This was our second day out in June, this time to Ightham Mote, a 700 year old moated manor house about half an hour's drive from where we live. We visited it several years ago, but this time we took a friend who hadn't been before.
I see from looking at my photos that the interior ones, as usual, are quite poor, since they are all done without flash, but I have some better ones taken outside. As you can see, it wasn't a very bright day, and we kept expecting it to rain, but it managed to hold off all the time we were there.
The house originally dates to around 1320, but successive owners have made relatively few changes to the main structure, after the completion of the courtyard with a new chapel in the 16th century.
Nikolaus Pevsner called it "the most complete small medieval manor house in the country", and it shows exactly how small medieval manor houses would have looked in the Middle Ages. Apparently most courtyard houses of this type have had a range demolished, so that the house looks outward. Ightham Mote completely surrounds its courtyard and looks inward.
We began by having a tour of the garden. Normally, visitors aren't able to go into the south part of the garden, which is very wild and overgrown,and is being restored, a task that is likely to take 7 or 8 more years. The south garden, when restored, will be more or less a mirror image of the north garden, which itself took about 10 years to restore. This is the north garden and north lake.
There will also be a south lake in the south garden.
The rhododendrons hadn't quite finished, some were still in bloom.
After our garden tour, we had time for a quick introductory talk about the house and how the National Trust came to acquire it. It is sad to learn how close it came to being demolished had it not been saved by some local businessmen and then a wealthy American; probably a great many similar wonderful buildings were demolished when they fell into disrepair.
After that, we were just in time to take a quick trip up the tower for wonderful panoramic views. This is a range of outbuildings which were originally farm buildings.
There are over seventy rooms in the house, all arranged around a central courtyard.
This is my view of part of the central courtyard. It also shows the only Grade 1 listed dog house in Britain. Yes, really!
The house is surrounded on all sides by a square moat, crossed by three bridges. Apparently the earliest evidence is for a house of the early 14th century, with the Great Hall, to which were attached, at the dais end, the Chapel, Crypt and two Solars. Other bits of the building came later as courtyard was gradually enclosed bit by bit; the battlemented tower we went up was constructed in the 15th century. I suppose it was the restricted site, being completely surrounded by the moat, which meant that later building was also a bit restricted.
As I said, my interior photographs are fairly terrible - the best is this carved saracen's head, which is really too dark to see properly. More time with Photoshop is needed!
There was a great deal to see, including some wonderful painted ceilings which are almost impossible to photograph.
As usual, we were the last out and were followed by National Trust volunteers rattling their keys at us.
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