Littlecote House near Hungerford dates from the 13th century, and is effectively three houses rolled into one. The original medieval mansion (on the far left of the picture) was inhabited by the de Calstone family from around 1290. When William Darrell married Elizabeth de Calstone in 1415, he inherited the house. His family went on to build the adjoining Tudor mansion in the mid-16th century. Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour at the house; her grandmother was Elizabeth Darrell. The major Elizabethan brick extension was completed in 1592. Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, and William of Orange all stayed there.
In September 1943 the US 101st Airborne Division requisitioned part of the house, and it became home to regimental staff, regimental headquarters company, and headquarters company of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The house provided office space and sleeping quarters for 506th officers with the best rooms being allocated to Col. Robert F. Sink, Regimental Commander and Lt. Col. Charles H. Chase, his executive officer. The colonel used the library as his office, and a memorial plaque can now be found in this room. From airfields in this area, including Ramsbury just to the west of here, the Airborne Division took off during the night of 5 June 1944, the eve of D-Day, as part of the invasion of Normandy. Easy Company from this regiment have become famous through the book and TV mini-series "Band of Brothers". All other ranks lived in Nissen huts built alongside the main drive between the house and the east lodge.
Littlecote House is currently a hotel.
Tags: Wiltshire Littlecote House country houses country mansions architecture Elizabethan buildings Tudor buildings medieval buildings hotels
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Littlecote House near Hungerford dates from the 13th century, and is effectively three houses rolled into one. The original medieval mansion (on the left of the picture) was inhabited by the de Calstone family from around 1290. When William Darrell married Elizabeth de Calstone in 1415, he inherited the house. His family went on to build the adjoining Tudor mansion in the mid-16th century. Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour at the house; her grandmother was Elizabeth Darrell. The major Elizabethan brick extension was completed in 1592. Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, and William of Orange all stayed there.
In September 1943 the US 101st Airborne Division requisitioned part of the house, and it became home to regimental staff, regimental headquarters company, and headquarters company of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The house provided office space and sleeping quarters for 506th officers with the best rooms being allocated to Col. Robert F. Sink, Regimental Commander and Lt. Col. Charles H. Chase, his executive officer. The colonel used the library as his office, and a memorial plaque can now be found in this room. From airfields in this area, including Ramsbury just to the west of here, the Airborne Division took off during the night of 5 June 1944, the eve of D-Day, as part of the invasion of Normandy. Easy Company from this regiment have become famous through the book and TV mini-series "Band of Brothers". All other ranks lived in Nissen huts built alongside the main drive between the house and the east lodge.
Littlecote House is currently a hotel.
Tags: Wiltshire Littlecote House country house medieval house Tudor house Elizabethan house medieval architecture buildings hotels Hungerford country estate US 101st Airborne Division Band of Brothers USAAF
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Anne Hathaway's Cottage is a twelve-roomed farmhouse where the wife of William Shakespeare lived as a child in the village of Shottery, Warwickshire, about 1 mile west of Stratford-upon-Avon. Spacious, and with several bedrooms, it is now set in extensive gardens.
The earliest part of the house was built prior to the 15th century. The cottage was known as Newlands Farm in Shakespeare's day and had more than 90 acres (36 hectares) of land attached to it. As in many houses of the period, it has multiple chimneys to spread the heat evenly throughout the house during winter. The largest chimney was used for cooking. It also has visible timber framing, a trademark of vernacular Tudor style architecture.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Tags: Warwickshire William Shakespeare. medieval buildings Anne Hathaway's Cottage ColorPhotoAward
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My other half takes time out to read the official guide book to Canons Ashby House in Northamptonshire. St Mary's Church is in the background. Both the house and church are owned by the National Trust. The majority of the house (on the left) dates from the 16th century, though the earliest part is an L-shaped farmhouse dating from the 15th century. The church originally was part of an Augustinian Priory which was one of the first to be destroyed in the Reformation in 1535. It dates from 1250.
Tags: Northamptonshire Canons Ashby House Canons Ashby Elizabethan architecture buildings National Trust country house
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The main entrance is reached through an archway and small courtyard, known as the Pebble Court. This leads into the Great Hall. The main door was originally on the opposite side of the house.
Tags: Northamptonshire Canons Ashby House Canons Ashby Elizabethan architecture buildings National Trust country house
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