Oxburgh Hall (the inside ... and looking out)

The history in these visits is fascinating and cannot be done justice with a mere glimpse in a blog post. But hopefully these few glimpses provide some sense of endurance and perseverence of the "ordinary" nobility ... perhaps I shall draw on the dry humour of the incumbent 10th Baronet, Sir Henry Bedingfeld in his contribution to their souvenir programme:

...  we have lived here for such a long time, some 530 years, so far.

Fortunately for us, our history is not very grand. The ups have not been too high (no great office has been bestowed upon us), nor have the downs been too low (none of my family have had their heads chopped off in the Tower of London). ...

Survivors indeed. The Hall was built about 1482, in an area settled around 1086. The name means 'a fortified place where oxen are kept' and the original regal licenses on display testify to the permission to fortify the Hall with the moat and the towers and turrets at various stages in the history. The Bedingfelds attribute their survival to being staunchly (both) royalist and catholic.

Thanks to the souvenir programme and various exhibits for making me sound like I have half a clue :)!

So across the moat bridge through the gatehouse into the main inner courtyard and southern wing entrance to tour the Hall ...

 

Into the Saloon and West Drawing Room for some visions of "not very grand"  living ... taking tea, admiring the view or "being served" dinner all looked rather grand we thought!

 

 

Then of course, you need to have an excellent Library and a "prize" rug (clearly from another era, but it was real!) on which to recline and read in front of the fire ...

Also from another era when animal hides were used for all sorts of very functional (arguable, but it was the reality we scoff at now as we use chemically manufactured everything) things is the hand painted wall "papers". These panels are cow and sheep hides embossed and painted. Spectacular and extensive throughout those areas of the Hall we were privvy to.

In the room to the right of the panel above is the Marian Hangings Room. In deference to the delicacy of the hangings I did not take photos. They are tapestries each covering a whole wall, worked on by Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (aka Bess of Hardwick) between 1569 and 1584. The picture above right may be some of the embroidery tools? Might also be a couple of items used for her manicures :)!??

Like many of these grand homes there were rooms in case the King and/or Queen happened to drop by. Like Blickling Estate, they never personally dropped in here. Nice big bright rooms, and interestingly here, the Queen had the top bunk (she had to go up another floor for her suite). Below is a shot of the King's Room and the embroided bedspread (not the royal coat of arms). The third picture is the priest's hole - common in catholic parts (even seen them in public and guest houses) during the reformation. Interesting experience to be able to climb down into this one to get a feel (not a pleasant one) for what it must have been like during a raid - in the dark, little air, very cold!

From the Queen's "top bunk" you continue up the spiral staircase - the picture below shows the excellent craftmanship in the construction (note the handrail that is actually a series of individual "bricks" with the rail embedded as part of the brick) - and gain access to the roof for some excellent elevated panoramas of the estate. For us, this was another unexpected view across where we had been earlier walking and in keeping with our earlier views across the Broads from the windmill and St. Helen's church, Ranworth.

Here are four representative views from the rooftop of the Hall.

This one shows the main driveway from the passing public road to the northern wing - gatehouse and moat bridge

 This is the view south across the moat and swamp where the barn owl had earlier been showing off its skills for us! The woods we walked around are top right of the photo.

 This one shows off the arrow slots, some of the period architectural style of the chimneys (as does the next photo). The canal and green triangle woods in the background form part of another walk (My Lady's Wood). In the centre of the green triangle, behind the dual chimney you can see the Coronation Tree - planted on Queen Elizabeth IIs ascension to the throne in 1953.

Across the east and the partere and orchard (bewteen the walls) and the car park beyond.

No visit to such a place claiming loyalty to the royalty and the catholics would be complete without full sets of armour ... this is one on the way out - but there were quite a few others proudly on display.

And to conclude our tour, here are a couple more from the top, highlighting again the splendid spring sky that had been shadowing our day at Oxburgh - the sky continued to be the star :). The craftsmanship in the brickwork is pretty impressive too - over in the woodland they recently uncovered a very old brick pit and kiln they believe may have been the place where these bricks were manufactured. Seems they had half a clue about living local once upon a time!

 

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