27 July 2015 - Canons Ashby

I really do try to give equal time to each of my kids, but sometimes the balance seems skewed, to them, if not to me.  I do remember vying for attention from my own parents and being the eldest of five, it wasn't always what I wanted... and so it is with my own children: I simply cannot clone myself into three mes!  No doubt all parents feel the same way as do all children!

 

What we DIDN'T have for dinner!

 School was reasonably successful for a Monday which was good.  Karl and I are really keen to make good use of our National Trust membership but the big kids are  not always so keen.  Karl and I find each place has a different "personality" and history and we are intrigued by them all.

Canons Ashby - the house and the Priory

It was another greyish day but by afternoon the showers had finished and so it was quite nice to venture out.  We chose Canons Ashby, Northhamptonshire.  It was  a country home rather than a stately home and was humble in a wealthy kind of way!!  It wasn't opulent and full of grandeur but rather liveable and "every day" for the times.  There were only ever 3 or 4 workers for the house and probably not even a butler!  The Tudor parts are wobbly and creaky with angled floors and doorways and the rooms are relatively small.  There were no bathrooms at all in the entire house!

Ivy creeping all over the walls of Canons Ashby.

 The name Canons Ashby comes from the Canons (rather than monks) who founded the Priory and Ashby meaning "farmstead".

13th century Priory, Church of St Mary the Virgin

In the 12th century, the Augustinian Priory was founded on this site by 13 or so Black Canons (they wore black habits).  In the 13th  century  the church was built and although the village declined in 14th Century due to the Black Plague, the Priory became a place for stopping. In 1536, Sir Francis Bryan (The ‘Vicar of Hell’, a childhood friend of Henry VIII), reduced the church to its current size. – approximately one quarter of the original Priory size.

Eramus and his wife, Frances Dryden

Bronze for Robert Dryden

A Hathchment - used in funeral processions, and then hung on the houses for the period of mourning and then in the church.

Next to the Priory, across the road, is the house, complete with chickens running about the yard.  Today they were baling hay so it had a real farm sort of feel.

Tudor entrance and archway.

Different stages of the house construction are evident by the different stones and bricks.

The Tudor part of the house - 1570

This window was taken from the Priory when a large part of it was destroyed.  I'm so glad they saved it!

Papier mache table

Medieval fireplace

Inspecting the top hat -  Henry Dryden's!

Jacob sheep skull - with typical double horns

We were intrigued by the 4 horned sheep skull mounted on the wall and asked the volunteer about it.  It was a Jacob sheep, a rare heirloom breed of piebald sheep which are polycerate (multihorned) and have 2-6 horns, mostly 4.  They were bred for their hides, meat and wool and used to be on the Canons Ashby property, perhaps from 17 th century.

Looking out to the beautiful garden.

The house and 2500acre estate belonged to the Dryden family from 1550 through John's marriage to Elizabeth Cope. Their son, Eramus, extended the house in 1590.  The interior is of Elizabethan style, unchanged since 1710. 

A famous Dryden, John, was Poet Laureate in 1668.  He is buried in the church there.

Sir John Dryden, 7th Baronet (1704 - 1770) and Sir Frederick Cornwallis, treasurer of His Majesty's household (1610-1661)

Dining room:  Large paintings from left to right: Allen Pulleston (married great niece of John Dryden, poet), Lady Dryden 1791 and John Dryden, poet,  (1631- 1700)

Stairwell stained glass

Henry Dryden, had a keen interest in archaeology and history and had helped his father excavate the old Priory when he was 10!  I like the sound of that homeschooling!!  He had an inquiring mind, which is what we all want our children to have!!  The contents of the house were carefully recorded which makes historians' job easy, today!  The detailed drawings he did enabled the restoration of the house and garden to reflect the property as he would have known it. 

The Tapestry Room - with Flemish tapestries on the walls.

The Nursery

Tudor window pane and original windows

 Sir Henry Dryden inherited Canons Ashby in 1837 at 19 years old when his father died suddenly.  He was a university student at the time and gave up his studies to restore and maintain records of Canons Ashby claiming he wouldn't take a wife until he had done what had to be done.  Henry, his sister, Elizabeth and his mother lived at Canons Ashby.  His mother did not take kindly to her "reduced" circumstances in which she was required to live but Henry was determined to return the estate to profitability.

Lovely patchwork quilt caught my eye!  All tiny diamonds!

Henry was 47 by the time he married his distant cousin, Frances Tredcroft, also in her forties. They only had one child, a daughter, Alice.  He had hoped for a son and heir and apparently dismissed all the female staff  when she was born claiming there were enough ladies in the house!  He did, however, have a good relationship with his daughter, Alice, whom he homeschooled and enjoyed her keen intellect.

Alice's photographs - She was a keen photographer.

 Alice, daughter of Henry and Frances Dryden, married at 46 and lived until 89.  She contracted polio at 52 which left her disabled but she was reportedly a vibrant and intelligent woman never short of friends.  She was well provided for by her father but did not inherit Canons Ashby.  Henry's brother, Sir Alfred inherited the property and his three unmarried children lived there, cared for devoted servants.

Alice's room and dresser - humble for country home - which was the flavour of the whole place

Tudor wall painting discovered in 1980 and restored to this level by National Trust: "No-one is harmed except by himself" - translation of Latin inscription above this mural.  It had been painted over with cream paint!

Another beautiful clock

Ceiling painting of friends' and connections' coats of arms.

More ceiling painting on the sitting room ceiling.  this room was used until very recently by the Dryden family descendents.

 

Love the old embroidiery

Cute little Tudor window - for ? watching people arrive from upstairs

Possibly Freemason symbols revealed in recent years when paint was removed!

These panels were revealed only recently.  It was formerly a dining room before the bigger dining room was built downstairs and then became the staff's dining room. According to the volunteer, this room is now also thought to have been a meeting room for Freemasons as portrayed by the symbols.  The Freemasons, were a "neutral" ground for Protestants and Catholics to meet. The Drydens were Puritans and otherwise could not have mixed with Catholics.

More possible Freemasonary

The family line "ran out" with no direct heirs when the last Dryden's three children remained unmarried.  From 1914 -1996, the house was tenanted by Louis Osman, architect and goldsmith and his wife who was an enamelist.  They made the crown used by Prince Charles at his investiture.

A cute little kitchen wall clock which......

...on closer inspection had a big mechanism hidden behind the wall!  No batteries in those days!

Another beautiful clock in the kitchen alongside copper pans - it looked great in the huge kitchen

Huge range - big light filled kitchen with windows with access to a cellar which had rats and bats.

Book Room - one of the nicest I have seen - I think I could easily settle down to read a book there!

Note gardening tools in cupboard and book stand to hold the book while you are reading...maybe as his eyesight deteriorated his arms weren't long enough...a problem I am familiar with!

Henry, was a passionate gardener and even kept his gardening tools in lower cupboards in the Book Room.  The guide was insistent that it was a Book Room rather than a library but we didn't ask why - and now the mystery dogs us!!

Beautifully restored and maintained gardens
 

Silver ghost thistle and bee

Flower of sorts and bug of sorts!

Chrysanthemum and pollenator

Spot the bug!

Croquet on the lawn

Walled garden.

John Dryden had this former entrance grassed over in 19th century.  The entrance through Lion Gates was grand but there were other entrances!

Looking toward the house from vegetable garden.

The beautiful gardens were created in Edward Dryden's time (1708 - 1777).  Henry Dryden and Lady Frances, loved their garden.  He actually died at the age of a 80, in 1899,  from an infected thorn wound, prior to the event of antibiotics.  The massive cedar of Lebanon dominates the croquet lawn. Over the 20th century the gardens became derelict until the National Trust restored them to the former beauty.  It is wonderful to see them today!

Cornflowers...

Daisy..

 It was given to the National Trust in 1981 who saved it from ruin.  It was the first property to be restored with public money rather than money from the family's assets.  As I stated earlier, it really was a humble sort of house for the wealthy and didn't have the opulent overtone that both fascinates and disturbs me.  There were many humble and poor labourers behind every mansion and their meagre existences are hardly mentioned.  Where would the wealthy have been without their servants and workers?!