August 2020 - Part Two - A tithe barn and two ruined castles!

After the night in Shepton Mallet, we did a bit of exploring around the area, starting with the Tithe barn at Bradford-on-Avon. Doesn't everyone love a good Tithe barn?

Pretty impressive? You can see how Tithe barns were the architectural wonders for the rural areas of medieval England. They are truly impressive. It was built in the 1350's, and retains its original wooden roof (although I imagine the wooden tiles have been replaced over time). Its free to enter, and while you won't spend ages here, it's lovely to wander around in and enjoy the fact it feels much cooler inside!

We couldn't spend too long in Bradford-on-Avon, as we had timed entrance tickets to Farleigh Hungerford Castle. To be fair, English Heritage had been rather on the ball with their new system. You booked a time slot, and had your name ticked off a list when you arrived. It was a really efficient way of doing it, and meant none of their sites that we visited felt crowded or unsafe, while still allowing visitors to enjoy these historical spaces.

The corner tower of the castle. Starting in the 1370's, the castle slowly grew in size and grandeur, starting with the central mansion, with the towers being added later.

The Hungerford dynasty is known for its many incidents over time, from wives being locked in towers and poisoned, to frequent seizures of the castle and executions of lords for treason, to a woman murdering her husband and burning his body in the kitchen oven. Makes Game of Thrones sound tame! However, there were very few skirmishes or attacks on the castle, they only happened in the Civil War, the ruins of the castle is actually from being used as a quarry for local building projects after it was abandoned.

The chapel of St Leonard is perhaps the most fascinating part of the castle. There is this wonderful painting of a knight, estimated to have been done in the 1440's. According to the English Heritage website, the red background is actually the result of a conservation attempt in the 1930's, where the paintings were covered with hot wax to preserve them. The wax has since been removed, but the red stain remains. It's funny isn't it, how far conservation methods have changed and developed over the years. Makes you wonder in thirty years time if the conservation we are doing now will cause further problems. But we have to do something to preserve these incredible historical sites for as long as possible.

The crypt of the chapel also contains these lead coffins, which over time as the bodies have decayed the lead has settled. Both me and James thought that the ridge going across the centre coffin may be from where the arms are overlapped on the stomach area, and that's why that part of the coffin is higher than the rest. Either way, this was not something you see often, and it was fascinating! 

A view of the entrance gate to the castle. Tickets £7.50 for an adult, but the English Heritage website says booking in advance can save you 15%, now thats not to be sniffed at! As always, EH members get in for free. This was a really fun and interesting castle, well worth a visit! 

Our final stop before heading home was an accidental one, we were preparing to drive home, and James said about visiting Nunny. I thought that was some sort of euphemism. He said he'd been to the ruined castle there, and we might as well have a look. Why not, there's no such thing as too many ruined castles in a day!

Nunney castle was interesting, it's a complete shell bar a missing bit of wall as you enter. The castle was built in the 1370's, and survived intact until the English Civil war, when parts of it were damaged and destroyed. Today, the outer walls stand tall, but little else remains inside. It does have a fabulous moat though, home to many ducks who were happy to share some bird seed and admire the sight together.

As you can see, no much of the interior survives, but you get the idea of the height of this place, and how it may have looked in its heyday.

Love a curved window opening! Entry to the castle is free, although the interior is currently closed due to the moat bridge being damaged. Check EH's website for more details and to see when it reopens again Nunney Castle EH

Also worth noting, if you use the main car park in Nunny and walk down to the village, one side of the pavement is awash with blackberries, we picked loads on the way back once the bird feeding box was empty! Blackberry pie for us tomorrow!

I'm not going to lie, it was a busy day and I was feeling exhausted! But it was so nice to be able to explore and see new things again. Hopefully Covid dissipates and life can return to normal.