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the heritage historian, London (2025)

09/08/2025

I Love a beautiful doorway, and the west door at Buckfast Abbey is definitely worth admiring 😍. The doorway features 3 orders of Zigzag, Billet and Chevron moulding. The beautiful Buckfast Abbey is a relatively modern construction on a site full of history. A Benedictine monastery was founded on the site (although actual spot uncertain) in 1018, some say by King C**t. In 1147, it converted to a Cistercian monastery, but unfortunately, its decline was hastened by the outbreak of the Black Death, leaving few people and monks to look after the buildings. The site was also plundered in 1539 during the dissolution when it was signed over to Henry VIII, and 1.5 tonnes of gold, silver, and other precious materials were taken to the Tower of London. The site was then gifted to individuals, and more in style country manors were built, leaving the original structure in ruins and later demolished. After being sold to be used for a religious institution again the current building on the site was constructed between 1907-1938, in a style reminiscent of Norman ecclesiastical structures it still functions as a Benedictine monastery.

The monks started making the infamous Buckfast wine in the 1890s, as a tonic wine so was seen to be medicinal. And yes, as people have asked me before, they do stock the drink in the gift shop 😉.

14/05/2025

Castle Drogo 50th anniversary exhibition is in full swing at the Castle. This year marks 50 years since the Castle was given to the Trust by the Drewe family and opened to the public. The display is full of nostalgia and even a replica of the cake, which marked the opening of the castle in 1975. Come on, admit it who enjoyed bouncing on their space hopper regardless of which decade it was? Great fun in the garden 😂🤣

#1975

09/05/2025

On visits to country houses, one outdoor space I love to see preserved are the stables. Once the busy bustling hub of life on the estates, providing a space of leisure and more importantly transport especially in the days before the first motor vehicles.

The stables and carriage museum at Arlington Court are a juxtaposition of old vs. new building (2003) to create a space in which the visitor can place themselves in the hub of activity. The stable block was designed by R.D Gould for Sir Bruce Chichester in 1864, arranged around a courtyard and on the site where stables would have been for the earlier tudor house. These stables could house 16 horses, with wealthy families owning different horses for different purposes like carriage driving and riding. Most stable yards were built around a quadrangle. However, these are located around two sides, leading to the idea that they were not completed. The modern carriage museum complements them perfectly, and the coach house where the family kept their carriages.

I love the harness room as you can imagine how beautifully adorned the horses looked with it all shined up and being attended to by the groom and stable boy. Travelling in style during the period...

13/01/2024

The Lusitania gold and silver pocket watches, a display in the Charlestown Shipwreck Treasure Museum, Cornwall. The watches were reclaimed from the wreck of RMS Lusitania. The Cunard liner sank 7th May 1915 and became a symbol of UK and USA protest to German submarine warfare. The ship was torpedoed off the coast of Southern Ireland, as she was returning to Liverpool from New York and remained afloat for less than 15 minutes (sank in 18 minutes) before sinking in 350ft of water. The UK government said that it was an unprecedented act of war against an unarmed merchant ship not carrying any war stores.

In recent years, there has been some evidence recovered that the Lusitania had been carrying ammunition in the cargo. Live amunition was recovered from the wreck by owner Greg Beamis' salvage team when they brought back 10 re*****on calibre 303 bullets to the surface, bullets that had been used by the British military in WW1. The cargo manifest states that 1248 cases of shrapnel shells were carried, 18 cases of fuses for artillery shells, which were incomplete shells but did contain a small amount of explosives. Fuelling this speculation, papers released in 1982 show the Ministry of Defence had warned a team of divers about possible explosives on the wreck for their own safety. The wreck and the watches deserve to be treated with respect as the incident resulted in the death of 1198 civilians, 94 of which were children, like so many innocent victims of war time.

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30/07/2023

Looking up at the roof of The Great Barn at Buckland Abbey you really appreciate the craftsmanship. The barn was constructed the same time as the monastery (13th century) and from its size and the structure of the abbey community, it was built for a productive farming community who were living and working the land. The scale of the barn is impressive and visualising the amount of things which would have been stored there brings the monastic community to life, from crops, honey, fruit, cheese, hay to fire wood by modern ideals it sounds the perfect self sufficient community, the idyllic dream almost. However, history tells us that this dream was halted when the Abbey was badly hit like other Monasteries were by the Balck Death sweeping through England. The plague meant that crops were left unharvested as there was a lack of labour force to do the harvesting and manual work. There was also a shift in the balance of the labour and structure within the Abbey itself. By 1461, only the main farm was worked by monks the others were leased out. Daily life in the Abbey had also changed to include richer foods, more home comforts and even the music had grown more complex in structure from the chants which had echoed around the walls.

29/07/2023

Spent some time in Wales this week and the castles didn't disappoint 😍. Will share some of the beautiful interiors and history when I've had chance to go through the many photos I have taken. This is the keep at Cardiff Castle and such a fascinating place, with history on display even dating back to the Romans.

29/07/2023

The impressive figure of Sir Francis Drake at Buckland Abbey, was actually found concealed in undergrowth in 1999, at Haldon Hill near Exeter. The Duke of Bedford originally commissioned renowned sculptor Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm RA, who was also sculptor to Queen Victoria to produce the bronze statues of Drake. Boehm had sculpted many public monuments including the Wellington memorial in Hyde Park. The model was made to be used as a cast for the bronze sculptures of Drake at Plymouth Hoe and Tavistock, his birthplace. The casting would have taken place at the Thames Ditton statue foundry, with this original test piece for the mould.
This figure is made from gypsum plaster and is nearly 3m tall, weighing over 1 tonne. To support it standing upright inside the legs and arms are iron reinforcement rods. Luckily it was saved and placed on display in the Abbey, Drake's home.

16/07/2023

One of the oldest domestic timber framed houses in Devon. This beautiful building in Exeter was built by a wealthy merchant in 1420. It is known as 'The house that moved' because in the 1960's it was actually under threat of being demolished to make way for the main bypass as part of the rebuilding and redevelopment post war in Exeter. Archaeologists, campaigners and historians fought for the survival of the building and were successful. However it meant moving the building 220 ft down the road out of the route of the planned bypass. The house was stripped down to its frame and the glass windows removed to protect them. 11 tonnes of strengthening timber was attached to the 10 tonne building and steel rails and wheels rolled it along the road to get the house moved. It took only 6 days to complete the project. Even though it is surrounded by historic architecture the house has become a symbol of survival and shows how heritage can be saved. The building was listed last minute in order to save it. The other photos in the post obviously aren't ones I took but show the amazing engineering move the house and there is a video of it on the BFI website.

16/07/2023

Have had issues with Facebook restrictions on liking too many comments etc so have been using Instagram for posts. However I intend to post back on here too again now, I've also just joined threads but no idea how that works yet 🤔😂. Incase anyone is on Instagram and wants to say hi mine is

16/07/2023

Is this painting cursed? An urban legend surrounding it has led some to believe it is.The oil painting Man Proposes, God Disposes by Edwin Landseer (1864) is in the collection displayed at Royal Holloway University in the picture gallery. The painting was inspired by the search for Franklin's lost expedition which disappeared in the Arctic after 1845, they had been in search of the North West passage a pass linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans which would have benefitted merchants speeding up the journey times. The expedition comprised of 129 men, 2 royal navy ships and supplies for 3 years. It was only later in 1854 when any trace of the expedition was found. This included human bones with signs of cannibalism, scandalising British polite society at the time. If you have seen the TV series 'The Terror' you will already be familiar with this story. The painting is full of symbolism, depicting 2 polar bears amongst the wreckage and human bones shows humanity defeated by nature and the crisis of British Imperialism in the middle of the 19th century. The legend of it being cursed arises from the painting being covered over at exam times as it was said that any student who sat their exams in front of the painting would fail. One student was so anxious about this it was covered over, so the practice was continued. This superstition then evolved amongst students and the tale was embellished to not only students failing exams from sitting in front of it but actually sadly taking their own lives, the stuff of urban legends or a horror film. I think though that the painting doesn't need an urban legend to make it fascinating or eerily beautiful.

06/05/2023

Thought apt today to post some photos of a past visit to Buckingham Palace, amazing architecture and collection there. Steeped in so much of British History. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

the heritage historian

09/08/2025

14/05/2025

09/05/2025

13/01/2024

30/07/2023

29/07/2023

29/07/2023

16/07/2023

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16/07/2023

06/05/2023

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