More on Gainsborough Old Hall and All Saints' Church

As promised, here is more from the visit to Gainsborough Old Hall.  I do like this lion sculpture in the Great Hall.

 The Great Hall itself has some beautiful timbers.

The kitchen has enormous fireplaces - there is another one like this on the opposite wall.

This is the view up one of the chimneys - Chris wanted me to take this photo.

 A view of the garden through the diamond shaped glazing.

 Another view of the herb garden.

Chris noticed these hanging acorns on the bed before I did.  They are detachable and I marvel at that attention to detail.

 Even the floors are beautiful, with the brick herringbone pattern.

 Around the Old Hall are paths and grass areas, with trees.

 Another view of the brickwork.

I do like the higgledy-piggledy nature of the building, where you can see areas which were added over the years, like the chimney stack.

Having spent a good while at the Old Hall, we ventured to All Saints' Church in Gainsborough. It has an ancient tower but an 18th Century main body.  On opening the double door, this is what we saw.  It is a large, light and open space, which was quite unexpected.  It reminded me of a theatre, but a church service does share elements of a theatrical performance.   This part of the church was built from 1734 - 1744.  There is more information about the church here.

 This (according to the little brochure I found) is a Morris and Co window.

There was a Georgian font, which was something I hadn't seen before.  It was rather elegant.   I was really impressed with the church as sometimes churches can be dark and oppressive.  This one was decorative, light and beautiful.

Exhibitions at Gainsborough Old Hall

 Last week we went to Gainsborough Old Hall to see a couple of exhibitions before they finished.  I have visited the Old Hall before and you can see my posts about the visits here, here, here and here.  The first was a textile and art exhibition based around Medieval animals, both real and fantasy.  I liked the woodcut bear above and it was printed onto a old piano roll which I though was really clever.

 This read dragon looked very much at home in such an ancient building.

As did this willow unicorn.

The costume exhibition was focused on costumes created for films and I picked out the costumes that appealed most to me.  The photos are not as clear as I would have liked, but this was due to the low lighting.  This first one was for Kenneth Branagh in Henry V.

 This was made for Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth - we all noticed what a small waist she had.

 I was surprised at the level of detail. I thought that short cuts might be taken as the costumes would mainly be seen from a distance, but this was not the case.

These three costumes were worn by Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Dame Judi Dench from Shakespeare in Love.

 Dame Judi's sleeve had a beautiful basket weave type pattern.

 Emily Blunt wore this embroidered gown in Young Victoria.

 Robert Downey Jr's flamboyant costume came from Restoration.  I liked the slashing on the sleeves and the ribbons.  (I have obviously watched far too much Doctor Who in my lifetime as I kept thinking this mannequin had moved!)

 This costume was worn by Helena Bonham Carter in Suffragette.  I only saw this film earlier this year and it made quite an impression.  Until then, I hadn't really considered the difficulties faced by the male supporters of female suffrage, or the families of the suffragists or suffragettes.

 Finally,  Kristen Scott Thomas' costume from Darkest Hour.  Again, we noticed how tiny she is, although this was more apparent from the back of the suit.  There are more photos from our visit to Gainsborough which will be in my next post.

Gainsborough Old Hall

 There was a Christmas Craft Fair being held at Gainsborough Old Hall this weekend, so we decided to have a look. It is only the second time I have visited this wonderful building, so I was looking forward to seeing it again. My previous posts about my visit can be found here, here and here.
The craft fair admission was much less than the normal house admission, but of course, you didn't get an audio tour and some of the building was closed.  We are going back during the open season next year to have a proper look.  It was very busy, which was good for the stall holders, but it was quite cold in some of the rooms.  After we had looked round, we went for a walk around the building.

 We saw some beautifully worked stone, edging the grass.  I wonder where these pieces came from?

 It is a very photogenic place.

The mini avenue of trees gave a lovely vista.

Through the years, the owners added bits to the original building and I liked the higgledy-piggledy mix here.

 Stone, wood, brick - a variety of different building materials had been used over the years.

 Another lovely view through the trees.

 I seem to remember being surprised that the Hall is in the middle of the town, surrounded by Victorian terraces.  I imagined that a Hall like this would be in its own extensive grounds, which perhaps it once was.

 A row of five chimneys which advertised how wealthy the owners were.  I expect the stall holders would have liked all the fires to be lit today!

I didn't take photos inside, except these two because I was drawn to the bright jewel colours in these windows.

They may become the inspiration for some felt...or polymer clay work...

Gainsborough Old Hall

Yesterday I enjoyed my first visit to Gainsborough Old Hall which is a fantastic old Manor House in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.  Like all ancient houses, it has been added to and changed over the years to accommodate the families who lived there.  There is a link to Henry VIII and Catherine Howard who stayed there, John Wesley who preached there and even to the Pilgrim Fathers who were helped by the family at the time, as well as others who were not adhering to the religion of the time and needed escape routes to Europe. 

 The crooked buildings are beautiful to look at and were in danger of being demolished in the 1940s when they had fallen into dereliction.  Luckily, a group called the Friends of Gainsborough Old Hall (I think) were formed with the sole purpose to save the buildings and eventually restore them.  The Hall has recently undergone a major overhaul, having secured extra funding, and now has a lovely cafe, interactive, touch-screen guides which have videos, audio dramatisations, information about architecture and other interesting facts which you access as you travel through the rooms, and interpretations of how some of the rooms may have looked in the past.

 The circular area contains a staircase which leads up to a long gallery on the right of the photograph.  The garden has been created to show the types of plants that may have been grown in medieval times - used for cooking, perfume and medicine.

 A selection of chimneys.

 The kitchen, which originally had a 'louvre' in the roof to allow smoke to escape.  The cupola that can be seen in its place is Victorian, but the original louvre is on display in the house (photo in my next post)

 Around the side of the kitchen.

 The stone bay window of the Great Hall can be seen to the right.

The entrance door, leading into some wonderful interior spaces - photos to follow in  my next post.