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Blakesley
Hall in November 2001
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| This is how Blakesley
Hall looked in November 2001! The
scaffolding has been taken down and
the roof of the new building can
be seen to the left. |
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The new lath ceiling
above the 'space by the hall' will
be plastered over.
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Here is part of the
original great parlour wall. The
plaster and brick covering has been
removed to show the old upright timber
and the lath and rubble infill. The
marks on the right timber are where
later home improvers would have used
chisels to 'rough up' the surface
to make plaster stick better! Richard
Smalbroke would have wanted to display
the timber as evidence of his wealth.
To the left you can see where some
brick cladding remains.
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If you look carefully
you can see a mortice and tenon joining
point in the old timber. It has been
filled with a tonge (tenon) which
is a slightly lighter colour. This
is in the corner of 'the space by
the hall' which shares a wall with
the great parlour.
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The great hall from
the cross passage end of the house.
The new timber frame wall of the
great parlour and the stripped wall
of the old 'space'. The black object
is the alarm panel - no longer in
use!
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The Great Parlour
in disarray!
A lot of work is being done in the great parlour. The boiler room has been removed
and the wall between the great and the little parlour replaced. The metal pole
is also to be removed which means the beam above has to be strengthened. The
old ceiling timber has to be hollowed out and a specially made metal filler beam
put in. It is taking a long time to hollow out the old oak timber as it is so
hard!
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| Here is the ceiling
beam. It has to be drilled up into
very carefully. When the metal beam
is fitted into it, you should not
be able to see it at all. The curator
is hoping that it will look just
as if the complete old beam is still
there. |
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| This is where the
public toilets used to be. You can
still see the sign for them if you
look carefully! The photograph is
taken on the other side of the great
parlour wall, by the side of the
newel stairs. This is where the Richard
Smalbroke's little parlour used to
be, and where it will now be recreated.
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| If you walked into
the old toilet space you would be
looking at the south wall of the
house. The infill has been taken
out, leaving just the upright timber
framing. This is where Richard's
ORIEL window is to be recreated.
Windows with glass were a status
symbol in Tudor England - a sign
of wealth - and oriel windows with
their extra sections and glass cost
more than ordinary 'flat' windows. |
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Upstairs!
Work in the parlour chamber itself is now finished, but it is being used as a
place to store essential items for use in other areas of the first floor.
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| Outside the parlour
chamber you can see the original
door space with the scaffolding poles
boring through. This is part of the
support structure for the work going
on below in the great parlour and
old toilet space. |
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Under the floorboards
lies the evidence of the original
boards. How are they different from
the modern ones above them?
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In the long gallery
the framework for Richard's study
has now been filled in and plastered,
and now looks just as it would
have done in 1590 when the house
was built.
The new timbers are joined together
just as the old ones would have
been - with mortice and tenon
joints, held together with wooden
pegs. You can see where the new
timber is pegged into the old
on the right side of the picture.
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Upstairs and downstairs!
The room known as the children's
bed chamber is now ready to be
refurnished. The walls are going
to be covered with a new, especially
designed, painted cloth.
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At some point in the
history of Blakesley Hall a fireplace
was made in the righthand attic.
Later it was boarded over. Now, a
new fire surround has been built
and the fireplace opened up again.
The attics would have been used as
servants' sleeping quarters and as
storage rooms. (Remember that the
land belonging to Blakesley Hall
was farm).
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In the mid 17th century
a kitchen, with another store room
above, was added on to the original
Hall. The men are working on the
store room which will now have steps
up to a display area with interactive
exhibits.
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| Not a lot has been
done to the kitchen, but, again,
it is a handy storage area for workmens'
equipment! This picture shows the
big open fireplace where the mistress
of the house and her servants would
cook the household meals. |
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A walk around the
outside
Standing on the path
at the front of the house by the
outside wall of the great parlour,
if you look carefully, you can see
where the builders have dug down
to the brick foundation. The upright
timbers (close studding) are embedded
in the brick.
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Around the other side
of the great parlour, on the south
wall, you can see an archway in bricks.
This is one of the drainage tunnels
running under the Hall. At one time
people thought these were a secret
tunnels or a shallow cellar, but
there are at least two of them running
under the building and as the ground
is very marshy in this area, architects
have realised that they are, in fact,
drain culverts!
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The new building was
almost finished in November. It forms
an L shape and is set right back
from the Hall. It will have a reception
area, a shop and café and
a gallery for displays.
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The lawn at the back
of the barn, where the moon dial
used to stand and where, in summer,
school parties often picnicked, is
now ready to be planted out as the
new herb garden. A strong fence has
been put up around the site and you
can see a section of it in the background.
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This will be the new
classroom. The floor of the barn
has been replaced, new heating installed
and cloakroom and toilet space built
in!
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