Mary Ryllis Clark
Mary Ryllis Clark
One of the reasons we love going to the UK is its glorious historic buildings. Some of them centuries old, they can be found across the country in towns, villages or on their own estates, all different, all full of stories and all, at least for those travelling on a budget, expensive to enter. Entry fees vary and can cost several pounds.
Many of these fine houses are either owned or managed by the National Trust. The good news is that the Australian National Trust has reciprocal rights with the National Trusts in Britain. Visitors from the UK to Australia gain admittance to all National Trust properties here for nothing on presentation of the membership card – and vice versa: Australian National Trust members gain free admittance to National Trust properties in the UK by merely showing their membership cards.
The National Trust in Britain, as in Australia, is an independent organisation. The government owned English Heritage also opens several hundred historic buildings to the public. Entry fees apply unless you are a dedicated historic house visitor and buy a twelve month membership.
An alternative to joining the National Trust is to buy a Heritage Pass (from $85) from the British Tourist Authority. This gives free entry to 584 heritage attractions in Britain.
Powis Castle
Powis Castle is a sumptuous feast of a building situated on a wooded hillside near Welshpool in mid Wales. Its glorious gardens fall away from the castle in terraces of formal paths, ornamental trees and borders. Its earliest buildings go back to the 13th century.
From its original function as a fortress for the princes of Powys, the castle was transformed over the centuries into a palatial residence. It was owned by the Herbert family from 1587 until 1952 when George Herbert, Fourth Earl of Powis, bequeathed it to the National Trust.
The Herberts were great collectors. Every panelled room, hall, corridor, nook and cranny is filled with their magnificent paintings, tapestries, priceless ornaments and fine furniture. Family treasures include the rosary beads Mary, Queen of Scots gave to Sir William Herbert before her cousin Elizabeth I cut off her head and the exotic tent used by Clive of India in the late 18th century. Clive’s eldest son Edward married Lady Henrietta Herbert in 1784, bringing the Clive fortune and Clive collection of paintings, furniture and Indian memorabilia to Powis.
Baddesley Clinton
The beauty of this medieval manor house in Warwickshire is reflected in the still waters of its encircling moat. A working farm and home of the Ferrers family for 500 years, the estate includes a series of red brick outbuildings around cobbled courtyards, an exquisite walled garden, fish-pools, lakeside walk, wildflower meadow and nut grove.
The de Clinton family dug the moat in the 13th century but most of the house as it stands today was built by John Broome, a wealthy lawyer from Warwick, who bought the property in 1438. His granddaughter and heir married Sir Nicholas Ferrers in 1517. Fortunately for posterity, the Ferrers were never wealthy enough in later centuries to make major changes so the house remains essentially medieval. It was bought by the British government from Thomas Weaving Ferrers-Walker in 1980 and handed to the National Trust for permanent preservation.
The interior of the house is a maze of small (by stately home standards) rooms, many with panelled walls and stained glass windows. Much of the furniture is English oak dating from the 17th century.
Of special interest at Baddesley Clinton are the hiding places for Jesuit priests ingeniously installed in the 16th century at the time of Queen Elizabeth I when it was a crime to be a Catholic and priests were tortured and put to death.
Llanerchaeron
To visit Llanerchaeron in the valley of the River Aeron in Wales is to walk into the world of Jane Austin. It is rare to find an 18th century estate so intact. Designed by renowned English architect John Nash for Colonel William Lewis, it was intended as a model, self-sufficient farm complex.
Nash was heavily influenced by friends in the Picturesque movement and it shows. The estate is overpoweringly beautiful. The house, farm cottages, walled gardens, outbuildings, pleasure walks and woodlands complement each other to perfection, all dating from 20 years either side of 1800. They are today much as they have always been.
The charm of Llanerchaeron lies in the layout of the thousand acre estate and Nash’s eye for detail. The main house, for example, is small and compact with radial fluted-head windows and an elegant Doric porch. One can imagine the family issuing forth on a Sunday morning to walk across the field to nearby St Non’s Church.
Ten generations of Lewises lived at Llanerchaeron until Mr J.P. Ponsonby Lewes (the spelling of the name changed at one point) left the entire, but sadly run down, estate to the National Trust. It is unusual for the Trust to accept such a gift without sufficient money attached for restoration and maintenance. Llanerchaeron is such a treasure that the Trust accepted it and is slowly restoring the house, using the process as a resource for training in rural and building conservation skills.
Kenilworth Castle
Gaunt red sandstone ruins rising dramatically from green, neatly trimmed lawns are all that is left of Kenilworth Castle. Immortalised in Sir Walter Scott’s famous novel, Kenilwortth, this was once the stronghold of English kings and lords.
The original castle was built in about 1130 by Geoffrey de Clinton. Others added to it over the years. In the 16th century Queen Elizabeth I gave it to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who built special state rooms for her visit in July 1575. During the English Civil War, Kenilworth was held by royalists until taken by parliamentary troups in 1649. Much of the castle was demolished to prevent the royalists taking it back. The estate passed through various hands in subsequent years and was given to the people of Kenilworth by Cecil Davenport Sidley in 1962 and is managed by English Heritage.
The gatehouse, massive keep towers and soaring walls of the Great Hall are enough to fuel the imagination and ?see’ Kenilworth not only as a powerful fortress but a fairytale castle where the Queen and her court watched jousting tournaments and feasted for days.
Kenilworth Castle is located a short walk from the 13th century Church of St Nicholas. The surrounding Abbey Fields contain the remains of a 12th century abbey. Kenilworth Historical Society runs a small museum in the restored 14th century Abbey Barn.
Fact File
- Contact: the Australian National Trusts on 1800 246 766 for membership information.
For details of all National Trust Properties in the UK, www.nationaltrust.org.uk, for general information on Britain, www.visitbritain.bta.org.au or call the British Tourist Authority on (02) 9377 4400.
Mary Ryllis Clark travelled to the UK Courtesy of Cathay Pacific & visited these properties on a Heritage Pass sponsored by the British Tourist Authority.
These articles and many
more, are in the current
(14th edition)
of Your Retirement, Your Life.
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