The Bath Tower

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Castles, Landmark Trust, Photography, The UK

While away Hubby and I stayed in another Landmark Trust property, this time The Bath House part of Caernarfon Castle and Walls.

The walls around Caernarfon like the castle itself were built in the late 13^th century.  In was part of a Bath House although not believed to house the baths themselves, although since this period it has been called the Bath Tower.  In 1856 the North Wales Theological (later the St Mary’s) Training College, obtained the Bath House through the efforts of the Bishops of Bangor and St Asaph at a Crown rent of 4d a year.  The lower floors were used as a pantry and for the cleaning of shoes and knives and by 1871 the first floor was the chapel with stained glass being placed in what is now the kitchen and bathroom.  It became a private house in 1894 and was lived in until 1907 and ran into disrepair before Landmark Trust purchased it in 1967.  While several other of the bastion towers on Caernarfon town walls have been lived in, in the past, it is now only the Bath Tower that is habitable.

To be absolutely honest, I was a bit disappointed by this property, not because of the property itself or it’s situation which has many pluses, but because it was clad in scaffolding and netting, an entrance wasn’t available to us and men appeared outside our bedroom window first thing in the morning; if this had been my first Landmark Trust Property visit I wouldn’t have been recommending them as I have been.

Hubby was less perturbed by the pointing work than I was so you can read a more enthusiastic report about our stay there over at Hubby’s blog, for me I am just going to stick to the history and post pictures of the stained glass from when the first floor was a chapel (ps I slightly disagree with Hubby and Landmark Trust’s notion of floor counting I think it’s starts with a basement – I will explain my reasoning to anyone who is interested!)

The Bath Tower Kitchen Window

The Bath Tower Bathroom Window

Hill House

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Hill House

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was commissioned to design The Hill House for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie in 1902.  The house was designed to combine traditional features with Mackintosh’s new approach, this can be most clearly seen in the dinning room which contains only more traditional furniture and the dressing room which includes an old chest of drawers belonging to the Blackies’ that Mackintosh built a wardrobe around.  In the Drawing room there is a stunning gesso panel by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh above the fireplace and more of her work can be seen in the Master bedroom.  While the house itself is set on the hill above Helensburgh with stunning views of the Clyde and Ayrshire coast.

The Hill House, Helensburgh

There is one other thing about Hill House that means Hubby and I might very well visit again, the top floor, what was once the servant quarters, is now a flat managed by the Landmark Trust.

What Would You Have Done?

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Landmark Trust

Before that question can be answered I firstly need to set the scene.

When deciding where to stay for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last week Canons Ashby quickly became top of the list.

It is a National Trust Property which also happens to contain a flat owned by Landmark Trust, for regular readers of this blog, that is the same organisation that owned Luttrell’s Tower which I blogged about our visit to here.  The main part of the flat itself is contained in the top two floors of the tower, with the kitchen and bathroom off to the left of the picture in the roof.  Getting to the flat involves entering through the door going up the main staircase, then a wonderful worn wooden spiral staircase.  Due to past neglect of the building the floors and doors and in fact everything in that part of the building is wonderfully squiffy, and just like Luttrell’s Tower we also had access to the roof of the tower and the stunning views that surrounded us on every side.

Not far from the house is all that remains of the Augustine Priory that once dominated the area, and is where the Canon part of Canons Ashby comes from.  The Church of St Mary is now only used once a month for Evensong and is also owned by the National Trust.

Like most National Trust Properties the house was set in wonderful gardens, with an orchard which is at the forefront of the first picture and neatly manicured lawns and topiary, regimented beds of summer annuals, with glorious borders of shrubs and herbs, and to the right of this picture the newly reinstated fern border.

So the scene is set so time to return to the question which titles this blog – What would you have done?

On our second evening these three facts stared us in the face.

The evening was warm and sunny.

We had sole private access to the gardens.

And we had only managed to have 4 of our 5 a day.

Now what would you have done?

Well what we did was make up a big jug of Pimms and Lemonade, filled it with fruit and headed for the garden to drink it in the evening sunshine.  Bliss!

Luttrell’s Tower

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Landmark Trust

Hardly had time to breathe since getting back so it is just as well we had a very relaxing holiday, it started at Luttrell’s Tower.

Luttrell's Tower From The Beach

Luttrell’s Tower is known as a folly, although I am not sure that it really is as it was always intend to be lived in.  Is is not far from Calshot and Southampton.  The Luttrell of the name, is Temple Simon Luttrell who was the member of a colourful if slightly disreputable Irish family.  In 1778 he married the daughter of Sir Henry Gould, and in 1793 he was arrested in Bologna by revolutionaries, being believed to be the brother of the King of England, he was released two years later and died in 1803.  He bought the land in 1772 for duck hunting; the tradition is that he built the tower for smuggling, but it more likely started out as a very grand hunting lodge, as one of his brothers was an excise commissioner, so the smuggling idea may be a bit of a red herring and the idea probably grew up from the network of tunnels that where dug underneath the tower one of which leads down to the beach.  The passage of time and alterations have meant that the tunnel now no longer opens out directly onto the beach but onto a small patio slightly raised from the beach.

Beach Entrance to Smugglers Tunnel

There is no definite date for when the tower was built although it is thought to have been in the early part of the 18th century, however it is first mentioned in a print of Calshot Castle in 1780.  In those days it was called Eaglehurst and consisted of the tower, behind which through subterranean passages were a number of marquees to which the family moved when the tower was too cold and the wind from the Solent too wild.  In 1813 the 7th earl of Cavan became the owner of Luttrell’s Tower and replaced the tented buildings with a house in the same plan.

Queen Victoria, while still a princess, visited the estate in 1833 aged 14, during the visit she climbed the tower wrote in her diary that there were fine views of Norris Castle on the Isle of White and commented that, at that time, one of the rooms in the tower was the home to an Egyptian Mummy, from which she was given a piece of the linen that it was wrapped in.  (We have no idea which room.)  It is said that Queen Victoria considered buying the property when it came up for sale but eventually chose Osborne instead.

Queen Victoria passed by while we were there too, no not as a ghost, but the Cunard ship which sailed past on our first evening.  During our stay we saw countless vessels of all shapes and sizes.

Queen Victoria sailing past Luttrell's Tower the Isle of Wight in the distance

After being sold Eaglehurst House was lived in by the Drummond family until being requisitioned by the RAF during the WWII, while the Tower had a series of tenants the most notable being Marconi from 1911 to 1916.  With its high position over the Solent looking towards the isle of Wight it played an important part in radio experiments between the tower and his other station near The Needles.  On 10th April 1912 Marconi’s wife and daughter climbed the tower to watch the Titanic sail out of Southampton, Marconi and his wife had been invited as guests of the White Star Line to be on the maiden voyage, however circumstances had meant they didn’t make the fateful voyage.  The new Marconigram was to play a vital role in the events that were to enfold on that fateful voyage, and make it an essential part of every ships equipment.

Now the tower is owned by The Landmark Trust and you too can stay in it, and I doubt you will be disappointed.  Our stay there was up there amongst the most relaxing days of my life, apart from maybe the climb up the 200+ stairs to the top of the tower, (that is the top of the round bit) although the view was definitely worth it.

Luttrells Tower

There is only one large on each floor and the three rooms above ground level, are all bright and airy with a triple aspect including spectacular views over towards Isle of Wight, all the rooms are tastefully decorated with period furniture.  On the ground floor there is a twin bedroom with en-suite:-

Twin Ground Floor Room - Luttrell's Tower

on the first floor there is a double bedroom and the third floor with the white bay windows (on the outside photographs) is the living room with small kitchenette.  We spent a lot of time sitting at this table watching the world sail past.

Luttrell's Tower Living Room View towards Isle of Wight

If instead of going upstairs you open this beautiful door (which incidentally was the only door in the tower which wasn’t curved to match the spiral staircase):-

and head downstairs you arrive at a games room and the towers entrance to the smugglers tunnel.

Tower Entrance to Smugglers Tunnel