On an April Saturday recently, I visited the National Trust property Shute Barton. It's only open for visitors a few times a year so I joined a tour to explore this site. It dates back to 1380 when it was originally built as a single dining hall with a massive fire place - apparently, the largest medieval fireplace in the UK. It probably never had just one fire, but hosted a few smaller ones.
It was an interesting tour hearing about all the modifications over the centuries. At one stage it was one of the largest unfortified manor houses in England - but it was part dismantled in the 18th century to build the new Shute house.
The gatehouse was designed by Sir William Pole in 1587. The side arms were added by the Victorians quite a bit later.
Was most interested to see this tapestry, relocated from Antony House, which the Carew Pole family also owned (left image). It's very similar to the one JC has in his dining room which his Mum sewed (right) - same lady, a unicorn, a lion same trees, same flags etc.
After the tour I popped into Shute church for a cup of tea. Also bagged the benchmark ;-)
As Axminster was just around the corner, I decided to explore. Turns out it wasn't as big as I thought, but it had a great coffee shop, interesting buildings and, of course, the Minster of Ax. I think the benchmark in the stonework has eroded and all you can now see is the nail.
I wandered down to see the River Axe which wasn't as eye catching as the interesting old building next to it. And somewhen during my explorations I found a concrete cow and herder which Google informs me are Bella and Farmer Fred.
No comments:
Post a Comment