The John Rylands Library holds the special collections of the University of Manchester’s library. The library was built by Enriqueta Rylands, the widow of wealthy industrialist John Rylands, after his death in 1888. It is a fantastic neo-Gothic building, like something from a sinister movie, but beautiful inside. It was designed by Basil Champneys (with
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Not long ago, in the great scheme of things, Witley Court was a Palladian mansion with a staff of over 100 servants and it is claimed that the heating system used 30 tons of coal each day. The fortune to build the mansion and its gardens came not from an old aristocratic family, but from
Buckingham Palace is the administrative HQ of the Monarchy and has been the Monarch’s official London residence since 1837. It is also a focus for national events. The Duke of Buckingham acquired a house on the present site in 1698, which he replaced with a new ‘Buckingham House’. This was acquired by George III in
The National Coal Mining Museum of England is located at a former colliery, Caphouse, which was in production for more than two hundred years. There are several museum galleries that showcase the technology of mining and working underground, illustrate what mining was like in the 19th century and tell the stories of the miners, their
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Baddesley Clinton has a very long history, with some fascinating tales to tell. For centuries, it was a perfectly respectful medieval manor. Then, in 1438, it was bought by a wealthy lawyer, John Brome, who got himself murdered – and was avenged. Eventually, ownership passed to the Ferrers family, who called the place home for
Why is the small Scottish village of Gretna Green famous for marriages? In 1753, Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act declared that all marriage ceremonies in England and Wales had to be conducted by a minister in a parish church or chapel of the Church of England and that anyone under the age of 21 needed the
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Blickling is a large estate and stately home, with walks through 4,600 acres of woodland, parkland and farmland, 55 acres of formal gardens and a splendid Jacobean house and a museum dedicated to a WW2 bomber station. Much is made of Blickling being Anne Boleyn’s childhood home; she is even said to haunt the place,
Westminster Abbey, formally the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is close to being the national church. It has been at the centre of English, and British, state occasions – coronations, weddings, funerals, services of commemoration – since William the Conqueror was crowned there on Christmas Day 1066. Indeed, 40 monarchs have been crowned
Lowther Castle is a dramatic Victorian ruin, but with a much longer history. The massive estate fell into disrepair, was used for tank training during the Second World War and, since the 1950s, the castle itself has been open to the elements. The ruins have now been stabilised and turned into gardens, the original gardens
For years, Apsley House was simply known as ‘No 1, London’ – it being the first house of any note encountered when arriving from the west. No other address was needed. These days, its location is more forlorn, one of the busiest traffic roundabouts in London, Hyde Park Corner. It was, famously the London home
The Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth is a focal point for all Bronte fans. The Bronte family moved to Haworth in 1820, when Patrick Bronte was appointed ‘perpetual curate’ of the parish church. They lived in the Parsonage, where the three immensely talented sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne – wrote some of the finest
The National Portrait Gallery does what it says; it was founded in 1856 to collect portraits of famous British people. Its collection includes over 200,000 portraits from the 16th Century to the present day, created in a wide variety of mediums. These include drawings, miniatures, negatives, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures and many more. It can
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