national trust – Canvins WordPress

Chirk Castle a National Trust Property

On a overnight trip to wales this was the first place we stopped at Chirk Castle a national trust property. The castle is near to the City of Wrexham in Wales and only takes about 2.5 hours from Milton Keynes. The castle was Built is 1295 and it guards the Ceiriog Valley from the English. Due to its high viewpoint you can get some great views over the valley and surrounding countryside. A nice stop of this one if you fancy looking at old castles.

The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Edward I’s chain of fortresses across the north of Wales. It guards the entrance to the Ceiriog Valley. It was the administrative centre for the Marcher Lordship of Chirkland.

The castle was bought by Sir Thomas Myddelton in 1593 for £5,000 (approx. £11 million as of 2008). His son, Thomas Myddelton of Chirk Castle was a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, but became a Royalist during the ‘Cheshire rising’ of 1659 led by George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer. Following the Restoration, his son became Sir Thomas Myddelton, 1st Baronet of Chirke.^[3] The castle passed down in the Myddelton family to Charlotte Myddelton (on the death of her father in 1796). Charlotte had married Robert Biddulph, who changed his name to Robert Myddelton-Biddulph, leaving the castle on his death to their son Robert. It then passed down in the Myddelton-Biddulph family.

Chirk Castle

Days Out, History, national trust

Birmingham Back to Back houses

A cheap train ticket to Birmingham on a wet saturday led us to the National trust back to back houses, the restored 19th century courtyard is one of the best NT attractions we have visited and well worth the trip alone. If visiting make sure you book your tickets in advance as you cannot gain entry simply by just turning up . After that we looked around the centre of Birmingham and well not a lot I can say about that really, anyway a bit from Wiki about the back to back houses below for you to read before you plan your visit.

The Birmingham Back to Backs (also known as Court 15) are the city’s last surviving court of back-to-back houses. They are preserved as examples of the thousands of similar houses that were built around shared courtyards, for the rapidly increasing population of Britain’s expanding industrial towns. They are a very particular sort of British terraced housing. This sort of housing was deemed unsatisfactory, and the passage of the Public Health Act 1875 meant that no more were built; instead byelaw terraced houses took their place. This court, at 50–54 Inge Street and 55–63 Hurst Street, is now operated as a historic house museum by the National Trust.

Numerous back-to-back houses, two or three storeys high, were built in Birmingham during the 19th century. Most of these houses were concentrated in inner-city areas such as Ladywood, Handsworth, Aston, Small Heath and Highgate. Most were still in quite good condition in the early 20th century and also prior to their demolition. By the early 1970s, almost all of Birmingham’s back-to-back houses had been demolished. The occupants were rehoused in new council houses and flats, some in redeveloped inner-city areas, while the majority moved to new housing estates such as Castle Vale and Chelmsley Wood.

LInks:

From Wikipedia

From the NT website

Maps:

Days Out, museum, national trust

Shugborough Estate a national trust house

After a deluge of rain over the bank holiday weekend we had to get out, so we braved the constant rain and headed for Staffordshire and the national Trust Shugborough Hall and estate. In the 1960’s the estate was handed over to the national Trust by Lord Lichfield following massive Death Duties by the Government . You can obtain timed Tickets to view his private apartments and see a collection of Famous photos of the Royal family and pictures from major fashion houses around the world. He died in 2005 and his apartments are well worth a look.

Entry to the grand house is not on a timed ticket and just go in when you want, its full of works of art and various objects from the Anson family. They purchased the house in 1642 and the 2 brothers made loads of improvements and extensions to the stately home. One of the brothers was an explorer and he visited all four corners of the globe. He was involved in fighting with the Spanish Amarda and they took loads of gold and silver from them as spoils of war. A goood visit this one and well worth a visit if you are around this area.

Days Out, History, national trust

Quarry bank mill a national trust place

Without a doubt the best national trust property we have visited. I have wanted to visit this mill for a number of years, and with a nice drive up to Cumbria for a trail race it made a good idea to stop off. On the way to Quarry bank we drove through Jodrel Bank home to the famous radio telescope and I noticed it had a visitor centre so we will have to have a look there in the years to come. Quarry bank is an old mill that was famous for the cloth and textiles it made and played a big part in the industrial revolution.

From Wikipedia

Samuel Greg leased land at Quarrell Hole on Pownall Fee from Lord Stamford, who imposed a condition that ‘none of the surrounding trees should be pruned, felled or lopped´; maintaining the woodland character of the area. The factory was built in 1784 by Greg[4] to spin cotton. When Greg retired in 1832 it was the largest such business in the United Kingdom. The water-powered Georgian mill still produces cotton calico. The Gregs were careful and pragmatic, paternalistic millowners, and the mill was expanded and changed throughout its history. When Greg’s son, Robert Hyde Greg, took over the business, he introduced weaving. Samuel Greg died in 1834.

The Mill was attacked during the Plug Plot riots on 10 August 1842.[5]

The mill’s iron water wheel, the fourth to be installed, was designed by Thomas Hewes and built between 1816 and 1820. Overhead shafts above the machines were attached to the water wheel by a belt. When the wheel turned, the motion moved the belt and powered the machinery. A beam engine and a horizontal steam engine were subsequently installed to supplement the power. The Hewes wheel broke in 1904 but the River Bollin continued to power the mill through two water turbines. The mill owners bought a Boulton and Watt steam engine in 1810 and a few years later purchased another because the river’s water level was low in summer and could interrupt production of cloth during some years. Steam engines could produce power all year round. Today the mill houses the most powerful working waterwheel in Europe, an iron wheel moved from Glasshouses Mill at Pateley Bridge designed by Sir William Fairbairn who had been Hewes’ apprentice.