Little Moreton Hall

Marianne has an interest in old English houses and she has wanted to visit Little Moreton Hall for some time. This was her big chance since it is only about 40 miles away from where we are living.

As the Wikipedia article says, it looks like a ginger bread house and you could say it has sagged a bit.

It sits by itself out in the countryside.

The windows were a sign of great wealth and were meant to impress.

There is a moat that helped with drainage and still surrounds the house.

Goldfish in the moat.

The doorway leads to the original part of the house. This is a house that grew like topsy as extensions were added. The house dates from Tudor times.

It's all post and beam construction and as held together by dowels which you can see here.

MDLIX is 1559. Building commenced in 1504. The house stayed in the family until 1938 when it passed to the National Trust.

The bloke who made the windows.

A small chapel added in 1508.

The Great Hall with a huge oak table.

One of the huge bay windows.

This used to be a gallery but was closed up. The wall really bulges out.

The board that forms the table top is the original and is a single piece of oak. They got their money's worth. The bench is also old.

The wall paneling consists of oak wedges that show the grain of the oak. It was apparently quite wasteful of the wood so that it could show off your wealth.

The parlour with it's painted walls.

The other large bay window with its octagonal table. This is part of the Withdrawing room.

What a ceiling.

Stained glass in the Withdrawing room.

Chest of drawers that is original to the house.

A later addition that served as a brew house. Servants probably slept there as well.

The 68' Long Gallery which was added to the top of the South Wing in 1562 above the entrance over the moat. The weight was too much for the structure underneath and this has caused the buckling an general wonkiness that you see when first approaching the building.

It's not really visible in the photo but the floorboards have a huge bend in them. Marianne said it made her feel like she was on a moving ship at sea.

The attendant said that the room was generally used as a play area, particularly in winter when it was cold.

View of the oldest part of the house from the Long Gallery.

Dog house and bowl.

Inside the dog house.

The yew tunnel.

The knot garden. The hedges are made of box.

I have no idea what these animals are but that is one very impressive sack towards the rear end.

We had lunch at the tea room. This ginger beer was very good and very gingery.

Cottage pie for Marianne.

It was over 80 degrees so I went for the salad with the cold pork pie on the side. In keeping with the way food was eaten when the house was built, it was served on a wooden trencher.

This building really comes straight from fairy tale land. Disney could not have dreamed up anything to equal its quirkiness.