A mini-break in Worcestershire, Staffordshire & a bit of Shropshire - Bratch Locks, Wightwick and Boscobel

On the final day of our mini-break we visited Bratch Locks, Wightwick Manor (National Trust) and Boscobel House (English Heritage)

The Bratch Locks are a feature of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, near Wombourne.

They were planned by James Brindley, and opened in 1772 as a three lock staircase. 

They were later re-engineered as three separate locks. They are served by two bridges, a toll house, and a keeper's cottage.

Wightwick Manor (pronounced "Wittick") is a Victorian manor house located on Wightwick Bank, Wolverhampton. It was built by Theodore Mander; the Mander family were successful 19th-century industrialists in the area

The Manor was designed by Edward Ould of Liverpool in two phases; the first was completed in 1887 and the house was extended with the Great Parlour wing in 1893

The house has Victorian gardens and the outbuildings house stables, a handmade pottery shop, studio workshop and an antiquarian bookshop

This family house portrays life during the Victorian era and is an example of the influence of William Morris, with original Morris wallpapers and fabrics, De Morgan tiles, Kempe glass and Pre-Raphaelite works of art.

The house was presented to the National Trust by Sir Geoffrey Mander in 1937. Descendants of the family retain rooms in the manor

We also visited the extensive gardens

For more details of the history of the manor click Wightwick Manor

Our final visit before returning home was to Boscobel House - which is just over the county border in Shropshire.

Boscobel House is a Grade II listed building in the parish of Boscobel (which is just in Shropshire). It has been, at various times; a farmhouse, a hunting lodge, and a holiday home; but it is most famous for its role in the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Today it is managed by English Heritage. Boscobel is believed to come from the Italian phrase bosco bello meaning "in the midst of fair woods": in 1632, Boscobel House was surrounded by dense woodlands

Boscobel House was created around 1632, when landowner John Giffard of White Ladies Priory converted a timber-framed farmhouse, built sometime in the 16th century on the lands of White Ladies Priory, into a hunting lodge. John Giffard decided to make the farmhouse more useful by building a substantial extension to the south, including a living room and bedrooms more fitted to use by a gentry family. Giffard called the new hunting lodge Boscobel House

The Giffard family were Recusants - Catholics who refused to participate in the worship of the established Church of England. For them, this brought fines, imprisonment and discrimination: for priests it could mean barbarous execution.

The house itself served as a secret place for the shelter of Catholic priests, with at least one priest-hole. By 1651, when Boscobel played host to Charles II, it was owned by John Giffard's heir, his daughter, Frances Cotton. It was here that Charles II hid in a tree to escape discovery by Parliamentary soldiers during his escape after the Battle of Worcester ...

... and this is reputedly a "descendant" of the oak tree where Charles II hid.

For more photos of the final day of our mini-break click Bratch, Wightwick, and Boscobel

An action-packed three days - we're now home ... resting!

A mini-break in Worcestershire, Staffordshire & a bit of Shropshire - Witley Court

On day two of our mini-break we visited the English Heritage site at Witley Court. 

Witley Court was once of the great country houses of England, reaching its peak in the Victorian period when it was the setting for extravagant parties and royal entertainments

It is now a Grade I listed building as well as being designated a National Monument. It is a spectacular ruin after being devastated by fire in 1937. It was built by Thomas Foley in 1655 on the site of a former manor house near Great Witley. Subsequent additions were designed by John Nash in the early 19th century and the Court was subsequently bought by the Earls of Dudley in 1837. 

The house and 40 acres were acquired in 2008 by a wealthy family for less than £0.9m, but remains in the guardianship of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and managed on their behalf by English Heritage since 1984

The two immense fountains have survived. They were designed by Nesfield and executed by James and William Forsyth, who were carrying out sculpture in the house and the church. 

The largest, the Perseus and Andromeda Fountain, has been restored to working order by English Heritage. It spouts forth (and upwards) on the hour for about 15 minutes.

For more details of the history of this property see Witley Court

After Witley Court we visited Bewdley, then Whitlenge Gardens, and Droitwich before travelling to our hotel on the west side of Wolverhampton. For some photos of these places click here Bewdley etc

... and for some more of Witley Court click here Witley Court

A mini-break in Worcestershire, Staffordshire & a bit of Shropshire - Worcester

We have just returned from a three day mini-break - our starting place was Worcester. Here are a few photos of our time in the city.

The Worcester Guildhall was originally built as a meeting place for Worcester merchants around 1227. The present building is a Queen Anne building, begun in 1722 by Thomas White, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren.

The exterior of the Guildhall is brick, dressed with stone. White himself is said to have carved the figure of Queen Anne over the entry, as well as those of Charles I and II, a reminder of the city's long history of royal support

The ornate ceiling in the main chamber

View of the River Severn from the Cathedral

Worcester Cathedral, before the English Reformation known as Worcester Priory, is on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It was built between 1084 and 1504 and is famous for its Norman crypt and chapter house

The Cathedral contains the tomb of King John in its chancel. Before his death in Newark in 1216, John had requested to be buried at Worcester

Fort Royal Park - towards the end of the English Civil War, Charles II left Scotland on a journey to return to London. During the break in his journey at Worcester he looked for support from the people of the city.
 

Fort Royal was a redoubt on a small hill to the south-east of Worcester. It was built by the Royalists in 1651 and was one of sites of the Battle of Worcester, fought on 3 September 1651 - the last battle of the war and a Parliamentary victory. 

In early April 1786 it was also visited by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who went on to become the second and third Presidents of the United States of America. They were keen to see the site they regarded as the place where democracy was effectively born.

The Commandery is a Grade I listed building and has been used for many different purposes over the many years it has been around. These include: a Church, a house, a monastic hospital, hotel and in present day, a museum open to the public

When It opened as a museum in 1977 it was the only museum in England dedicated solely to the Civil War. The Commandery ceased to be a Civil War museum when it reopened to the public in May 2007 and now displays six different periods of history, focusing on the characters and stories that affected the Commandery at those times.

The periods covered are as follows:

- The Medieval period, when The Commandery is said to have been founded  It served as an almshouse as well as a place of hospitality for pilgrims and other travellers.

- The Tudor period, when following the suppression in 1540 The Commandery became the residence of the Wyldes, a family of clothiers who remained in possession of it until 1785.

- The Civil War, when The Commandery was used by Charles II's forces as headquarters during the Battle of Worcester.

- The Georgian period, when after its sale by Thomas Wylde in 1785 The Commandery was split into several family homes.

- The Victorian period, when The Commandery housed a pioneering school for the "blind sons of gentlemen".

- The 1950s, when The Commandery was used as a printing factory by the Littlebury family.

Greyfriars was built in 1480 by a wealthy merchant, it became a home to wealthy families up until the 17th century and in 1699 a baker purchased the lease and divided the house into two.  It became a mixture of homes, shops and businesses for next 200 years. 

Trade varied and included clothing, hats, bread, leather goods, umbrellas and china riveting.  Over the years buildings were added and extended including 10 cottages in the back yard.

But as the fortunes locally declined from the 1700s it was threatened with demolition in the 1930s along with the row of 10 houses in Georges Yard behind

This black and white timber-framed house was rescued from demolition after the Second World War and has been carefully restored and refurbished with a walled garden designed and created by the Matley-Moores recycling and using materials from the demolished cottages.  The Matley-Mooores were two siblings who remained Greyfriars tenants until their deaths 1980s. The care of Greyfriars was transferred to the National Trust in 1966

Worcester Racecourse has hosted horse racing since 1718. It staged Flat racing until 1966 but has since staged National Hunt racing only. The course is laid out as an oval circuit about 13 furlongs in length 

Our "home" for the night. Stanbrook Abbey was originally built as a contemplative house for Benedictine nuns. It was founded in 1625 in Cambrai, Flanders, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, under the auspices of the English Benedictine Congregation. After being deprived of their abbey during the French Revolution the surviving nuns fled to England and in 1838 settled in Stanbrook, Worcestershire, where a new abbey was built.

In 2002 the community had 28 professed nuns and two postulants; and some 120 lay people, known as oblates. The community moved to Crief Farm at Wass in the North York Moors National Park in 2009. In August 2010 the Worcestershire property was sold to Clarenco LLP and it is now an events venue for weddings, conferences and the like – as well as offering rooms to the likes of us!

For more photos of our time in the city click Worcester

Meandering in Mallorca

We've just returned from a week in the warm sun of Mallorca. The temperature was in the upper teens (Celsius) and we encountered rain on only one day during our stay. Here are a few photos of the places we visited.

We spent a week based in an apartment in Pollenca in the north east corner of Mallorca. The town was founded in 1229 with the Catalan conquest of the island, although the name goes back many years before this. Under Moorish rule it was called Al Bulansa

The old town is made up of a series of narrow streets – and the consequent one-way system; it took us quite some time before we found the easiest route to our apartment. The tourist books and websites advise visitors to park on the outskirts of the town and then walk in

One of the town's most distinctive features is the 365-step stairway north of the square; this leads up to a chapel on top of the hill known as Calvary. On Good Friday this is the setting for the most dramatic parade of the year. 

First, on the road winding up the back of the hill, there is an enactment of the Stations of the Cross. This is followed by a mock crucifixion on top of the hill after which the figure of Christ is ceremonially removed from the Cross. 

The views from the top across towards Porto Pollenca and Alcudia

On our way down to the Roma Bridge, we came across this gnarled tree stump

19th century bridge of Roman design

Saturday was Carnival day - not quite Notting Hill, but nevertheless enjoyable

We briefly visited the Parc Natural de l’Albufera ...

... and Alcudia 

The old town is well preserved with houses dating back to the 13th century and is surrounded by a medieval wall

We ventured up to the lighthouse at Formentor Cap - with spectacular views of the coastline

The 13.5 km road which runs from Port de Pollença to Cap de Formentor was built by the Italian engineer Antonio Parietti

The lighthouse was opened in 1863.

We toured some of the east and north east coast of the island, including ...

Cala Mesquida

Cala Rajada

Capdepera

Porto Cristo

Porto Pollenca

Then inland to Sant Joan 

and Sineu

We also ventured to the capital city, Palma, for a day out. We had been advised that parking in Palma can be difficult and expensive. So we had a day trip on the public bus service – there are several buses each way throughout the day

Palma was founded as a Roman camp upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The city was subjected to several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Western Roman Empire, then reconquered by the Byzantine Empire, then colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa) and, in the 13th century, by James I of Aragon

In 1229, after three months of siege, the city was reconquered by James I of Aragon and was renamed Palma de Mallorca. In addition to being kept as capital of the Kingdom of Majorca, it was given a municipality that comprised the whole island. The governing organ was the University of the City and Kingdom of Majorca.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Palma became the refuge of many who had exiled themselves from the Napoleonic occupation of Catalonia and Valencia

Palma is famous for La Seu, its vast cathedral originally built on a previous mosque. Although construction began in 1229, it did not finish until 1601 and local architect Antoni Gaudí was drafted in during a restoration project in 1901

The cathedral is next to the Almudaina Palace

The marina 

Palma is also famed for the Ferrocarril de Sóller

Ever since 1912 the Sóller railway has been running a daily train service along the 27.3 km route between Palma and Sóller.

From 1913 it has also run the tram service along the 4.9 kilometres from Sóller and Port Sóller.

For more details of the history of this line see History of Soller line

We did not have time on the day to travel the length of this line - which has recently featured on Michael Portillo's Great Continental Railway Journeys programme on BBC. 

However, on another day we drove from Pollenca to Soller to ride on the tram

The focus of the town is the Plaça Constitució which is surrounded by cafés and has plane trees and a fountain in its centre.

The tram passes through the Plaça on its way to and from the main station

Port Soller is a small picturesque village on the coast about 5km from Soller.

A great week - even though it was outside the main holiday season, we found plenty to see and do.

For more photos of our time in Mallorca see Mallorca holiday