|^/"\^| Littlecote House |^/"\^|

18th July 2008 to 21st July 2008

LITTLECOTE HOUSE is a beautiful atmospheric medieval manor house in Hungerford and dates back to the building of the medieval house in 1290. The Darrell family added to it with the Tudor mansion in the mid 16th century. Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour at the house and they married in nearby Wulf Hall in 1536 on the day after the execution of Anne Boleyn; Jane's Grandmother being Elizabeth Darrell. Sir John Popham added the Elizabethan Mansion in 1589 and it remained in the family until 1929 when it was purchased by the Wills family. In 1985 it was purchased by the entrepreneur Peter de Savary and in 1996 Warner’s Holidays acquired it and now operate it as a country house hotel. I just got totally lost in time but I was very impressed that the Warner's Buildings are very "in keeping" with the house. There is so much history to the house that I had to go on the house tour to find out more. As it is fairly local to Avebury, West Kennet and Silbury and others and you can really get onto the "old Straight Track" mode! On Sunday there was 2 hours of jousting behind the house and after that take a trundle to the Orpheus Roman Mosaic! It just goes to show how the sacred landscape can interpret time when usually on a Monday you are sat there thinking "where did the weekend go?"

ORPHEUS MOSAIC at the Littlecote Roman Villa is a Roman winged corridor villa and associated religious complex at Littlecote Park. Farming huts were said to be constructed around AD70 and a Roman-style rectangular building fifty years later. The construction underwent a major rebuilding around AD 270. Around AD 360 the agricultural activity ended and the complex took a religious path. A large barn was converted into a courtyard and a very early Triconch hall was built alongside it was adjoing bath suite. On the floor was laid the now famous Orpheus mosaic, first discovered in 1727 by the steward of the Littlecote Park estate. The Orpheus mosaic not just containing Orpheus but Bacchus and Apollo – the hall being the pagan focus point of these two gods. Surrounding buildings were redeveloped for accommodation for the travelling pilgrims. The development is said to be associated with the pagan revival under Julian the Apostate 361-363. Many of the buildings fell into a derelict state at about AD 400, shortly after the Theodosian legislation against paganism.

THE KNIGHTS OF MERRIE ENGLAND! Briefly...... a martial competition between two horsemen who charged at each other with levelled lances in sets of three per weapon (lance to begin with) often as part of a tournament. In an attempt to unseat the other, when it extended to the battle axe and dagger or sword for prize money. Originating from France, it came to Europe in the 12th – 15th century. If you examine a lance you will see that is blunted but however many Knights lost their lives in Tournaments, such as Henry II of France. At the tournament that was attended by nobility ladies of the court would sponsor individual knights (Favours!) for whom jousting become a ritual of courtly love! As the colours of the pageantry is so beautiful and lively jousting represented chivalry, adorned with colourful flags waving in the wind. In the Middle Ages the sport was referred as "hastiludes". The first recorded tournament was in 1066 but was not popular until the 13th century and continued to be so until the 17th century. Today we are lucky to have such organisations that appear on a regular basis at Littlecote House ~ Geoff and Val Winships Merry England get the thumbs up from this “peasant”! Map Location: RG170SU

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Littlecote 28 2008-07-18 13:18:19	Littlecote 29 2008-07-18 13:19:44	Littlecote 3 2008-07-18 12:58:44	Littlecote 30 2008-07-18 13:21:13