot’s iconic dark teardrop running from his left eye, when he is so evidently unhappy to be on parade as a reluctant suitor under the hawk eyes of both his parents. What sort of life will he live, she wonders, never mind the poor unfortunate society debutante who does eventually marry him, oblivious to his inclinations towards men rather than women? She knows her father knows about Nicholas’ inclinations, but is equally aware that her mother is innocent of such knowledge. She glances quickly at her mother and when she sees that she is talking animatedly to the next guest, she leans forward and whispers in Nicholas’ ear, “It’s alright, you only have to dance with me the once, and then you’ve done your duty.” Nicholas looks at her in genuine fear. “It’s alright. Your secrets are safe with me Nicholas. I won’t tell. I don’t want to be on parade any more than you do, so let’s just do our duty, and then you can go back to your life and I’ll go back to mine.”

“Can’t you two wait until you are on the dancefloor to whisper sweet nothings in one another’s ears?” chortles Thorley good naturedly, a cheeky smile painting his lips.

“Don’t embarrass them, Thorley!” Rosamund slaps her husband’s hand playfully with her ivory and lace fan, the pearl drop earrings at her lobes shaking about wildly. She reaches out to Nicholas and grabs him by the shoulders again, steering him away. “Come along Nicholas. You’ll have plenty of time to dance with Lettice later.”

Lettice glances at her mother, who has now turned all her attention to her daughter. She smiles proudly and nods her approval at a potential interest between Lettice and Nicholas Ayres and his tens of thousands of pounds a year. Lettice glances away quickly, allowing her eyes to follow the backs of Nicholas and Lord and Lady Ayres as they wend their way into the throng gathering in the antechamber adjoining the ballroom, and sighs quietly. A lecherous old man who would enjoy nothing more than a moment alone with her, and an invert*** who would probably rather face a pit of snakes than dance with her: how will she survive this ordeal of her mother’s making? Why can’t her mother just accept the fact that she is happier being unmarried and running a successful business.

Sighing, Lettice quickly reforms her painted smile and greets the next Hunt Ball guest.

*A bonheur de jour is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers around 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. Decorated on all sides, it was designed to sit in the middle of a room so that it could be admired from any angle.

**A Molly-house was a term used in 18th- and 19th-century Britain for a meeting place for homosexual men. The meeting places were generally taverns, public houses, coffeehouses or even private rooms where men could either socialise or meet possible sexual partners.

*** Sexual inversion is a theory of homosexuality popular primarily in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were, to a greater or lesser degree, inclined to traditionally female pursuits and dress and vice versa.

This grand Georgian interior may appear like something out of a historical stately country house, but it is in fact part of my 1:12 miniatures collection and includes items from my childhood, as well as those I have collected as an adult.

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

The Georgian style fireplace I have had since I was a teenager and is made from moulded plaster. On its mantlepiece stand two gilt blue and white vases which are from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House in the United Kingdom. They are filled with a mixture of roses made by hand by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The marble and ormolu clock on the mantle between them is of a classical French style of the Georgian or Regency periods and comes from Smallskale Miniatures in the United Kingdom. The fire dogs and guard are made of brass and also come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House, as to the candelabra hanging on the wall either side of the central portrait.

The gilt Louis Quatorze chairs either side of the fireplace and the gilt swan pedestals are made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq. The candelabras on the two pedestals I have had since I was a teenager.

The pair of Palladian console tables in the foreground, with their golden caryatids and marble were commissioned by me from American miniature artisan Peter Cluff. Peter specialises in making authentic and very realistic high quality 1:12 miniatures that reflect his interest in Georgian interior design. His work is highly sought after by miniature collectors worldwide. This pair of tables are one-of-a-kind and very special to me.

The floral arrangements in urns on top of the tables consist of pink roses, white asters and white Queen Anne’s Lace. Both are unmarked, but were made by an American miniature artisan and their pieces have incredible attention to detail. The Seventeenth Century musical statues to the side of the flower arrangements were made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. They were hand painted by me.

All the paintings around the Glynes ballroom antechamber in their gilded frames are 1:12 artisan pieces made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States and the wallpaper of the ballroom antechamber is an authentic copy of hand-painted Georgian wallpaper from the 1770s.

The marquetry floor of the room is in fact a wooden chessboard. The chessboard was made by my Grandfather, a skillful and creative man in 1952. Two chess sets, a draughts set and three chess boards made by my Grandfather were bequeathed to me as part of his estate when he died a few years ago.

www.johnshortlandwriter.com

Taymouth Castle is situated to the north-east of the village of Kenmore, Perth and Kinross, in the Highlands of Scotland, in an estate which encompasses 450 acres. It lies on the south bank of the River Tay, about a mile from Loch Tay, in the heartland of the Grampian Mountains. Taymouth is bordered on two sides by mountain ranges, by Loch Tay on the third and by the confluence of the rivers Lyon and Tay on the fourth.

Taymouth Castle stands on the site of the much older Balloch Castle, which was built in 1552, as the seat of the Campbell clan. In the early 19th century, Balloch Castle was demolished by the Campbells of Breadalbane, so that the new, much larger castle could be rebuilt on the site. The new castle's blue-grey stone was taken from the quarry at Bolfracks.

Built in a neo-Gothic style and on a lavish scale, Taymouth Castle is regarded as the most important Scottish castle in private ownership. Its public rooms are outstanding examples of the workmanship of the finest craftsmen of the 19th century. No expense was spared on the castle's interior, which was decorated with extravagant carvings, plasterwork and murals. Panels of medieval stained glass and Renaissance woodwork were incorporated into the scheme. Much of this decor still survives.

Francis Bernasconi, acknowledged as the greatest designer of fine plasterwork of the era, created the magnificent central staircase, that connects all four storeys of the central tower. Many of the ceilings were painted by Cornelius Dixon.

The castle is a Category A listed building, and the grounds, which include parklands and woodlands, are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, the national listing of significant gardens. Historic Environment Scotland have graded the castle as 'outstanding' in all of the following categories; 'Work of Art', 'Historical', 'Architectural' and 'Scenic'. They also acknowledged that due to the remnants of its pinetum and the outstanding size of its remaining trees, it also has horticultural value. It is said that some of the first larches brought to Scotland from the Tyrol were planted on the estate.

Twelve of Taymouth Castle's buildings/structures are currently recorded on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. Due to its severely deteriorating condition, Taymouth Castle has been empty since approximately 1982. However, its new owners are currently restoring and redeveloping the castle, as a luxury hotel resort.

The castle and golf course are currently closed until further notice, whilst it is being restored and re-modelled. {wikipedia]

The Grand Opera House is a theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by the most prolific theatre architect of the period, Frank Matcham. It opened on 23 December 1895.

According to the Theatres Trust, the "magnificent auditorium is probably the best surviving example in the United Kingdom of the oriental style applied to theatre architecture".

The auditorium was restored to its former glory, and the foyer spaces and bars were reimagined and developed as part of a £12.2 million project in 2020/2021, generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The venue hosts musicals, drama, ballet, opera and comedy performances as well as educational events and tours. The Theatre’s annual pantomime, which has been performed since its opening in 1895, remains the most popular show each year. The Theatre’s capacity is 1,058.

History

Originally called the New Grand Opera House and Cirque, it was renamed the Palace of Varieties in 1904, changing its name to the Grand Opera House in 1909. Charlie Chaplin performed there in 1908, and although Variety programmes dominated the pre-war years, entertainers as diverse as Nellie Melba, Sarah Bernhardt, Ralph Richardson and Gracie Fields performed there regularly. It became a repertory theatre during World War II and at the celebrations to mark the end of the war, Eisenhower, Montgomery and Alanbrooke attended gala performances at the Theatre.

After the war, stars of stage and screen returned to the Theatre, with notably highlights including performances by Laurel and Hardy, Vera Lynn, Orson Welles, and Luciano Pavarotti in his UK debut. In 1965 the National Theatre brought its production of Love for Love to the Grand Opera House with a cast boasting Laurence Olivier, Lyn Redgrave, Albert Finney, Geraldine McEwan and a young Anthony Hopkins.

The Grand Opera House was acquired by the Rank Organisation, which led to its use as a cinema between 1961 and 1972.

As business slowed in the early 1970s with the onset of the Troubles, Rank initiated plans to sell the theatre to a property developer, who proposed that the building be pulled down and replaced with an office block. However, following the action of Kenneth Jamison (director of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland) and Charles Brett (founder member of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and ACNI board member), the building was bought by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and listed in 1974. The Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education, Arthur Brooke, lent his support to the project and his department provided the funding for extensive renovatation of the theatre. The Grand Opera House reopened in 1980, and in the years that followed many leading performers appeared on its stage, including Liam Neeson, Rowan Atkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Ian McKellen, Darcey Bussell and Lesley Garrett. The building has been damaged by bombs on several occasions, usually when the nearby Europa Hotel had been targeted. It was badly damaged by bomb blasts in 1991 and 1993. The theatre continued, however, to host musicals, plays, pantomimes and live music.

2006 renovation and reopening

In 1995 the running of the theatre was taken over by the Grand Opera House Trust. In 2006 an extension was added which included a studio theatre space , extended foyers, dressings rooms and access for customers with disabilities. The Theatre reopened with a Gala event on 21 October 2006.

Restoration 2020

In 2020 the Grand Opera House closed for restoration and development. The project saw the auditorium’s paintings and decorative and ornate plasterwork painstakingly restored and conserved, as well as new seating, carpets, curtains and drapes installed. The design of the foyer and public spaces was reimagined, with a new bar installed in the restored 1980 glass extension overhanging Great Victoria Street, and the stalls and circle bars refurbished. As part of the project, the Theatre’s technical infrastructure was also upgraded and a permanent heritage exhibition installed telling the Theatre’s 125-year history installed.

[Wikipedia]

ASTLEY HALL IS A MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY HOUSED WITHIN A GRADE I LISTED HISTORIC HOUSE. THE HALL IS SET WITHIN THE BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS OF ASTLEY PARK WHICH INCLUDE HISTORIC WOODLAND, A LAKE, AND A FULLY RENOVATED VICTORIAN WALLED GARDEN ALONGSIDE CLEAN AND MODERN FACILITIES FOR VISITORS TO ENJOY.

THE HALL IS PERHAPS BEST KNOWN FOR ITS STUNNING JACOBEAN PLASTERWORK CEILINGS AND THE HOUSE IS BUILT AROUND AN INTERNAL ELIZABETHAN COURTYARD. THE FOUR WINGS OF THE HOUSE WERE EXTENDED BY THE FAMILIES WHO LIVED HERE AND MOST OF THE ORIGINAL FEATURES ARE RETAINED TO THIS DAY. THE HOUSE CONTAINS MUCH OAK FURNITURE FROM THE 1600S, INCLUDING THE SIRLOIN CHAIR AND A 27FT LONG SHOVEL BOARD TABLE.

In 1154 Henry II granted land in the Forest of Arden to a group of Cistercians from Staffordshire. There are various traces remaining of the original Abbey buildings, most notably the 14th-century Gatehouse.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the estate was acquired by Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London in 1558. Charles I gave Leigh the barony for his offering hospitality when the gates of Coventry were closed to the king during the English Civil War. A house was built (which now forms the north and east wings of the present house) on the site of the monastic buildings. It was the home of the Leigh family from 1561 to 1990. In due course the Leigh family became the largest land owner in Warwickshire.

Between 1714 and 1726 a new palatial four-storey fifteen-bay wing was built to designs by architect Francis Smith of Warwick. The result was an impressive baroque West Wing, built of silver-coloured stone, which was fashionable at that time. The Abbey's remarkable feature is the Saloon, one of the great interiors of Georgian England. Andor Gomme referred to it as "almost the swansong of baroque figurative plasterwork in England,

From the view over the River Avon we can see some of the changes introduced by Humphry Repton. During his time he was well known for his works at several large country houses. In 1806 the estate passed to Rev. Thomas Leigh. He came to view his inheritance, bringing with him his cousin Cassandra Austen and her two daughters, Cassandra and Jane. Jane Austen writes of Repton as the gardener making changes to the grounds at the fictional Sotherton Court in Mansfield Park. When he undertook the works at Stoneleigh, he hoped to create an arcade on the side of the house overlooking the river. That never came to fruition, however he did redirect the River Avon and flood a section of the river to create a mirror lake. When viewed from a raised platform across the river, the house is perfectly reflected in the surface of the water.

Beautiful carving and plasterwork in the main stairwell of Heaton Hall, an 18th century manor house just north of Manchester,UK

Royal Alcazar of Seville - Real Alcázar de Sevilla

According to its Wiki entry.....

The Ambassadors Hall is the ancient throne room built during the reign of Al-Mu'tamid in the C11th. In the C14th, Pedro I of Castile remodelled the hall to make it a centrepiece of his royal palace. Plant motifs in plasterwork were added in the corners of the room and spandrels of the arches. Windows were traced with geometric elements. Walls were covered with tiled panels. The orientation of the hall was also changed from facing Mecca to north-east.

IMG_4134c

To see the official National Trust website please click:-

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/gawthorpe-hall

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawthorpe_Hall

Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in the civil parish of Ightenhill in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated there. Since 1953 it has been designated a grade I listed building.[1] The hall is financed and run by the National Trust in partnership with Lancashire County Council.[2] In 2015 the Hall was given £500,000 funding from Lancashire County Council for vital restoration work needed on the south and west sides of the house.

History

Gawthorpe Hall's origins are in a pele tower, a strong fortification built by the Shuttleworths in the 14th century as a defence against invading Scots.[4] The Shuttleworths occupied Shuttleworth Hall near Hapton from the 12th century.[5] The Elizabethan house was dovetailed around the pele tower from plans drawn up by Richard Shuttleworth but carried out after his death by his brother the Reverend Lawrence Shuttleworth. The foundation stone was laid on 26 August 1600.[6] The architect is not recorded, but the house is generally attributed to Robert Smythson.[7]

In 1604 Richard Stone, from Carr House in Bretherton, imported Irish panel boards and timber and stored 1,000 pieces in the tithe barn at Hoole until they were needed.[8] The mottoes of the Kay-Shuttleworths are Prudentia et Justitia (Prudence and Justice – Shuttleworth) and Kynd Kynn Knawne Kepe (Kind Friends Know and Keep – Kay).[9] Mottoes are found in the front porch and around the top of the tower.[10] The initials KS, Kay-Shuttleworth occur in decoration throughout the house, on the front door and plaster roundels on the ceiling in the main dining room.

An early occupant was Colonel Richard Shuttleworth (MP), who inherited it in about 1607 from his uncle. Colonel Shuttleworth was High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1637, Member of Parliament for Preston (1640 to 1648 and 1654 to 1659) and commander of the Parliamentarian Army of the Blackburn Hundred during the Civil War. After his death Gawthorpe was leased to tenants, the Shuttleworths preferring to live at Forcett Hall near Richmond.

After Forcett was sold the Shuttleworths returned to Gawthorpe. In 1818 barrister, Robert Shuttleworth died and his daughter Janet inherited the estate at an early age. Her mother remarried and remained at Gawthorpe to protect her inheritance. In 1842 Janet married Sir James Kay of Rochdale, who adopted the surname Kay-Shuttleworth and commissioned Sir Charles Barry to carry out restoration and improvements to the house in the 1850s.[1] Sir James was made a baronet in 1849 and served as High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1864. Charlotte Brontë, a family friend visited the house. In 1953 Charles Kay-Shuttleworth, 4th Baron Shuttleworth, left Gawthorpe to live at Leck Hall near Kirby Lonsdale and in 1970, after the death of Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, Gawthorpe was gifted to the National Trust.

The National Trust described the hall as "an Elizabethan gem in the heart of industrial Lancashire". Nicholas Cooper described the hall's plan as an early example in which the main stair is immediately accessible from the main entrance, a feature that became standard.[11] The hall has a collection of 17th and 18th century portraits on permanent loan from the National Portrait Gallery and is notable for its textiles, collected by the last resident family member Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, about a fifth of which is on display.

House

Porch

The porch was rebuilt by Sir Charles Barry in 1851 who replaced the round-headed archway over the door with a four-centred arch on columns set on raised plinths and installed a three-light mullioned window above it to create a tile-floored vestibule. A stone plaque displaying the Shuttleworth, (three weaver's shuttles) Kay and Kay-Shuttleworths arms carved by Thomas Hurdeys in 1605 was retained. The Kay motto was inscribed on the outside of the door lintel and the Shuttleworth's on the inside.[12] The door's decorative ironwork was designed by Pugin and made by Hardman's of Birmingham in 1851 at a cost of £17 1s 6d. The interior is decorated with a carved stone panel bearing Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth's arms and two ceremonial sheriff's javelins and a black oak sword-chest dated to about 1500.[12]

Entrance hall

The entrance hall was extended at its east end and reordered when the 17th-century mezzanine bedroom, a low-ceilinged pantry and the buttery were removed in the 1850s. The fireplace's stone over-mantel was used in the vestibule. The fireplace was given a marble surround, incorporating family initials in 1856 and an iron grate with lions-head dampers was supplied in 1852.[13] A Renaissance-style panelled and arcaded openwork wooden screen was constructed in 1851 by William Horne. Oak panelling was installed framing two internal windows between which is a Jacobean panel and above it was a gallery for family portraits.[14]

An Edwardian photograph shows the hall with a billiard table, upholstered bobbin-turned chairs, two wicker chairs and a Glastonbury armchair. The entrance hall was converted into a kitchen in 1945. The archway blocked, the screen dismantled, panelling removed and an internal window made into a serving hatch. Only the fireplace and geometrical ceiling were left intact. The room was later made into a study. In 1986 the screen was reconstructed, surviving woodwork re-installed and missing pieces re-carved and some stonework was repaired.[15]

Portraits from the mid 17th century, include four on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, commemorating Roundheads imprisoned in Windsor Castle. There are portraits of Lord and Lady Derby, and of their contemporaries.[16] Furniture includes a hutch cupboard inlaid with holly and bog oak from 1630 on a late 17th-century cupboard, two panel-back carved armchairs and a blanket chest. An ornate eight-day bracket clock from about 1725 is signed by Louis Mynuel.[15]

Great Hall

The 17th century Great Hall was used for formal dinners, performing plays, music and dancing and from 1816 became the family dining room. It was refurnished after restoration by Barry in 1852. Its galleried entrance screen was built by Thomas Hurdeys, Hugh Sandes and Cornelius Towndley in 1604-05. Above its doorways is the date 1605 and the initials of Hugh Shuttleworth and his sons - Richard, Lawrence and Thomas. By 1850 the gallery was unsafe and shored up with pillars. An 18th-century over-mantel mirror, from the drawing room, was cut up to provide panels.[16] Barry's 1851 carved stone chimney piece is superimposed on a wider 17th-century fireplace with an elliptical arch. Its sides are concealed with oak panelling and wall benches. The over-mantel has the Kay-Shuttleworth coat of arms, flanked by shields of Shuttleworth, Kay, and their wives - Fleetwood Barton, Jane Kirke, Catherine Clark and Mary Holden. The cast-iron fire grate and andirons were made in 1852 and the encaustic tiles in 1880.[17]

Barry intended to retain its 1605 plaster ceiling but replaced it with a design reproducing the old pattern in an enriched form. In May 1852 red flock wallpaper designed to simulate 16th-century Italian velvets was supplied from J. G. Crace & Co. It survived until the 1960s and in 1987 new wallpaper was reprinted from the original "Rutland blocks", using distempered colours. Wool and silk brocade curtains by Crace have a pattern based on 15th-century Italian figured silk velvets devised by Pugin in 1844.

An 1850s Renaissance style trestle table was supplied by Crace. Two alabaster models by G Andreoni of Pisa representing the Baptistry and church of Santa Maria della Spina were purchased by Blanche Kay-Shuttleworth in about 1880. An oak dining table with turned legs was made in 1881 by Gillows of Lancaster and the twist-turned oak dining chairs may also be by them. A carved oak Charles II armchair is one of' a pair made in Yorkshire in 1808 with seat panels in petitpoint floral work. The trestle fire screen has an embroidered panel. The mid-19th-century Feraghan carpet is of the same date, style and manufacture as one shown in N. F. Green's 1884 watercolour.[18]

The hall contains portraits of Sir Thomas Aylesbury painted in about 1642 by William Dobson, James Harrington and Nathaniel Highmore.[19]

Drawing Room

Robert Shuttleworth changed the medieval "dyning chamber" into a drawing room retaining its Jacobean panelling and plasterwork. The Italian Renaissance-style inlaid panelling with arabesques in semicircular arcading by the craftsmen who made the entrance screen, was started in 1603 and took a year to complete. The panelling's cornice supports a frieze and ceiling by Francis and Thomas Gunby. The frieze's contains a grotesque in which human, half-human and animal figures are entwined with fruiting stems and foliage. The ceiling is decorated with vines and oak branches in the spaces between strapwork ribbing. The plaster work took five months to complete in 1605. The fireplace arch was renewed by Barry in 1851 retaining the l7th-century hearthstone and stone fender and has a cast-iron gothic fire grate, designed by Pugin. Its andirons have armorial plates and wrought brass finials.The overmantel is dated 1604 above the Shuttleworth arms.

Of the Victorian furnishings and decoration, the bright green curtains were replaced by silk and linen brocatelle, re-woven from a fragment of material found in the house, with a pattern of stylised pomegranates and pineapples. A mid-19th-century blue and red Mahal carpet produced by Ziegler & Co. is a replacement and a Shirvan hearthrug dates from the 19th century. Portraits of Sir Ughtred and Lady Kay-Shuttleworth from1884 are by John Collier.[20]

Garden and grounds

The small ornamental garden was laid out on a terrace overlooking the River Calder at the rear of the house by Charles Barry. The semicircular terrace wall is Grade II listed.[21] The course of the river was diverted away from Gawthorpe Hall in the 19th century because of pollution and again diverted to accommodate an open cast coal scheme north of the river in Padiham in the 1960s.[22]

Other listed buildings associated with the hall are the Great Barn (built 1602–04),[23] the old farmhouse (1605–06, now used as the estate offices),[24] the game larder,[25] the coach house (1870),[26] and the lodges and gateways on Habergham and Stockbridge drives (both c.1849).[27][28][29]

Burnley F.C. have trained at a centre in the grounds since the 1950s.[30]

Gawthorpe is one of the trailheads of the Brontë Way, a 43-mile (69 km) long-distance footpath that crosses the South Pennines to Haworth, continuing to Oakwell Hall, Birstall, West Yorkshire.[31]

The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyroodhouse has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

Queen Elizabeth II spends one week in residence at Holyroodhouse at the beginning of each summer, where she carries out a range of official engagements and ceremonies. The 16th-century historic apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the State Apartments, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public throughout the year, except when members of the Royal Family are in residence. The Queen's Gallery was built at the western entrance to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and opened in 2002 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection. The gardens of the palace are set within Holyrood Park.

The ruined Augustinian Holyrood Abbey that is sited in the grounds was founded in 1128 at the order of King David I of Scotland. The name derives either from a legendary vision of the cross witnessed by David I, or from a relic of the True Cross known as the Holy Rood or Black Rood, and which had belonged to Saint Margaret, David's mother. As a royal foundation, and sited close to Edinburgh Castle, it became an important administrative centre. A Papal legate was received here in 1177, while in 1189 a council of nobles met to discuss a ransom for the captive king, William the Lion. Robert the Bruce held a parliament at the abbey in 1326, and by 1329 it may already have been in use as a royal residence. In 1370, David II became the first of several kings to be buried at Holyrood. Not only was James II born at Holyrood in 1430, it was at Holyrood that he was crowned, married and laid to rest. James III and Margaret of Denmark were married at Holyrood in 1469. The early royal residence was in the abbey guesthouse, which most likely stood on the site of the present north range of the palace, west of the abbey cloister, and by the later 15th century already had dedicated royal apartments.

Between 1501 and 1505, James IV constructed a new Gothic palace adjacent to the abbey. The impetus for the work probably came from the marriage of James IV to Margaret Tudor, which took place in the abbey in August 1503 while work was still ongoing. The palace was built around a quadrangle, situated west of the abbey cloister. It contained a chapel, gallery, royal apartments, and a great hall. The chapel occupied the north range of the quadrangle, with the Queen's apartments occupying part of the south range.

The west range contained the King's lodgings and the entrance to the palace. The master mason Walter Merlioun built a two-storey gatehouse, fragments of which survive in the Abbey Courthouse. The upper floor of the gatehouse was a workshop for the glazier Thomas Peebles until 1537, when it was converted into a space for mending the royal tapestries.

In 1512 a lion house was constructed to house the king's menagerie, which included a lion and a civet among other exotic beasts. James V added to the palace between 1528 and 1536, beginning with the present James V's Tower. This huge rectangular tower, rounded at the corners, provided new royal lodgings at the north-west corner of the palace. Equipped with a drawbridge and probably protected by a moat, the tower provided a high degree of security and is now the oldest part of the Palace of Holyroodhouse surviving today. The west front of the Palace was rebuilt to house additional reception rooms. The elegant design incorporated a double-towered gateway, parapets and large windows. The south side was remodelled and included a new chapel.

This was followed by reconstruction of the south and west ranges of the palace in the Renaissance style, with a new chapel in the south range. The former chapel in the north range was converted into the Council Chamber, where ceremonial events normally took place. The west range contained the royal library and a suite of rooms, extending the royal apartments in the tower. The symmetrical composition of the west facade suggested that a second tower at the south-west was planned, though this was never executed at the time. Around a series of lesser courts were ranged the Governor's Tower, the armoury, the mint, a forge, kitchens and other service quarters.

In 1544, during the War of the Rough Wooing, the Earl of Hertford sacked Edinburgh, and Holyrood was looted and burned. Repairs were made by Mary of Guise, and in May 1559 she had a new altarpiece installed in the Chapel Royal of the palace, featuring paintings from Flanders set in a frame made a French carpenter Andrew Mansioun. The altars were destroyed by a Reforming mob later in the same year, and after the Scottish Reformation was formalised, the abbey buildings were neglected. The choir and transepts of the abbey church were pulled down in 1570. The nave was retained as the parish church of the Canongate.

The royal apartments in the north-west tower of the palace were occupied by Mary, Queen of Scots, from her return to Scotland in 1561 to her forced abdication in 1567. The palace was heated with coal from Wallyford in East Lothian. The Queen had archery butts erected in her private gardens to allow her to practise, and hunted deer in Holyrood Park. It was at Holyrood that the series of famous interviews between the Queen and John Knox took place, and she married both of her Scottish husbands in the palace: Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, in 1565 in the chapel, and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, in 1567 in the great hall. It was in the Queen's private apartments that she witnessed the murder of David Rizzio, her private secretary, on 9 March 1566. Darnley and several nobles entered the apartment via the private stair from Darnley's own apartments below. Bursting in on the Queen, Rizzio and four other courtiers, who were at supper, they dragged the Italian through the bedchamber into the outer chamber, where he was stabbed 57 times.

During the subsequent Marian civil war, on 25 July 1571, William Kirkcaldy of Grange bombarded the Palace with cannon placed in the Black Friar Yard, near the Pleasance. James VI took up residence at Holyrood in 1579 at the age of 13 years. The building was refurbished by William MacDowall with a new north gallery painted by Walter Binning, and an apartment for the king's favourite, Esmé Stewart. In 1590 his wife, Anne of Denmark, was crowned in the diminished abbey church in 1590, at which time the royal household at the palace numbered around 600 persons. The palace was not however secure enough to prevent the king and queen being surprised in their lodgings during two raids in December 1591 and July 1593 by Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, a nobleman implicated by the North Berwick Witch Trials.

When James became King of England in 1603 and moved to London, the palace was no longer the seat of a permanent royal court. James visited in 1617, for which the chapel was redecorated. More repairs were put in hand in preparation for the coronation of Charles I at Holyrood Abbey in 1633. On 10 August 1646 Charles appointed James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, as hereditary Keeper of Holyroodhouse, an office which his descendants retain. The post is one of the Great Offices in the Royal Household in Scotland, and indeed the private ducal apartments cover a larger area of the palace than the state ones. As well as his own deputy, the Keeper still appoints the Baillie of Holyroodhouse, who is responsible for law and order within the Holyrood Abbey Sanctuary. The High Constables of Holyroodhouse are responsible to the Keeper.

Following the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the Privy Council was reconstituted and once more met at Holyroodhouse. Repairs were put in hand to allow use of the building by the Earl of Lauderdale, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and a full survey was carried out in 1663 by John Mylne. In 1670, £30,000 was set aside by the Privy Council for the rebuilding of Holyroodhouse.

Plans for complete reconstruction were drawn up by Sir William Bruce, the Surveyor of the King's Works, and Robert Mylne, the King's Master Mason. The design included a south-west tower to mirror the existing tower, a plan which had existed since at least Charles I's time. Following criticism from Charles II, Bruce redesigned the interior layout to provide suites of royal apartments on the first floor: the Queen's apartment on the west side; and the King's apartment on the south and east sides. The two were linked by a gallery to the north, and a council chamber occupied the south-west tower.

Work began in July 1671, starting at the north-west, which was ready for use by Lauderdale the following year. In 1675 Lord Hatton became the first of many nobles to take up a grace-and-favour apartment in the palace. The following year the decision was taken to rebuild the west range of the palace, and to construct a kitchen block to the south-east of the quadrangle. Bruce's appointment as architect of the project was cancelled in 1678, with the remaining work being overseen by Hatton. By 1679 the palace had been reconstructed, largely in its present form. Craftsmen employed included the Dutch carpenters Alexander Eizat and Jan van Santvoort, and their countryman Jacob de Wet who painted several ceilings. The elaborate plasterwork was done by John Houlbert and George Dunsterfield.

Interior work was still in progress when the James, Duke of Albany, the future James VII and II, and his wife Mary of Modena visited that year. They returned to live at Holyrood between 1680 and 1682, in the aftermath of the Exclusion crisis, which had severely impacted James' popularity in England. When he acceded to the throne in 1685, the Catholic king set up a Jesuit college in the Chancellor's Lodging to the south of the palace. The abbey was adapted as a chapel for the Order of the Thistle in 1687–88. The architect was James Smith, and carvings were done by Grinling Gibbons and William Morgan. The interiors of this chapel, and the Jesuit College, were subsequently destroyed by an anti-Catholic mob, following the beginning of the Glorious Revolution in late 1688. In 1691 the Kirk of the Canongate was completed, to replace the abbey as the local parish church, and it is at the Kirk of the Canongate that the Queen today attends services when in residence at Holyroodhouse.

After the Union of Scotland and England in 1707 the palace lost its principal functions, and with the abolition of the Scottish Privy Council the Council Chamber became redundant. The nobles who had been granted grace-and-favour apartments in the palace continued to use them: the Duke of Hamilton had already taken over the Queen's Apartments in 1684. The King's Apartments were meanwhile neglected.

Holyroodhouse briefly became a royal palace once more when Bonnie Prince Charlie held court at the palace for five weeks in September and October 1745, during the Jacobite Rising. Charles occupied the Duke of Hamilton's apartments rather than the unkempt King's Apartments, and held court in the Gallery. The following year, government troops were billeted in the palace, when they damaged the royal portraits in the gallery, and the Duke of Cumberland stayed here on his way to Culloden. Meanwhile, the neglect continued: the roof of the abbey church collapsed in 1768, leaving it as it currently stands. However, the potential of the palace as a tourist attraction was already being recognised, with the Duke of Hamilton allowing paying guests to view Queen Mary's apartments in the north-west tower.

The precincts of Holyrood Abbey, extending to the whole of Holyrood Park, had been designated as a debtors' sanctuary since the 16th century. Those in debt could escape their creditors, and imprisonment, by taking up residence within the sanctuary, and a small community grew up to the west of the palace. The residents, known colloquially as "Abbey Lairds", were able to leave the sanctuary on Sundays, when no arrests were permitted. The area was controlled by a baillie, and by several constables, appointed by the Keeper of Holyroodhouse. The constables now form a ceremonial guard at the palace.

Following the French Revolution, George III allowed Louis XVI's youngest brother, the Comte d'Artois to live at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where he took advantage of the abbey sanctuary to avoid his creditors. Artois resided at Holyroodhouse from 1796 to 1803, during which time the King's apartments were renovated. The Comte d'Artois inherited the French throne in 1824 as Charles X, but following the July Revolution of 1830, he and his family lived at Holyroodhouse again until 1832 when they moved to Austria.

King George IV became the first reigning monarch since Charles I to visit the Palace of Holyroodhouse, during his 1822 visit to Scotland. Although he was lodged at Dalkeith Palace, the king held a levée (reception) at Holyroodhouse, and was shown the historic apartments. He ordered repairs to the palace, but declared that Queen Mary's rooms should be protected from any future changes. Over the next ten years, Robert Reid oversaw works including the demolition of all the outlying buildings to the north and south of the quadrangle. In 1834 William IV agreed that the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland could make use of the palace during the sitting of the General Assembly, and this tradition continues today.

On the first visit of Queen Victoria to Scotland in 1842, she also stayed at Dalkeith Palace, and was prevented from visiting Holyroodhouse by an outbreak of scarlet fever. In preparation for her 1850 visit, more renovations were carried out by Robert Matheson of the Office of Works, and the interiors were redecorated by David Ramsay Hay. Over the next few years, the lodgings of the various nobles were gradually repossessed, and Victoria was able to take up a second-floor apartment in 1871, freeing up the former royal apartments as dining and drawing rooms, as well as a throne room. From 1854 the historic apartments in the north-west tower were formally opened to the public.

20th century to the present day

Although Edward VII visited briefly in 1903, it was George V who transformed Holyroodhouse into a 20th-century palace, with the installation of central heating and electric lighting, the modernisation of the kitchens, the addition of new bathrooms and the provision of a lift. The palace was selected as the site of the Scottish National Memorial to Edward VII and a statue of the king was placed facing the Abbey, on the Forecourt which was enclosed with richly decorated wrought-iron railings and gates. In the 1920s the palace was formally designated as the monarch's official residence in Scotland, and became the location for regular royal ceremonies and events.

The present Queen spends one week at the Palace of Holyroodhouse each summer, during which time investitures are held in the Great Gallery, audiences are held in the Morning Drawing Room, a luncheon takes place in the Throne Room to celebrate the installation of new Knights and Ladies of the Order of the Thistle, and garden parties are hosted. While she is in residence, the Scottish version of the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom is flown; at all other times the Royal Banner of Scotland is displayed. During the Queen's visits, the Royal Company of Archers form her ceremonial bodyguard. The Ceremony of the Keys, in which she is formally presented with the keys of Edinburgh by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, is held on her arrival. Prince Charles also stays at Holyroodhouse for one week a year, carrying out official duties.

In its role as the official residence of the monarch in Scotland, the Palace of Holyroodhouse has hosted a number of foreign visitors and dignitaries, including Harald V of Norway in 1994, Nelson Mandela in 1997, Vladimir Putin in 2003, and Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. A meeting of the European Council was held at the palace in December 1992 during the British presidency of the council. Queen Elizabeth II gave a dinner at Holyroodhouse for the Commonwealth heads of government in October 1997 during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse remains the property of the Crown. As the official royal residence in Scotland, building conservation and maintenance work on the Palace and Abbey falls to the Scottish Government and is delivered on their behalf by the Conservation Directorate of Historic Environment Scotland. Public access is managed by the Royal Collection Trust, with revenues used to support the work of the trust as custodians of the Royal Collection. In April 2016 it was announced that the Royal Collection Trust was to fund a £10m project in order to redevelop the outside space at Holyroodhouse, including Holyrood Abbey, the grounds and forecourt. The project was completed at the end of 2018 in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland, and included the restoration of the Abbey Strand buildings which now house a learning centre.

in progress

The unique blue tiles of Isfahan's Islamic buildings, and the city's majestic bridges, contrast perfectly with the hot, dry Iranian countryside around it, Isfahan is a sight you won't forget. Not only is the architecture superb and the climate pleasant, but there's a fairly relaxed atmosphere here, compared with many other Iranian towns. It's a city for walking, getting lost in the bazaar, walking in beautiful gardens and meeting people.

The famous half-rhyme Isfahan nesf-e-jahan (Esfahan is half the world) was coined in the 16th century to express the city's grandeur. There's so much to see that you'll probably have to ration your time and concentrate on must-sees such as the Imam Mosque, a magnificent building completely covered in Isfahan's trademark pale blue tiles; This mosque is situated to the south of Naqsh-e-Jahan sq. built in the reign of shah Abbas, tile work and architecture of this Mosque is amazingly superb. Its minarets Are 48 meters high. Naghsh-e-Jahan (world picture) Square, one of the largest town square in the world. The Chehel Sotun Museum & Palace, a marvellous 17th century pavilion and a great place for a picnic; this palace is another building dating back to the Safavid period, built amidst a vast garden covering an area of 67000 sq m. The building has a veranda with 18 pillars and a large pool in front of it. Being mirrored in the still water of the pool, the pillars create a beautiful view. The wall painting in the interior of the building is superlative in their kind.Ali Qapoo Palace Situated to the west of Naghsh-e-Jahan Sq. belongs to the Safavid period. It was used for the reception of the Ambassadors and envoys from other Countries. Ali Qapoo is a six-storied plasterwork and paintings of which are extremely impressive. and the Vank Cathedral, the historic focal point of the Armenian church in Iran. Taking tea in one of the teahouses under the bridges is also an essential part of the Isfahan experience.

Isfahan is about 400km (250ml) south of Tehran.

Sudbury Hall, was the country home of the Lords Vernon, containing 17th-century craftsmanship, featuring plasterwork, wood carvings and classical story-based murals.

The Museum of Childhood within the Hall is a delight for all ages with something for everyone. Watch your children discovering something new, or relive nostalgic memories by exploring the childhoods of times gone by.

The Parish Church of All Saints,which is adjacent to the house, was restored for the 6th Lord Vernon by George Devey.

It was used by the BBC to film "Pride & Prejudice".

Nostell Priory, not far from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, is a magnificent 18th century mansion built adjacent to the site of an Augustinian priory. Architect James Paine worked at Nostell for around 30 years, before Robert Adam was called in to add new wings and other works.

The Menagerie House, completed in 1765, has elaborate plasterwork suggesting it might have been intended for a summer house, but eventually was lived in by the keeper and his family, and later by a gardener. According to an estate plan it was surrounded by small enclosures perhaps for aviaries with later accounts showing it was home to lots of fairly common birds. The original part of the building is by James Paine, and the lower flanking wings were added in about 1776 by Robert Adam.

In 1154 Henry II granted land in the Forest of Arden to a group of Cistercians from Staffordshire. There are various traces remaining of the original Abbey buildings, most notably the 14th-century Gatehouse.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the estate was acquired by Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London in 1558. Charles I gave Leigh the barony for his offering hospitality when the gates of Coventry were closed to the king during the English Civil War. A house was built (which now forms the north and east wings of the present house) on the site of the monastic buildings. It was the home of the Leigh family from 1561 to 1990. In due course the Leigh family became the largest land owner in Warwickshire.

Between 1714 and 1726 a new palatial four-storey fifteen-bay wing was built to designs by architect Francis Smith of Warwick. The result was an impressive baroque West Wing, built of silver-coloured stone, which was fashionable at that time. The Abbey's remarkable feature is the Saloon, one of the great interiors of Georgian England. Andor Gomme referred to it as "almost the swansong of baroque figurative plasterwork in England,

From the view over the River Avon we can see some of the changes introduced by Humphry Repton. During his time he was well known for his works at several large country houses. In 1806 the estate passed to Rev. Thomas Leigh. He came to view his inheritance, bringing with him his cousin Cassandra Austen and her two daughters, Cassandra and Jane. Jane Austen writes of Repton as the gardener making changes to the grounds at the fictional Sotherton Court in Mansfield Park. When he undertook the works at Stoneleigh, he hoped to create an arcade on the side of the house overlooking the river. That never came to fruition, however he did redirect the River Avon and flood a section of the river to create a mirror lake. When viewed from a raised platform across the river, the house is perfectly reflected in the surface of the water.

The Mosque at Ibrahim Rauza

This is the mosque that stands opposite the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah at Bijapur.

The overall conceptual design of the whole edifice was that of a garden retreat within which a tomb and a mosque are located in a square enclosure.

The two main buildings stand on a raised platform or a terrace. Between the two buildings is an empty ornamental pool and fountain, which you can see in the foreground here.

The fundamental concept in the design of the structures was to achieve geometrical symmetry

The facade of the mosque has five arches with elaborate plasterwork on the spandrels. Above them, a wide eave is supported by lotus brackets and just above the eave is a parapet comprising of an ornamental screen with turrets placed at regular intervals.

The corner minarets loom high in the blue skies and are divided into stories. The spherical dome is raised on a longish neck profusely decorated with large petals.

Dates

Taken on June 4, 2009 at 8.27AM IST (edit)

Posted to Flickr March 2, 2014 at 9.37PM IST (edit)

Exif data

Camera Nikon D300

Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)

Aperture f/14.0

Focal Length 12 mm

ISO Speed 200

Exposure Bias 0 EV

Flash No Flash

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Plas Mawr (English: Great Hall)[1] is an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy, North Wales, dating from the 16th century. The property was built by Robert Wynn, a member of the local gentry, following his marriage to his first wife, Dorothy Griffith. Plas Mawr occupied a plot of land off Conwy's High Street and was constructed in three phases between 1576 and 1585 at a total cost of around £800.[a] Wynn was known for his hospitality, and the household was supported by Wynn's local dairy herds, orchards and gardens. On his death he laid out complex instructions for dividing his estate; the resulting law-case took years to resolve, effectively preventing the redevelopment of the house and preserving it in its original condition.

After 1683 Plas Mawr passed into the hands of the Mostyn family and ceased to be used as a family home. It was rented out for various purposes during the 18th and 19th centuries, including for use as a school, cheap lodgings and finally as the headquarters of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. In the 20th century the house became increasingly well known for its preserved Elizabethan architecture, but the costs of maintenance grew considerably and its condition deteriorated. The Welsh heritage agency Cadw took over the management of the property in 1993 and carried out an extensive, 42-month-long restoration project at a total cost of £3.3 million. With many of its rooms redecorated to resemble their condition in 1665, and replanted Renaissance gardens, it is now run as a tourist attraction.

Architecturally, Plas Mawr is almost unchanged from the 16th century, and the historian Rick Turner considers the house to be "the finest surviving town house of the Elizabethan era".[1] Plas Mawr shows a blend of continental Renaissance and local North Wales influences, with an innovative floor-plan and architectural detailing. The house still retains much of its original plasterwork, which incorporates symbols, badges and heraldry, which the historian Peter Smith has described as "the most perfect and the most complete memorial to Elizabethan Wales."[3] The architecture of the house influenced other contemporary projects in North Wales, and was later copied during the 19th and 20th centuries in buildings around the town of Conwy, including the local police station and nearby hotel.

Excerpt from historicplaces.ca:

Description of Historic Place

The four-hectare property at 88 Fennell Avenue West, known as Auchmar, is situated on West 5th Street at Fennell Avenue in the City of Hamilton. The two-storey, stuccoed brick manor house was designed in the Gothic Revival style and was completed in 1855.

The exterior and interior portions of the 'Manor House' as well as exteriors of a carriage house and other historic structures and improvements are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement. The property is also designated by the City of Hamilton under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law No. 2000-37). The property is owned by the City of Hamilton.

Heritage Value

Located at the north-east corner of Fennel Avenue and West 5th Street, the four-hectare walled property exemplifies the Picturesque movement of design with the architecture and landscape forming a coherent whole. The property's placement atop the escarpment, the informal arrangement of plantings, and vestiges of a long, tree lined driveway contribute to this Picturesque character. Contributing to the context of the property are limestone structures and improvements such as a carriage house, a dovecote with lancet windows, and a high, buttressed wall enclosing parts of the property and garden. Originally the property was part of Buchanan's larger 35-hectare estate, known as Claremont Park, and was accessed off Claremont Avenue at the brow of the escarpment, marked by an extant gatehouse.

Auchmar was the estate of Isaac Buchanan (1810-1883), a wealthy, Scottish born merchant, civic leader and leading political figure in Canada West. Buchanan immigrated to Montreal in 1830 as a partner in the Glasgow based, dry goods firm of William Guild Jr. and Co. By 1832 he had become the head of the firm's Toronto operations, developing it into the largest wholesaler in the city. Buchanan gained his greatest corporate prominence however, as a partner in Buchanan, Harris and Co., a Hamilton based wholesale company formed in 1840 that became one of the largest and most profitable of its type in Upper and Lower Canada. In addition to Buchanan's business interests, he was deeply involved in provincial politics, serving from 1841-43 as the Toronto representative in the first Legislative Assembly of the newly formed Province of Canada.

After permanently moving to Hamilton in 1851, Buchanan served in the Assembly as a representative for Hamilton from 1857-1865. In 1864 Buchanan became aligned with the Conservative government and served as the President of the Executive Council in the short-lived Macdonald-Tache administration. Additionally, Buchanan was instrumental in forming the Hamilton Board of Trade (1845), the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (1862), and was a strong lifelong patron to a multitude of Presbyterian causes. As a promoter of Hamilton's commercial future, Buchanan was instrumental in bringing the Great Western Railway to Hamilton in 1854. Buchanan is also remembered as an abolitionist, offering his estate to be used for Black Canadian's Emancipation Day celebrations as early as 1859. During World War II Auchmar served as a convalescent home for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The property was named by Buchanan after the family estate in Scotland, bordering Loch Lomond.

Auchmar is one of Hamilton's most impressive 19th century estates and it exemplifies Gothic Revival style architecture. The focal point of the property is the 'Manor House', a long, 'H' shaped villa completed in 1855. Like the home of a Scottish laird, which Buchanan may have hoped to emulate, the house features a rough-cast stucco finish, clustered chimneys, and various Gothic details such as pointed arch windows and label mouldings. Originally, long verandas lined the central portion of the house integrating the outdoors with the residence and aligning the design with the Picturesque movement. The interior is similarly styled in the Gothic taste with the ballroom displaying a highly decorative, plaster, strap work ceiling and corridors featuring vaulted ceilings with plaster ribbing. Interior woodwork repeats the Gothic motif with slender shafts and foliated plaster capitals lining the corridor walls and the pointed arch incorporated into doorway frames and door panels. The unique plan of the house features a narrow, 24-metre central corridor with stair halls at each end. A furnace, indoor lavatory and basement kitchen were also included in the original design, making the house distinctly modern for its amenities.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value include it's:

- elevated placement upon the plateau ('The Mountain') overlooking the City of Hamilton

- high, random-coursed limestone wall with buttresses and pointed arched openings encircling the property and garden

- entrance off Fennel Avenue with limestone gateposts and curved walls

- vestiges of the terraced landscaping on the north side of the manor house

- dovecote of limestone construction with lancet windows, pyramidal roof, and central, peaked gables

- 1 ½ -storey, limestone construction carriage house with cross gable roof

- vestiges of a pine tree-lined driveway

- vestiges of quince and apple orchards

- informal, picturesque arrangement of mature plantings.

- association with Isaac Buchanan, a leading Canadian merchant, political figure, and civic leader

- name, 'Auchmar' which links it to the ancestral, Scottish estate of the Buchanan family

- association with Hamilton's early African-Canadian community and their 'Emancipation Day' celebrations

- role as a World War II convalescence home for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

- centralized, two-storey, 'H' shaped plan with irregularities and rectangular eastern extension

- steeply pitched, complex roofline of cross gables and parallel gables incorporating gable roof dormers; flat roof (extension)

- numerous chimneys with clustered stacks and clay chimney pots

- decorated eaves with scroll cut brackets, drop finials, and elaborate bargeboards incorporating flowing tracery and cusp motifs

- masonry construction with stucco-clad finish and finely pointed stone window sills with margins

- square headed windows with double-hung, 6/6, wooden sashes and subtle flowing tracery along the top rail

- square headed windows with double-hung, 1/1, wooden sashes

- pointed windows with tracery filled transom lights

- bay windows with crenellated tops and multi-pane casement sashes

- multi-pane French windows

- label moulding over windows and doors

- main entrance with multi-pane sidelights; divided transom lights with quatrefoil tracery; a wooden door containing trefoil arch and quatrefoil motifs detailed panels; margined, stone steps with sides

- interior floor plan centred upon a long, narrow corridor with stair halls at each end

- two 'dog-leg' staircases comprised of oak balustrades with pointed arch cut-outs and tracery motif stair ends

- plastered ceilings, cornices and walls throughout

- vaulted hall and corridor ceilings

- ornamental plasterwork such as thick ribbing with bosses in the halls and corridors; the ribbed, strap work, plaster ballroom ceiling and hollow vignette frieze; foliated, shaft capitals (corridors); various ceiling medallions

- pine detailing such as the slender, engaged shafts lining the corridors, broad baseboards, doors, door and window casings and interior shutters

- repeated pointed arch motif as found in the doors panels, door case panels, shutter panels and doorway openings

- exposed second storey wood beams with beaded edges

- service rooms such as pantry and kitchen with tongue-and-groove wainscoting, glass-fronted cabinetry, washtubs

- bathroom finishes and fixtures such as glazed, porcelain wall tiles, porcelain tile flooring, claw-foot tubs, and marble vanities on nickel plated legs

- flagstone flooring in the basement rooms and basement corridor

- brick, wine cellar shelving in the basement

- decorative iron light fixtures.

Belton House in the Fog.

One of the finest 17th century country houses in Britain, Belton House epitomises the confidence and optimism of Restoration England. Elaborate plasterwork, intricate wood-carvings and glittering wall mirrors jostle with the stunning collection of paintings in the state rooms. Fine furniture, tapestries and silverware are also on show.

In the 19th century Belton enjoyed a second golden age under the charismatic 3rd Earl Brownlow, who had both house and garden restored to their Charles II splendour. Explore magnificent rooms displayed in 17th century, Regency, Victorian and 1930s style for an unforgettable experience of the past.

www.johnshortlandwriter.com

Sutton Scarsdale Hall is a Grade I listed ruined stately home in Sutton Scarsdale, just outside Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The existing structure is believed to be the fourth or fifth built on the site. In 1724, Nicholas Leke, 4th Earl of Scarsdale commissioned the building of a design by architect Francis Smith, to develop a Georgian mansion with gardens, using parts of the existing structure.

On a scale and quality with Chatsworth House, internally it featured both oak ornamental panels and stucco plasterwork by Italian craftsmen Francesco Vassalli, Giovanni Bagutti and the brothers Giuseppe and Adalberto Artari; carved Adamesque fireplaces in both marble and Blue John, and a carved mahogany staircase.

Richard Arkwright Junior (1755–1843) bought Sutton Scarsdale Hall in 1824. He was the son of Sir Richard Arkwright who invented the water frame and had a major involvement in the cotton industry.

After many years of neglect, in November 1919 the estate was bought by a group of local businessmen who asset-stripped the house; this went as far as removing the roof in 1920. Some parts of the building were shipped to the United States, where one room's oak panelling was bought by newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, who planned to use it at Hearst Castle. After many years in storage in New York City, the panelling was bought by Pall Mall films for use as a set in their various 1950s productions. Another set of panels are now resident in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In 1946, the estate was bought by Sir Osbert Sitwell of Renishaw Hall, with the intention of preserving the remaining shell as a ruin. The hall was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1951, and is now in the care of English Heritage.

2/52

First Explore of 2017! One from a local abandoned manor house I discovered towards the beginning of the year.

Catching up with Project 1/52 shots I haven't got round to posting! : )

Dunster Castle, Somerset.

Dramatically sited on a wooded hill, a castle has existed here since at least Norman times, with an impressive medieval gatehouse and ruined tower giving a reminder of its turbulent history. Home of the Luttrell family for more than 600 years, the present building was remodelled in 1868–72 by Antony Salvin. The fine oak staircase and plasterwork ceiling he adapted can still be seen. Visitors can relax on the sunny sheltered terrace, which is home to a variety of subtropical plants and the National Collection of Strawberry Trees. Magnificent views over the Bristol Channel and a pleasant walk beside the River Avill add to the ambience.

View On Black

ISFAHAN-in progress

The unique blue tiles of Isfahan's Islamic buildings, and the city's majestic bridges, contrast perfectly with the hot, dry Iranian countryside around it, Isfahan is a sight you won't forget. Not only is the architecture superb and the climate pleasant, but there's a fairly relaxed atmosphere here, compared with many other Iranian towns. It's a city for walking, getting lost in the bazaar, walking in beautiful gardens and meeting people.

The famous half-rhyme Isfahan nesf-e-jahan (Esfahan is half the world) was coined in the 16th century to express the city's grandeur. There's so much to see that you'll probably have to ration your time and concentrate on must-sees such as the Imam Mosque, a magnificent building completely covered in Isfahan's trademark pale blue tiles; This mosque is situated to the south of Naqsh-e-Jahan sq. built in the reign of shah Abbas, tile work and architecture of this Mosque is amazingly superb. Its minarets Are 48 meters high. Naghsh-e-Jahan (world picture) Square, one of the largest town square in the world. The Chehel Sotun Museum & Palace, a marvellous 17th century pavilion and a great place for a picnic; this palace is another building dating back to the Safavid period, built amidst a vast garden covering an area of 67000 sq m. The building has a veranda with 18 pillars and a large pool in front of it. Being mirrored in the still water of the pool, the pillars create a beautiful view. The wall painting in the interior of the building is superlative in their kind.Ali Qapoo Palace Situated to the west of Naghsh-e-Jahan Sq. belongs to the Safavid period. It was used for the reception of the Ambassadors and envoys from other Countries. Ali Qapoo is a six-storied plasterwork and paintings of which are extremely impressive. and the Vank Cathedral, the historic focal point of the Armenian church in Iran. Taking tea in one of the teahouses under the bridges is also an essential part of the Isfahan experience.

Isfahan is about 400km (250ml) south of Tehran.

Chatsworth - Grounds and Gardens.

The Hunting Tower.

Our incredible Hunting Tower stands on the escarpment 400 feet above Chatsworth House, on the edge of Stand Wood. This fascinating building was completed around 1582 for Bess of Hardwick, ancestress of the Dukes of Devonshire, to designs by the famous Elizabethan architect Robert Smythson.

More information can be found here:-

devonshirehotels.co.uk/boltholes/hunting-tower/

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The Tower stands on the escarpment 400 feet above Chatsworth House, on the edge of Stand Wood. There are panoramic views over Capability Brown's magnificent Park. This unique and fascinating building was completed c.1582 for Bess of Hardwick, ancestress of the Dukes of Devonshire, to designs by the famous Elizabethan architect Robert Smythson. Please note that while this cottage is child friendly, we recommend older children only due to the spiral staircase.

The sixteenth century hunting tower may have been a banqueting house or summerhouse and, as its name implies, it was also used by the ladies to watch the hounds working when hunting in the park below. In modern times it was lived in by members of the estate staff and most recently by the Duke's nephew.

After extensive repairs to the fabric of the building, completed in 2003, it was decided to let the Hunting Tower as a holiday home, giving visitors to Chatsworth an oppertunity to stay in this wonderful place. In 2006, a small stone outbuilding to the foot of the tower was converted to provide additional accomodation for larger groups wishing to stay in the Tower.

More information can be found here:-

www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/21575417?source_impression_id=p3_1...

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THE HUNTING TOWER

Heritage Category: Listed Building

Grade: II*

List Entry Number: 1372877

National Grid Reference: SK 26500 70628

Details

PARISH OF CHATSWORTH CHATSWORTH PARK SK 2670 6/86 12.7.67 The Hunting Tower II* Look-out or hunting tower, also known as The Stand. c1582, possibly by Robert Smythson. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. Lead roofs. Square in plan with circular angle turrets. Three storeys, the turrets rising to four storeys. Chamfered plinth. Moulded first and second floor sill bands and a pair of moulded bands defining the parapet. Moulded cornices to the turrets which have domed roofs. The corner turrets have paired cavetto moulded stone cross windows to first, second and third floor, except the south west turret which has them only to the top, as it contains the staircase, which is lit by two small square windows with recessed and chamfered surrounds. To the south a broad flight of nine stone steps leads up to the entrance which has flat arch, stop moulded surround and hoodmould. Half-glazed door. Cross window above and above again. To the north and east are three tiers of similar cross windows. Some plainly chamfered. To the west are two single light transomed windows with recessed and chamfered surrounds, to the first and second floors. In addition the north and west sides have a blind 2-light recessed and chamfered mullion window to the basement. To the east are steps down to a basement entrance. Small rectangular windows to the lower stages of the towers. All the windows have diamond leaded lights. Interior: Ashlar chimneypiece to the ground floor room may be C16. Similar but plainer one above and above again. Spiral stone staircase. The turrets have domed ceilings with moulded decorative plasterwork, probably by Abraham Smith. Sources: Mark Girouard Elizabethan Chatsworth. Country Life 22 November 1973, pp 1668-1672. The Gardens and Park are included on the Gardens Register at Grade I.

Listing NGR: SK2650070628

Sources

Books and journals

'Country Life' in 22 November, (1973), 1668-1672

Other

Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 10 Derbyshire,

historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1372877

When Robert Adam designed this room in the 1760s, it was intended to be the best drawing room. The ceiling plasterwork and wall decorations were completed by 1774, but the room remained unfinished.

Sir Roland Winn and Sabine had planned this as a grand 'withdrawing room' for guests to retreat after an evenings entertainment, but the project ground to a halt when he died in 1785. Only the ceiling and fireplace remain. Whilst Rowland's Nostell was shaped by new, British designers, tasted changed in the following century. Later generations were keen to promote their family history and good taste by filling rooms with a mix of prized inheritances and newly purchased artistic treasures. These included Continental antiques such as Flemish tapestries which give the room its name.

Of the four largest tapestries, three date from 1750, the other is a period replacement after the fourth in the set was damaged by fire in 1920.

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No Group Banners, thanks.

The challenge for Saturday 18th February is any building, in black & white. This should have been a cinch for me, living in a village of ‘mock Tudor’ houses and shops with lots of black painted plywood nailed to white plasterwork. However, two things set me back: none of the buildings I saw on my walkabout were particularly inspiring, and whenever I set out, camera in hand, the sky promptly lowered and it started to drizzle - not ideal conditions for taking photos. So I decided to put together a montage of today’s images, which if nothing else will give you a flavour of the neighbourhood, if somewhat skewed towards the picturesque rather than the utilitarian.

From top left going clockwise, you will see:

# Cherry Tree Cottage, probably one of the oldest buildings in the village, looks nice but needs so much work that apparently it’s virtually unsellable. The partly hidden wing on the right used to be the post office and village store.

# The Tudor Rose, in the course of major refurbishment. Since we’ve lived here this has been a Carvery, a Gastropub, a ‘dining experience’, and (I think) a Harvester - I remember it when it was a quite decent pub, years ago.

# The terrace of flint cottages by St Johns Church, still full of charm and character, but sadly any view of it slightly marred by the inevitable ‘bin blight’

# The southern half of the Tudor Parade, Old Coulsdon’s main shopping parade, including those essential features of a Tudor village in the 21st century, a Chippy and an Indian Restaurant.

I’m sure these images will trigger a few memories of the time he lived here for Flickr friend Philip, now living in the West of England!

😃 Thank you very much for any 💬s or ⭐️s you might like to give; they’re greatly appreciated!

The Queen's College Library

Although a library has existed since the college's foundation in 1340-1 the upper "baroque" library was built between 1692-5, it is considered by many to be one of the finest rooms in Oxford university. Some of the woodcarving is attributed to Thomas Minnand Son, whilst James Hands did most of the elaborate plaster-work on the ceiling. Originally there were intended to be painted panels but Thomas Roberts finished the room in 1756 with rococo plasterwork. There are stained glass portraits of Henry 1V, Charles II and Catherine of Braganza.

Canons Ashby House (previously known as Canons Ashby Hall) is a Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house located in the village of Canons Ashby, about 11 miles south of Daventry, Northamptonshire. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1981 when the house was close to collapse and the gardens had turned into a meadow.

The house had been the home of the Dryden family since its construction in the 16th century; the manor house was built in approximately 1550 with additions in the 1590s, in the 1630s and 1710. The interior of Canons Ashby House is noted for its Elizabethan wall paintings and its Jacobean plasterwork. It has remained essentially unchanged since 1710 and is presented as it was during the time of Sir Henry Edward Leigh Dryden (1818–1899), a Victorian antiquary with an interest in history.

The house sits in the midst of a formal garden with colourful herbaceous borders, an orchard featuring varieties of fruit trees from the 16th century, terraces, walls and gate piers from 1710. There is also the remains of a medieval priory church (from which the house gets its name).

No 11 Krāsotāju Street, is home to what is probably the most colourful rental and commercial building on the street. It was built by the tree merchant Hanna Shapiro, née Gelman, to a design approved by the architect Robert Donberg on 8 May 1912. The house has a neoclassical façade with a baroque high pediment crowned by a vase in the centre, heavy palm leaves, and a medallion in the upper part. In the centre of the pediment are three windows, below which are coloured tiles, four of which are blue, and one four-part with a design in the upper part. The pediment is also distinguished by a massive cornice with supports holding specially made canted water gutters. The façade plane is divided by two three-storey neoclassical bay windows, as well as rough and smooth plasterwork on the second, third, and fourth-floor levels. It is alternately separated by a decorative ornamental band. In the central part, a panno with a palm-leaf garland (festoon), suspended decorative cartouche-like bells, and two decorative shields (cartouche) on the sides. The bay windows of the house also have decorative panno with palm or acanthus leaf ornaments and three-part window frames, the so-called Italian-style windows, while the side windows have one-part panes which add light to the living room, creating a small conservatory. The portal with Doric columns and the Baroque, rather Moorish pediment are magnificent. The pediment features a composition of a girl and a boy in front of a basket of apples, placed on a special podium. A doll lies next to the girl. The boy has the classic nose and hair of an Israeli child.

8-second exposure, zoomed out around halfway through.

This was shot in the former Jesuit College in Jicin, later home to Russian occupying forces after 1968 and then trashed as they left in around 1990.

It's a fascinating place, full of Soviet graffiti and propaganda, padded doors, dry toilets, nesting pigeons and peeling plasterwork.

Derelict places are not generally my thing, but this place is an urbexer's dream.

Try on black

Ornate bronze & plasterwork Almohad-style door leading to a 12th century former mosque courtyard. Sevilla's walking tour.

The Pilgrim Herb Garden - Abbey House

Heritage Category: Listed Building

Grade: II*

List Entry Number: 1141178

Date first listed: 07-Aug-1952

Date of most recent amendment: 30-Oct-1997

Statutory Address: ABBEY HOUSE, 30, ANGEL HILL

National Grid Reference: TL8555064176

Details

TL8564SE 639-1/8/182 07/08/52

BURY ST EDMUNDS ANGEL HILL (East side) No.30 Abbey House (Formerly Listed as: ANGEL HILL (East side) No.30 Abbey Flats)

GV II*

House, now offices. Late C16 core to part; late C18 rear range; facade of c1820; mid-C19 additions to south side and part of rear. Front range timber-framed in part and rendered; slate roof with parapet and cornice.

EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics; cellar to part. Both front and rear parts of the house are built up against a section of the precinct wall of the former Abbey of St Edmund. 7 window range: small-paned sashes in deep reveals with eared and shouldered architraves and stone sills. Central doorway with panelled reveals and soffit and a 6-panel door within a projecting distyle Ionic porch. The C18 rear range is higher than the front and overlaps it on the north side. In random flint with an admixture of stone blocks and red brick; plaintiled mansard roof with a plain red brick parapet. 2 storeys and attics; gable-end chimney-stacks, one truncated. Venetian windows to the ground and 1st storeys face eastwards towards the Abbey Gardens; both have small-paned sash windows. 3 flat-headed dormers with sash windows in the lower slope of the roof. One 12-pane sash window in a flush cased frame in the north gable wall. Behind the south half of the front a 2-storey C19 extension in flint and red brick with a slate roof has segmental-arched window openings and C20 replacement windows. It links with an earlier C19 range, in flint and red brick with a hipped slate roof, which was formerly free-standing.

INTERIOR: the left half of the front range, including the doorway, has fragmentary remains of a jettied late C16 timber frame. Cellars (now used as offices) with original beam-and-joist ceilings. The walls were slightly raised and the roof replaced at a shallower pitch during extensive building work in the 1820s. A fine mid-to-late C18 stair, with enriched turned balusters and a plain handrail, rises from the rear of the central entrance hall. A similar stair, probably initially part of the main flight, is in the north-east corner of the front range. The C18 rear range was designed with impressive rooms on the ground and 1st storeys. The inside of the Venetian window is enriched with reeded Ionic pilasters and a moulded cornice above the lights; shutters with sunk panels. Moulded surrounds to the doorways and dentilled architraves; a heavy plaster modillion cornice to the ceiling. The walls have ornate plaster swags with bows, supported by lions' heads. A roundel containing a plaster head in profile is suspended from the swag over the rear door by a bow and cord. In the upper room later partitions until recently divided up the Venetian window and a low inserted ceiling cuts off the arch; some of the interior mouldings are missing and no ornamental plasterwork remains. The upper storeys of this rear range form a complex of small rooms and attics. The development of the building between c1770 and c1830 is shown in a series of C18 and early C19 prints and paintings of Bury St Edmunds. (BOE: Pevsner N: Radcliffe E: Suffolk: London: 1974-: 148).

Listing NGR: TL8555064176

Sources

Books and journals

Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Suffolk, (1974), 148

historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1141178

Boroujerdi Historical House, Kashan, Iran.

The house was built in 1857 by architect Ostad Ali Maryam, for the bride of Haji Mehdi Borujerdi, a wealthy merchant. The bride came from the affluent Tabatabaei family, for whom Ali Maryam had built the Tabatabaei House some years earlier. It consists of a rectangular beautiful courtyard, delightful wall paintings by the royal painter Kamal-ol-molk, and three 40 meter tall wind towers which help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. It has 3 entrances, and all the classic signatures of traditional Persian residential architecture, such as biruni and daruni (andarun). The house took eighteen years to build using 150 craftsmen. It has three entrances and all the classic signatures of Persian architecture. The main entrance is in the form of an octagonal vestibule with multilateral skylights in the ceiling. Near the entrance is a five-door chamber with intricate plasterwork. Walking through a narrow corridor, one reaches a vast rectangular courtyard that has a pool and is flanked by trees and flowerbeds. The house is famous for its unusual wind towers, which are made of stone, brick, sun-baked bricks and a composition of clay, straw and mortar. Three 40-meter-tall wind towers help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. Even the basements consistently benefit from the flow of cool air from the wind towers. Since exceptional attention has been paid to minute architectural details demanded by the geographical and climatic conditions of the area, the house has attracted considerable attention of architects as well as Iranian and foreign scientific and technical teams. While Boroujerdi House used to be a private home, it is now open to the public as a museum. The museum is divided into four sections, namely reception, ceremonies, residential halls and rooms.

Masjid-e Vakil / Vakil Mosque / Regent's Mosque - Shiraz, Iran

Vakil Mosque is situated west of the famous Vakil Bazaar. It was built in 1187 (AH) during Zand Dynasty. It covers an area of 8,660 square meters. On the two sides of the entrance gate there are magnificent tile-works and arches.

The left and right corridors of the entrance gate are connected to the main room. Alongside the altar there is a 14-step tall platform made of green marbles where the speaker has to climb a number of stairs to reach the top to address the audience. On the inscription of the entrance gate there are Quranic verses engraved in Sols and Nosakh scripts.

Its nocturnal area or Shabestan (night prayer hall) with an area of 2700 sq.m. contains 48 similar tall pillars of stone with a beautiful ceiling and a marble altar that is considered to be one of the master pieces of the Zandieh era.

The historic building was registered as national heritage about 76 years ago.

Vakil means regent which was the title used by Karim Khan the Zand ruler of Persia. Shiraz was the seat of Karim Khan’s government and he endowed many buildings, including this Mosque.

According to Fars Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department, the stones of the floor and tile-works were renovated, lighting system of the interior was improved, exterior of the nocturnal prayer rooms were renovated and the plasterworks were upgraded.

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Detail of Henry VIII's Tudor Rose in the ceiling at Hampton Court Palace.

February 2016

Plas Mawr (English: Great Hall)[1] is an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy, North Wales, dating from the 16th century. The property was built by Robert Wynn, a member of the local gentry, following his marriage to his first wife, Dorothy Griffith. Plas Mawr occupied a plot of land off Conwy's High Street and was constructed in three phases between 1576 and 1585 at a total cost of around £800.[a] Wynn was known for his hospitality, and the household was supported by Wynn's local dairy herds, orchards and gardens. On his death he laid out complex instructions for dividing his estate; the resulting law-case took years to resolve, effectively preventing the redevelopment of the house and preserving it in its original condition.

After 1683 Plas Mawr passed into the hands of the Mostyn family and ceased to be used as a family home. It was rented out for various purposes during the 18th and 19th centuries, including for use as a school, cheap lodgings and finally as the headquarters of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. In the 20th century the house became increasingly well known for its preserved Elizabethan architecture, but the costs of maintenance grew considerably and its condition deteriorated. The Welsh heritage agency Cadw took over the management of the property in 1993 and carried out an extensive, 42-month-long restoration project at a total cost of £3.3 million. With many of its rooms redecorated to resemble their condition in 1665, and replanted Renaissance gardens, it is now run as a tourist attraction.

Architecturally, Plas Mawr is almost unchanged from the 16th century, and the historian Rick Turner considers the house to be "the finest surviving town house of the Elizabethan era".[1] Plas Mawr shows a blend of continental Renaissance and local North Wales influences, with an innovative floor-plan and architectural detailing. The house still retains much of its original plasterwork, which incorporates symbols, badges and heraldry, which the historian Peter Smith has described as "the most perfect and the most complete memorial to Elizabethan Wales."[3] The architecture of the house influenced other contemporary projects in North Wales, and was later copied during the 19th and 20th centuries in buildings around the town of Conwy, including the local police station and nearby hotel.

Craigievar Castle in North East Scotland seems like a fairytale castle. It stands seven stories tall and inside it's such a maze of rooms linked by narrow spiral staircases that access is very limited - we had to wait nearly an hour to get in, and we were told they do not even accept tour buses.

Craigievar is an excellent example of the Scottish Barnial architecture, and originally had more elaborate defences including a walled courtyard with four round towers, of which only a small section remains today. Inside, the castle is renowned for its lavish plasterwork ceilings. No photography is allowed inside.

Craigievar was founded when the merchant William Forbes purchased an impoverished and only partially comlpeted structure on this site from the Mortimer family in 1610. Craigievar was completed in 1626 for the William Forbes, eventhough his fortunes were insufficient for the construction. It was in fact the Archbishop of Aberdeen, Alexander, brother of William who paid for the castle. As the seat of the Clan Sempill, the Forbes-Sempill Family resided at Craigievar until 1963, when the property was gifted to the National Trust for Scotland.

* This photo was posted Uncredited by 'Jock in da pool' in the www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=22235724&postco...

www.igs.ie/about/history

_X4A3170

Levens Hall is a manor house in the Kent valley, near Kendal, Cumbria, Northern England. The first house on the site was a pele tower built by the Redman family in around 1350. Much of the present building dates from the Elizabethan era, when the Bellingham family extended the house. The Bellinghams, who were responsible for the fine panelling and plasterwork in the main rooms, sold the house and estate in 1689 to Colonel James Grahme, or Graham, Keeper of the Privy Purse to King James II, who made a number of additions to the house in the late 17th century. His son Henry Graham was a knight of the shire for Westmorland.

Further additions were made in the early 19th century.

Levens is now owned by the Bagot family and is open to the public.

Circa 1891 - Queen Annes Almshouses in St John Street, Newport Pagnell Buckinghamshire 23Apr grade II listed.

The History for these Almshouse goes back a long way although the current building dates to 1891.

Info from Historic England.

Name: QUEEN ANNES ALMSHOUSES

Designation Type: Listing

Grade: II

List UID: 1380128

History: The almshouses were originally founded in 1287 as St John Hospital, and were re-founded in 1615 for elderly and poor persons of the town, by deed of a charter granted by James I, and which directed that the name be changed to Queen Anne's Hospital. It was rebuilt in 1825, and again in 1891 to the design of Ernest Taylor, a former assistant of E S Harris.

Five almshouses. 1891, by Ernest Taylor. Red brick in Flemish bond with close-studded timber-framing with plastered infill to 1st floor. Plain tile roof; brick chimneys. The building comprises a low single-storey wing containing Nos 34, 36, and 38, set back behind a wall on the street line; and a 2-storey cross-wing at left (south) end containing Nos 40 and 42. Near left end of single-storey range is entrance lobby with a battened door set in a secondary 2-centred arch. Four pairs of sash windows with wide boxes, and raised external architraves and cornice. Moulded sills. The upper sash of each window is subdivided into 8 panes. Between the 3rd and 4th pairs, a single sash window of similar design. One small dormer window against the cross wing. 3 tall corniced stacks.

The cross-wing has battered base and an end buttress. The upper floor is jettied, carried on timber brackets on stone corbels, and has a deep pulvinated fascia and moulded plasterwork in the lower panels of the timber framing and a four-light paned window. Above, a shallow jettied bressumer carries the studded gable end. Moulded bargeboards. A painted board applied to the lower panels of the upper floor reads, in dubious period English, AL YOV CHRISTIANS THAT HERE DOOE PAS / BY GIVE SOOME THING TO THESE POORE PEOPLE / THAT IN ST JOHN HOSPITAL DOETH LY. A D 1615. To either side, small slate panels set in the moulded plaster, record the foundations and the periods of rebuilding, and are signed by the Vicar and churchwardens, in 1891 by the master, the Rev C M Ottley and governors.: a continuous open raised cloister walk, with moulded timber handrail between turned newels with knob finials. Windows as before. Two doors. One flat-roofed dormer. Interior: The through-passage is arched at the back, and has on the left, the stair to No 42 on the first floor. Unmoulded 6-panelled doors to the ground floor, 4-panel door to the upper dwelling.

Kingston Lacy was built in 1663-5 for Sir Ralph Bankes by Sir Roger Pratt after the Bankes family’s main seat, Corfe Castle, was ruined during the Commonwealth. In 1835-40, the rising star of Victorian architecture, Sir Charles Barry - who also built the Houses of Parliament - encased the building in stone. The present house may prompt regret at the loss of one of the great Caroline country houses, but Barry’s Italianate palace has a power and grace all its own. The interiors were refitted to provide a suitably opulent setting for the outstanding collections of paintings and other works of art acquired by William John Bankes. The interiors are lavishly decorated and include the spectacular Spanish Room, with an early 17th-century Venetian ceiling and hangings of gilded leather; neo-Caroline ceiling plasterwork; oak and cedar panelling; and a coved and painted 18th-century saloon ceiling.

Falkland Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street, Falkland, Fife, Scotland. The structure, which has been converted for use as offices and as shops, is a Category A listed building.

The first municipal building in the town was an old tolbooth which dated back to the 17th century. By the late 18th century, it was in a dilapidated condition and the burgh leaders, who also had ambitions for a new school, decided to demolish the old tolbooth and to erect a new town hall, which would also accommodate the school, on the same site. The new building was designed by Thomas Barclay of Balbirnie in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1801.

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a square headed doorway enclosed by a round headed arch with voussoirs; there was a tri-partite mullioned window on the first floor and a pediment with the burgh coat of arms in the tympanum above. The outer bays were fenestrated by round headed sash windows on the ground floor and square headed sash windows on the first floor, and there were balustrades under each of the first-floor windows. The eastern elevation, facing onto Back Wynd, was designed in a similar style but, in the outer bays, the first-floor windows were blind, and, above the central pediment, there was a square tower which was surmounted by an octagonal belfry, a spire and a weather vane. Internally, the principal rooms were the classroom on the ground floor and the burgh council chamber on the first floor. The council chamber contained some fine decorative plasterwork. The bell, which had been cast by a Dutch foundryman, Michael Burgerhuys of Middelburg, in 1630 was recovered from the old tolbooth and a clock was designed and manufactured by James Ritchie & Son and installed in the tower in 1858.

The town clerk, Charles Gulland, and other council officers relocated to Bank House, on the opposite side of Back Wynd, in around 1900. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged North-East Fife District Council was formed in 1975. The first floor of the building was subsequently converted for commercial use and the ground floor, after being used as a post office, was converted for use as a shop.

In 2016, the town hall was used to depict the Inverness County Records Office when it appeared in the television series, Outlander. Info: Wikipedia

The Lion is a late 15th century hotel, which is protected by Grade I Listing.

The hotel, comprises of 3 buildings. Earliest building is late C15, altered early C19, the others late C18. Earliest building render over timber-frame with plain tiled roof, the others brick, roofs not visible behind parapets.

EXTERIOR: earliest building in the middle of the row: 3 storeys, 2-window range. Tripartite sashes with traceried glazing in brick lower storey are C20 insertions, echoing the design of the upper windows. First floor has projecting outer bays with traceried tripartite sashes linked by a balcony with paired cusped arches over it. Traceried glazing to horizontally sliding sashes in upper storey.

Main block to right built as hotel in later C18, possibly incorporating earlier structure. 4 storeys, 6-window range. Painted brick to ground floor, with central door with Doric columns carrying entablature which supports statue of lion, flanked by 12-pane sash windows. Carriage entry to right. Upper windows also 12-pane sashes with flat-arched gauged brick heads (6 panes to attic). Central windows have moulded stone architraves. Plain parapet eaves. Rear wing with bowed gable end and round-arched windows houses ball room and music room. Parapet has stone panel with mutilated coat of arms, and formerly supported a lion carved by John Nelson of Shrewsbury in 1777.

Lower block incorporated into hotel is c1800. 2 storeys, 4-window range. Painted brick to lower storey. Doorway to right in open pediment, and 3 round-arched windows with traceried glazing recessed in round-arched arcade. Upper windows are 12-pane sashes with flat-arched gauged brick heads. Moulded cornice to parapet eaves, gable end stacks.

INTERIOR: exposed framing visible in central section. Ball room in rear wing on ground floor has dado panelling and fine plasterwork panels between windows. Music room above has very fine and elaborate decorative scheme in the style of Adam, with low relief plaster swags and emblems of music in wall panels, plain dado and enriched frieze. Paired marble fireplaces. Balcony carried on polished marble columns, now partitioned below. Open hall in front block is an early C20 feature, perhaps based on original structure, though nothing survives. Wide segmentally-arched stone fireplace with quatrefoil timber panels in hood. Leaded lights with armorial stained glass panels. An historic inn, closely associated with the London - Holyhead mail coaches and with such persons as Dickens, De Quncey, Paganini and Jenny Lind.

Boroujerdi Historical House, Kashan, Iran.

The house was built in 1857 by architect Ostad Ali Maryam, for the bride of Haji Mehdi Borujerdi, a wealthy merchant. The bride came from the affluent Tabatabaei family, for whom Ali Maryam had built the Tabatabaei House some years earlier. It consists of a rectangular beautiful courtyard, delightful wall paintings by the royal painter Kamal-ol-molk, and three 40 meter tall wind towers which help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. It has 3 entrances, and all the classic signatures of traditional Persian residential architecture, such as biruni and daruni (andarun). The house took eighteen years to build using 150 craftsmen. It has three entrances and all the classic signatures of Persian architecture. The main entrance is in the form of an octagonal vestibule with multilateral skylights in the ceiling. Near the entrance is a five-door chamber with intricate plasterwork. Walking through a narrow corridor, one reaches a vast rectangular courtyard that has a pool and is flanked by trees and flowerbeds. The house is famous for its unusual wind towers, which are made of stone, brick, sun-baked bricks and a composition of clay, straw and mortar. Three 40-meter-tall wind towers help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. Even the basements consistently benefit from the flow of cool air from the wind towers. Since exceptional attention has been paid to minute architectural details demanded by the geographical and climatic conditions of the area, the house has attracted considerable attention of architects as well as Iranian and foreign scientific and technical teams. While Boroujerdi House used to be a private home, it is now open to the public as a museum. The museum is divided into four sections, namely reception, ceremonies, residential halls and rooms.