Wiltshire: Lacock

When I set off to visit Lacock Abbey (see yesterday), I had no idea the village of Lacock itself, also owned by the National Trust, would be so pretty. It's a sizeable place, though plagued - like Saltaire and so many of our beauty spots - with cars parked everywhere. These old streets weren't built with cars in mind and have few garages or off-road parking. I spent a while exploring. It was like wandering around a film set - and indeed, Lacock has featured in many films and TV series, notably 'Downton Abbey' and the BBC's versions of 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Cranford'.

Most of the existing buildings are 18th century or earlier, made of stone or half-timbered with stone roof tiles. The village is laid out in a grid of streets, as a planned medieval estate village. The village's wealth came from the wool trade and outwardly little has changed for 200 years. It is, however (like Saltaire) a living, breathing village. The NT rents the buildings to private tenants and there are shops, cafés, galleries, pubs and an interesting 14th century church, St Cyriac's.

There is a wonderful tithe barn and the old village lock-up (bottom) where they held people overnight for minor misdemeanours.

Wiltshire: Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey was founded in the early 13th century as an Augustinian nunnery. Thanks to Henry VIII (again!) when religious houses were dissolved in the 16th century, it fell into private hands and was converted to a house, belonging to Sir William Sharington. Later it became the home of the Talbot family, notably of William Henry Fox Talbot, a scientist and pioneer of photography (see yesterday). 

Since 1944 it has been in the care of the National Trust (I'm rocking that membership!) and is often used as a film location. In fact there were film vans outside when I was there. It is perhaps most famous for being in some of the Harry Potter movies.


There are attractive gardens and a very pretty tearoom in the 16th century stable courtyard.

The Great Hall (below), completed in 1755, is home to lots of statues, sculptures and gargoyles, some rather grotesque!

Wiltshire: A pilgrimage

At first glance you wouldn't realise the significance of this rather lovely oriel window... I have wanted to see it for many years though, in fact ever since I saw an exhibition on the history of photography at the Media Museum in Bradford. For this window was the subject of the earliest surviving photographic negative, made in 1835 by William Henry Fox Talbot. It is a window in Lacock Abbey (of which more tomorrow). Lacock was Fox Talbot's home. A scientist, polymath and inventor, he had long wanted to find a way to fix images on paper and through research and experimentation, he devised the calotype negative, using silver salted paper.  

Fox Talbot was certainly a pioneer in photographic history although there were other processes, notably the Daguerreotype developed at the same time in France, that also had a profound impact. Fox Talbot's work was the first to enable many prints to be made of the same image. Those Victorians... what a debt we owe them all.

It seemed only fitting that I should take a photograph of the window, in homage - and it is very pretty.

Wiltshire: Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Longbarrow

I also walked to Silbury Hill, which is not far from the Avebury stone circle and is quite astonishing. At around 4400 years old, it is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe, 30m high and 160m wide. It was built in stages, starting with a small mound of gravel that was added to over generations. No-one knows why it was built. Though it is equivalent to some of the Egyptian Pyramids in scale and the effort it took to build it, there is no evidence that it is a burial chamber or even intended as one. It's like a giant plum pudding plonked into the landscape! 

Nearby, however, there is a Neolithic burial chamber, the West Kennet Longbarrow, built 5650 years ago and used for around 1000 years. The remains of 46 people and various artefacts such as pottery, beads and stone tools have been found within the stone chambers that extend inside for just 13m; the rest of the 100m long barrow is solid chalk. The entrance is blocked by huge sarsen stones but the excavated area behind is accessible and absolutely awe-inspiring - not least because there was hardly another soul around! 

Wiltshire: Avebury Manor and village

This is Avebury Manor, the early 16th century manor house where the archaeologist Alexander Keiller lived. Like the nearby stone circles, it is also in the care of the National Trust. In 2011, the NT and the BBC collaborated on a TV series 'The Manor Reborn' (which I haven't seen) and the house was refurbished so that each room reflects a different period in its history, from the 16th to early 20th century. NT are good about allowing photos (no tripods or flash) but usually you aren't encouraged to finger the fabrics or sit on the chairs. In Avebury Manor, you're urged to make yourself right at home! Sit on the chairs, lie on the beds... Rather wonderful.

I particularly liked the 1930s style sitting room, really cosy. Cocktail, anyone?

There's an elegant Georgian dining room, with hand-painted Chinese wallpaper. Children were enjoying the 'exercise chair' which you can see at the back. It's a 'chamber horse' - a wooden chair with a seat mounted on leather bellows and metal springs. The idea is that you bounce up and down upon it for exercise! 

One of the bedrooms is fitted out in Tudor Style and there were some costumes displayed too.

The village of Avebury, which lies in and around the stone circles, is very pretty, with old cottages and houses, some of which are thatched.

The dovecote in the old farmyard dates back to the 1500s. It would have housed over 100 nesting pigeons, whose meat was an important part of the diet in those days. 

Wiltshire: Avebury

It was another hot and humid day but that didn't stop me having an amazing time wandering round Avebury; again, somewhere I've long wanted to visit. It is a Neolithic (New Stone Age) stone circle and henge, mind-bogglingly ancient. It is believed to be over 5000 years old, even older than Stonehenge. It is likely that it was built at various times in prehistory, probably as a religious or ceremonial site and is part of a much wider prehistoric landscape across the area. The henge is a large circular bank enclosing a deep ditch, three quarters of a mile in circumference. When newly dug, it would have been even deeper than it now appears, a circle of gleaming white chalk. Within it are three concentric stone circles. The stones are huge, and apparently only about half of each one is above the surface so they are twice as big as they appear. It is astonishing that the ditches were dug and the stones quarried, moved and placed upright by our ancient ancestors, using only bone, deer antlers and stone and without the benefit of metal or more modern tools.

There is plenty of interesting information about its origins and archeology online, for example please see HERE. I also happened to watch, recently, a repeat of Episode 1 of BBC 2's 'Sacred Wonders of Britain', presented by Neil Oliver, which included quite a lot about Avebury, very interesting.

By the Iron Age, the site appears to have lost its original significance and when England was converted to a Christian country, by the early 1300s, the site became associated with the devil. Many of the stones were systematically toppled and buried, until someone was crushed and killed and the destruction was halted. A village grew up, partly within the stone circle. Further destruction happened in the 17th and 18th century and, although some attempts were made to document the site, it was not until an archaeologist Alexander Keiller (whose family made its fortune from marmalade!) purchased the entire site in the 1930s, that it was saved and detailed research and some reconstruction was carried out.

Now owned and managed by the National Trust, Avebury is a designated World Heritage Site. As well as ordinary visitors like me it attracts pagans and New Age types, who believe it retains spiritual significance. There were several people lying with their feet on the stones, presumably 'feeling the vibes', some ribbons and trinkets attached to the trees and bushes and a costumed person of indeterminate gender, engaging visitors in conversation. I doubt, somehow, that they were employed by the NT!

I found it all absolutely fascinating. There is a good visitor centre with some information. I came to realise that the wider landscape was worth exploring too, so I had a good walk away from the site along West Kennet Avenue, a double line of standing stones that leads ultimately to the Sanctuary, another site where concentric circles of stone and wooden posts have been discovered.

Wiltshire: Stourhead

Next stop on my 'grand tour' was the National Trust gardens at Stourhead. It's long been on my bucket list to see THE view (above), which is one of the most famous of all English garden views, looking across the Palladian Bridge to the Pantheon. There is a Palladian style house (below), built in the early 1700s, somewhat underwhelming when set against some of the splendid mansions England has to offer, though with many interesting objects inside, collected by the Hoare family on 'Grand Tours' of Europe.

It is really the gardens people come to see. Described as 'a living work of art' in the 1740s, they are designed as a meandering promenade around a huge man-made lake, with an amazing collection of trees and shrubs, wonderful vistas, classical temples and follies providing focal points. They were envisioned by Henry 'the Magnificent' Hoare, an 18th century 'gentleman gardener' and his architect Henry Flitcroft, who wanted to create a landscape in a grand style and with personal meaning.

The Temple of Apollo, prominently sited on a hill, provides a focal point, as does the Pantheon by the lakeside. Both are full of classical statuary.

Above, the Gothic Cottage, a little thatched-roofed building that may have been a gardener's cottage and later was used for picnics. It has a fireplace inside. Below, another view of the Pantheon, inspired by the Pantheon in Rome and filled with statues of classical deities, including the goddess Isis (see below right).

The statue above left is in the fanciful 'Grotto', a domed, pebble-lined chamber. It depicts the River God; out of his urn flows the source of the River Stour.

I enjoyed my visit and also enjoyed exploring the little hamlet of Stourton that lies within the Stourhead estate. It has a very pretty parish church, Grade 1 listed, with monuments inside to the Hoare family. It was a shame though that two months of dry weather had left the garden parched, with little colour and a film of algae covering much of the lake. It was a hot, heavy, overcast day too, so I'm a bit disappointed in my photos. I imagine it all looks stunning in autumn.