Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Monday 20 October 2014

Return to Baddesley





I had a day out with a friend a few weeks ago and she wanted to go to Baddesley Clinton to see the dahlias. To be honest I've delayed writing a post on our trip as it wasn't long after my previous visit. I have kept dahlia and scarecrow images to a minimum this time!!

As mentioned before, Baddesley Clinton is a moated manor house built in the late 1500's by Henry Ferrers, a lawyer, diarist and antiquarian. Baddesley Clinton remained the home of the Ferrers family for 400 years. The family remained constant in their Catholic faith and were often short of funds, but the house was passed from father to son for 12 generations until being sold in the 1940's.

There were several people wandering around in period costume perhaps for the benefit of several school parties that were visiting.




We had a look round the house itself first of all. The house is a delight and I discover something new every time I walk round. Some parts were closed on the day we went for "deep cleaning" so I didn't get to see my favourite "Blue Lady" portrait but other rooms had been opened up. Not too many photos of the rooms - usual problem low light and no flash allowed equals ridiculously slow shutter speeds.




The tour used to begin in the Great Hall but it now starts in the Servants Quarters.


Baddesley Clinton has many examples of armorial glass and shields both in the House and Church. There are more than 170 Shields of Arms dating from the 11th to 20th centuries - these represent members and marriages of the Ferrers and Dering families. The Dering Crest contains The Black Horse of Dering with its gold mane and tail and dates back to Saxon times. Edward Dering commissioned this window with Black Horse crest for the new Servants Quarters.






This Crest contains the arms of Ferrers of Baddesley Clinton impaling (to place 2 coats of arms side by side on one single shield for husband and wife) the arms of Hampden.


The crest on the left representing the marriage of Williams of Ferrers, Earl of Derby, marrying Agnes Lady of Chartley, daughter of Hugh Keveliok, Earl of Chester. The arms of the Ferrers of Chartley are impaling the arms of Chester. The crest on the right marks the marriage of Ferrers Earl of Derby to Margaret Lady of Groby, daughter of Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester.


The crest in the middle shows the arms of Ferners of Chartley impaling the arms of Orpen. Marmion became "by right" Baron de Ferrers on the death of his uncle in 1855. The crest on the right combines the arms of Edward Heneage Dering and Georgiana Lady Chatterton in 1859.



It is believed that this shield in the Dining Room is commemorative of Henry Ferrers who died in 1526 and his wife Catherine.


This shield impales the arms of Henry Ferrers and those of his wife Catherine Hampden (mentioned above).



It starts to get confusing now this shows the arms of Hampden impaling the arms of Ferrers of Baddesley Clinton and are for Henry Hampden who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Ferrers.


I forgot to take a photo of the notes that accompanied this piece of glass but from memory it has been restored.


The Chapel - used by Jesuit priests. Next door is the Sacristry (too dark to get a photo) but there was a garderobe at the end of the room which became the escape route into the sewer below when Jesuit priests were in residence. The house also has a couple of priest holes.





There is an exhibition in the Parlour celebrating the artistic work of a group known as The Quartet. This consisted of Marmion Edward Ferrers, his wife Rebecca and their friends Lady Georgiana Chatterton and her second husband Edward Dering.



We had a very tasty soup for lunch - Celery, Apple and Stilton and then looked round the Walled Garden.





Just a few dahlias.......!










I just love the colour of this Michaelmas Daisy.




I think this is a Tapered Drone Fly again - they seem to crop up wherever I go!








Just one Scarecrow - one I missed last time - meet Dick Turnip.


Several of the apple trees had mistle-toe growing on them.


We didn't have time for tea and cake but I did bring a few scones home.




If I am honest they really were rather disappointing.

Of course, I couldn't come away without buying a couple of books!! I've used information from the Heraldry book for some of the comments on crests and shields above.



10 comments:

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

A wonderful place to visit with beautiful gardens. I loved the stain glass windows especially.

Ragged Robin said...

Margaret Adamson - Thanks Margaret. Stained Glass windows were a lot easier to get photos of than the room interiors :)

Anonymous said...

An interesting and enjoyable post with so much to look at and study. All that stained glass is simply stunning, and it was fascinating to study the heraldic arms on many of them. I also loved all the Dahlias !

Hope you are well and kindest regards :-)

PS. Apologies for my blogging absence lately but I have been moving house over the summer and things have been somewhat chaotic.

Ragged Robin said...

David Turner Hi David - Its so lovely to hear from you again and thanks so much for the lovely comment. No need to apologise for absence and I do hope you will be very happy in your new home.

I am so glad you have been in touch and I do hope you see this reply. I do have a link to your Railway blog but unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to comment or follow via Blogger. I just wondered if you knew if this was possible? Also I can't find my link to your Wildlife Blog so if you do see this I would be really grateful if you could remind me.

Thanks so much again and do hope things will be less chaotic for you soon. With Very Best wishes Caroline

Anonymous said...

Hi Caroline and thank you for the very kind words and comments :-)

I only have the one blog/website now and I have now adjusted the comment settings that anyone can comment without having to enter their email address. I don't think it is possible to comment via blogger unfortunately.

As regards following you can subscribe via email or what I used to do when I was on blogger is simply copy and paste a wordpress blog address into my blog list/reading list and that usually did the trick.

I am very sorry for these inconveniences but I promise I will not change or create any new blogs in the foreseeable future.

Many thanks again and kindest regards

Ragged Robin said...

Hi David - Thanks so much for getting back to me and I am so glad you saw my comment :)

I've now found The Moorlander and it looks as though I have succeeded in adding it to my blog list!!! - Thanks for your help. I've also added it to my favourites list just in case!!

I will have a go later at leaving a comment but if it doesn't work rest assured I will be reading your lovely blog and enjoying your stunning photos :) Have so missed you on Blogger.

No need to apologise re: new blogs - I think quite a few people have gone over to Wordpress - I have been tempted myself at times!!!

Take care and thanks again.

Best wishes Caroline

Anonymous said...

Whenever I read one of your house posts I always want to go National-Trusting :o)
Lovely shots of the roses and I always think you can't beat a homemade scone- even homemade ones you buy from someone else are never aa nice as those you make yourself x

Ragged Robin said...

Countryside Tales - Thank you :) Quite agree about homemade scones - by far the best and you can eat them when really fresh!! Could well be the reason why the ones from Baddesley were so disappointing!

SeagullSuzie said...

No time for tea and cake...! What a lovey place, it's being kept so well and the gardens look beautiful with the perfectly clipped topiary and grass squares, very neat indeed.

Ragged Robin said...

SeagullSuzie Thanks so much for the comment. I'll try and make time for tea and cake next time I visit :) Baddesley Clinton is one of my favourite NT places - there again they really are all so lovely :)