EVENTS
REPORTS
“One of England’s loveliest counties and most richly
endowed with houses”
Highlights from the National Study Tour of North Yorkshire
16th to 20th June, 2013
imon Jenkins' description of the focus for this year's National
Study Tour was amply validated by the richness of the places
visited - and not just the houses. Our large group saw one
cathedral, two abbeys, two churches, two castles, five stately homes,
fine gardens, a literary parsonage, a World Heritage Site, and much
more. Tribute must be paid to the physical and intellectual stamina of
the members who kept up a good pace on the tour, and more or
less kept to time!
With coach pick-up points in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, a
coffee stop in Moffat on the way south provided the first historical
visit , to the Buccleuch Arms Hotel, a Georgian Coaching Inn dating
from 1760. In Cumbria, we spent the afternoon at Sizergh Castle, the
seat of the Strickland family for over 700 years, and still lived in by
the family as tenants of the National Trust. Sizergh was granted by
Henry II about 1170-80 to Gervase d'Eyncourt, or ‘Deincourt’, of
the great baronial family of that name, passing by marriage to his
great-granddaughter Elizabeth, as sole heiress to her husband, Sir
William Strickland, in 1239.
The origins of Sizergh are as a pele tower, on a larger scale than
normal, with its medieval hall and later flanking Elizabethan wings. The
hall is largely obscured by the later Georgian front and Victorian
S
Sizergh Castle
alterations. Of all the rooms, the most remarkable is the Inlaid
Chamber, where the spectacular Elizabethan inlaid panelling is offset
by a finely carved plaster ceiling. During a time of financial constraint
in the Victorian era, the panelling, which is inlaid with poplar and bog
oak, was sold off to the V&A Museum for £1000 - with a further
£400 for the bed. Now on permanent loan from the V&A, the
panelling, in a unique arched style, has been painstakingly reinstated.
At the end of our first day we reached our base for the Study
Tour, the Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate.
Ripon Cathedral provided a suitably inspirational start for our tour
of Yorkshire, and a reminder of Scotland as in the 650s, the first
Celtic monks arrived from Melrose. St Wilfred (c.634-709), who
founded what was then an abbey, was one of the most influential
and controversial figures in the early English church. Of the original
building, only the Saxon crypt survives. The present church contains
several architectural styles Norman, Perpendicular and Victorian; and
our cathedral guides ensured that we had a comprehensive insight
into the history of the building and its inhabitants. In 1836, Ripon
Minster became a cathedral, with the creation of the first new
diocese in England since the Reformation. Among the Cathedral's
most distinctive features are the mismatched pillars and arches of the
central crossing. A quirky detail we enjoyed was found in the choir
Fountains Abbey Cellarium
Ripon Cathedral
St Mary’s Studley interiors
AUTUMN 2013
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THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND
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