Posted by: Blog Administrator
on Sep 30, 2011
Tagged in:
turnpike ,
Tilshead ,
Shrewton ,
sheriff ,
Salisbury Plain ,
Rollestone ,
Priory ,
Orcheston ,
nuns ,
Netton ,
maidens ,
Maddington ,
Lacock Abbey ,
house platform ,
holloway ,
flood ,
Ela ,
Edward of Salisbury ,
Domesday Book ,
Countess of Salisbury ,
chapel ,
Bourton ,
Baptist ,
Amesbury ,
Abbey
The name Shrewton, the village set in the middle of Salisbury Plain, means the sheriff’s farm; the sheriff being Edward of Salisbury, Sheriff of Wiltshire who held the manor in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. But the present village of Shrewton is made up of seven medieval villages and hamlets, three of which were separate manors in 1086. One of these was Maddington – the maidens’ farm. The maidens were the nuns of Amesbury Abbey, later Priory, who held land here from Saxon times until the dissolution in 1539.
Posted by: Blog Administrator
on Apr 1, 2010
Tagged in:
United States ,
timber ,
tea-room ,
survey ,
stone mullioned windows ,
St Cyriac’s Church ,
smoke ,
rubblestone ,
parlour ,
pantry solar ,
old stable ,
Mrs Vaughan ,
Melksham from this spot ,
mediaeval ,
louvre ,
larder ,
Lacock ,
King John ,
Japan ,
hunting lodge ,
ghosts ,
forest ,
forays ,
Ela ,
Dorothy Treasure ,
Domesday ,
Documentary research ,
dining room ,
deer carcase ,
cruck hall ,
cross-frame ,
construction ,
Conqueror ,
buttery ,
building ,
Abbess ,
19th century ,
18th century ,
13th century
This week I was asked to look at King John’s hunting lodge in Lacock. As might be expected from its position next to St Cyriac’s Church this rather unprepossessing building, now a tea-room, was likely to be a building of some importance. Documentary research so far has been unsuccessful in establishing the early history, so it is not known for certain whether King John enjoyed forays into the forest of Melksham from this spot. Lacock was only a small settlement when the Conqueror took his Domesday survey. The village seen today is supposed to have been planted or planned by Ela, the first Abbess of Lacock, which itself was situated at this previous settlement.
The Hunting Lodge
The front of the lodge building is of earlier 18th century appearance in a comfortable, cottagey style, having a rubblestone construction with stone mullioned windows. The upper floor windows peep forwards from a deep tiled roof. The proprietor, Mrs Vaughan, lives in the Lodge and keeps her tea-room in the old stable at the rear. The stable itself is 19th century in date but the lodge holds all the early interest. A heavy timber cross-frame seen in the entrance hall is all that is left of 13th century two-storeyed timber building. One pointed-arched doorway of a group of 4 remains today. It must have once led into a now-vanished buttery or pantry, with the upper pair of doorways leading into bed-chambers or solar. The ground level has also since risen so one can imagine mediaeval ghosts passing through the doorway up to their knees in concrete, perhaps dragging a deer carcase into the larder.
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