August 2023 Part Four - A famous Abbey & a ruined castle

As you can probably tell, I'm a bit of a novice with my pictures, and that's just the ones you see! You don't see how many I take that are skew-whiff, blurry or with fingers over the lens. But I do try my best to take a good picture. And where better to visit, than the place where one of the world's first photographs was taken, Lacock Abbey.

The ornate & welcoming entrance gate 

If you think you are recognising some of the following pictures, it will be because you've seen them before. Lacock Abbey has been used as a filming location many times, such as for the Harry Potter & The Other Boleyn Girl, as well as for TV shows like Pride & Prejudice, all of whom use the abbey's fantastic architecture & historic feel.

The Abbey began life in 1232, when it was founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury who later joined the Abbey as an Abbess. The Abbey earned a fair income, thanks due to it's monopoly on the wool trade in it's lands, but at times was exempted from taxes due to pleas of poverty. Perhaps more interestingly, there appears to have not been any notable scandals at the Abbey, something rather unusual for the time.

The Abbey was suppressed in 1539, and managed to survive relatively unscathed. The lead was stripped from the roof, and the Abbey church demolished, but the rest of it, particularly the cloister and adjoining buildings have survived relatively unscathed.

The Chapter House is one of the few in Britain unchanged from the buildings time as an Abbey, and is a fantastic example of Monastic design and function. In particularly the delicate ribs and tiled floors are worth paying attention to.

More views of the details of the cloister, with it's beautiful vaulting, and you can see this end where it was bricked up to fit the kitchens in. The cloister is beautifully light, with the sun streaming in through the windows and arches.

Another of the spacious room that the cloister led to, although it had long been used as a storeroom after the dissolution. When the Abbey was turned into a home for Sir William Sharrington, the cloisters were used for the servants and preparation areas, while the upstairs was turned into the comfortable and stately home.

A view across the cloister from one side to the other. You can imagine how peaceful it would have been here for the nuns, and what an inspiring place to spend your religious life.

Upstairs is very different, but no less appealing. It's full of period furniture and artwork, and unlike some other properties, it doesn't have a staged feel to it. It's almost like the family have just popped out and let you look around while they're gone for the afternoon.

And here, is where history happened, and is still visible to us today. This is one of the earliest photographs taken still in existence from 1835, and it's of the window in Lacock Abbey. It apparently took many hours, possibly all day of exposure to make the picture. Excuse my bad explanation, but the picture is actually a negative. The paper darkened where it received the most light during the exposure time, and it was then copied into a positive form, hence the picture above. It's incredible interesting to read, even if I don't fully understand it all! But what wasn't lost on me, was the fact that this is one of the oldest pictures in existence, and mine was the newest, at least for a fraction of second as James took a picture too.

William Fox Talbot created the process by soaking paper in a solution of chemicals, and by practicing with this window at Lacock Abbey where he lived. He was one of the earliest pioneers of photography, although not the first. I think we tend to forget that at one point, this was cutting edge technology, and the concept of taking a picture was still very novel and new. Now we are so used to just picking up our phones or cameras and snapping a picture instantly. Imagine if we all had to still soak paper and wait hours for the picture to develop. There would be very long queues everywhere! 

I absolutely adored the dining room, the mixture of the soft green walls with the white classical plasterwork and detailing was incredible. They seemed to contrast so beautifully, I would have loved to have sat and had dinner there. Not that I'm posh enough to ever be invited there to start with!

A view of the grand hall, with it's decorated ceiling and statues on the walls. It was wonderfully light and airy, quite different to the often dark wooden panelling you get in a great hall.

And here's a view of the back of Lacock Abbey, note the funky designs of the chimneys! There's also a fun little museum about the history of photography in the entrance hut, it's worth checking out. The Abbey is run by the National Trust, and tickets start at £21 for adults. Just be mindful, the rooms of the Abbey are only open in the summer. But it's a glorious place to visit, and one I would highly recommend. You can find out more about it here nationaltrust.org.uk/lacock

We came out the Abbey, and had a little wander around the village only a minutes walk down the road. There's not much to do there, but it's nice enough to wander around. We then grabbed a sunday roast at the George Inn, and I enjoyed a nice cold pint of fruit cider. Perfection! 

A view of the earthworks at the castle, showing how deep some of them still are.

Once we were fed and watered, we headed back home, but stopped off at Ludgershall Castle. The castle, which construction was possibly on top of a small iron age fort, became a favoured hunting lodge for Henry the Third. He visited frequently, and under him the castle grew in size and importance. However, I couldn't find much more about the castle, which seems to have been abandoned and possibly ruined by 1540. Much of the stone of the castle had been used to build the village & farmhouse's nearby. But you get an idea of the structure when you see the defence earthworks and ditches around the ruins as you first arrive.

You can see here the remains of the tower, as well as the remains of a fireplace with it's brick outline. The site is free to visit and open in daylight hours, and is looked after by English Heritage. There's nothing here that makes it a must see, but it is nice to tick off another castle! And it certainly was nice to break up the journey home and stretch the legs a bit.

Interestingly, Ludgershall retained the right to elect two MP's to parliament, something that had been created when the castle had been a kings favourite. But by 1832, political views on rotten boroughs had changed, and it was abolished, along with the infamous Old Sarum borough a few miles away, who could also elect two MP's to parliament, despite only having seven voters from 3 houses! This was compared to Manchester, who could not elect any, despite having a population of 140,000!

Thank god for reforms, and thankfully our political system now isn't nearly as crooked as it was then...