Contrary to popular opinion that it always rains on bank holiday weekends, Good Friday arrived dry and sunny and we set off on the Wightlink Ferry along with many other travelers for the first big ‘getaway’ of the season. Our destination, Littlecote House not far from Hungerford.
Just off the A.4, Newbury to Marlborough Road, we decided to stop at Hungerford for some caffeine before continuing on to Littlecote House. Hungerford has boasted antique shops for centuries and the town, steeped in history, remains an antique haven today. After a welcome coffee at the Plume of Feathers Inn on the High Street, sitting at the window watching city life go by, we spent an hour or so walking across the road wandering the stalls of the Hungerford Arcade. Dating back to 1360, this building was one of the first arcades of its kind in the country and houses around 80 shopkeepers. We balked at buying a very unusual Victorian claret tankard and instead settled for a pair of silver and enamel cufflinks depicting golfers. An apt birthday gift for a golf-mad son.
At that moment Littlecote was calling. Back in the car and only ten minutes away, we were soon driving along the tree-lined avenue and through the paddocks that led to the Casa. It’s easy to close your eyes and imagine riding to the house, but this is 2006 and we’re in a car, so we drive into the new section of the hotel inside and east of the estate buildings, park, check in, and unload our luggage. for the weekend. One of the joys of staying at Littlecote is that you can book a room at the Manor House and let your imagination take you back in time.
Prior to the construction of a mansion at Littlecote, finds of Paleolithic and Mesolithic flint tools and Bronze Age pottery shards indicate that there was human activity on the site which also attracted the Romans. William George, a Littlecote butler, made an archaeological discovery in 1728, the significance of which was not fully realized until further excavations were carried out in the late 1970s, when a mosaic floor dating to the Roman age. During the 13th and 14th centuries a medieval village developed on top of the Roman settlement and a former manor house was established, held by Roger de Calstone. Now Littlecote is one of England’s finest Grade 1 listed medieval Tudor mansions and boasts a long history of alterations and additions. From the mid-13th century it remained in the Calstone family until William Darrell married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de Calstone in 1415 and inherited the estate, then passing to Sir John Popham in 1590, Lord Chief Justice who presided over Sir John’s trials. Walter. Raleigh and Guy Fawkes and who was responsible for many of the modifications and additions.
As a typical visitor to Littlecote, I like to first visit the Great Hall with its gray and white diamond tile floor, oak paneling and English vaulted ceiling. There is a blue, gold and bronze circle in the high window where the initials of Jane Seymour and Henry VIII are linked by lovers’ knots and cupid’s heads, for it was Littlecote that Henry VIII visited and courted Jane, a kinsman of the Darrells. In the Hall are a 30 foot long Shovel-Board and the finger stock said to have been used by Judge Popham to confine prisoners in the dock.
A door at the end of the Great Hall leads to the drawing room decorated in hand-painted Chinese wallpaper with windows opening onto the original main driveway and lawn. This room is wonderfully relaxing and an ideal place to sit and read the Sunday morning papers, while the Popham Library off the drawing room is a very special place to enjoy an after-dinner drink. Beyond the library is the Dutch Room which would fascinate all art lovers with its panels depicting scenes from Butler’s ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘Hudibras’, painted by Dutch prisoners taken from a naval battle around the year 1665.
Continuing on is Brick Parlor with examples of 17th century paneling and Diamond Hall is the Cromwellian Chapel and gallery created by Alexander Popham, Sir John’s grandson. We are told that this is the only surviving example of a Cromwellian chapel in a private home, with the pulpit placed where the altar would be in other places of worship. The term ‘drop off’ originates from the design of the pews with their slight forward tilt which causes anyone who falls asleep during a service to literally ‘slip off’. They also work. You just have to try them! The chapel gallery then leads to the haunted landing and bedroom, named for its association with the murder of a newborn baby during the Darrells’ estate.
The story goes that a midwife from nearby Shefford was brought to the house, blindfolded, to deliver a baby. After successfully helping her mother deliver a child, the midwife was ordered by a wild-eyed man to throw the baby into the fire, later identified as ‘Wild’ William Darrell. He is the ghost of the mother who is said to haunt both the bedroom and the landing. To complete our visit to the house, we visit the Long Gallery with its beautiful viewpoint. Lined with family portraits, this room measures about 110 feet by 18 feet. Long verandas, a typical feature of houses of this time, provided an opportunity to exercise without having to venture outdoors in bad weather. No less attractive to visitors than the house, however, are the gardens, some 113 acres of which 40 acres are formal gardens, but they are another delight, another story.