Sir Walter Raleigh in Dorset Part 2: The Quiet Country Church
Lillington Church near Sherborne Dedicated to St Martin of Tours It was on the 1st November 1593 that Sir Walter Raleigh and his family would have ridden out from Old Sherborne Castle and travelled 3.5 miles east towards the small village of Lillington. As to why...
Sir Walter Raleigh in Dorset Part 1: The Rising Courtier at Old Sherborne Castle
Figure 1: Ruins of Old Sherborne Castle. It was the Civil War in the mid-17th century that led to its present state.[1] RALEIGH AT OLD SHERBORNE CASTLE Sir Walter Raleigh led an extraordinary life. In the Elizabethan court he rose to become one of the most...
The English Baroque Plasterwork Garland
Baroque architecture developed in Italy in the early-17th C and appeared in England during the 1660s. The Baroque garland was a motif that appeared as part of a scheme in English plasterwork. This post looks at three examples of plasterwork garlands in Baroque...
Artefacts of the Afterlife
This week I visited the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh. It was a beautifully curated exhibition. I was astounded to see that wooden objects survived from 3345 years ago in fantastic condition. I couldn’t help...
Funeral Hatchments at Crowcombe Church
I recently visited the Holy Ghost Parish Church at Crowcombe in The Quantock Hills, Somerset. The Carew Chapel contains some fine hatchments. Besides church architecture the fixtures and fixings provide us with clues to social history. Human social history evolves and...
Scagliola in Somerset: The Baroque Poulett Memorial at Hinton St George circa 1668
Tucked away in the Poulett chapel of St George’s Church, Hinton St George is one of the earliest works of scagliola in England. It is a remarkable work full of Baroque wonder. The Baroque in Europe arose circa 1600 and lasted until circa 1725. The memorial is for John...
Exploring Building History
Exploring Building History is a non-commercial site. It is my own personal musings on architectural history. There is wealth of built heritage in England, and as I explore and think about what I see, I post my reflections on this site.