| Highclere is a few miles south of
Newbury and it was known for its bricks, and excavations can be still
seen from Tubbs Lane to Old Kiln cottage at The Mount. And the bricks
that were produced here went to the building of Highclere Castle. The
church used to stand in the castle grounds and was moved to its present
location and three cottages were built of the stones that were left over
during the move this is Bottle Row and they were built to house the
workers in Penwood . The Old
Beerhouse now a private residence was used be known as 'Little Hit and
Miss' around the 17th to 18th century as Ale was sold through a small in
the front room.
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The church at Highclere with the peace memorial
on the left |
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The Red
House public house |
Dorset and Hampshire's very first
thrift club was formed here at Temple Lake where the upper classes
used to use The Temple as a resting place when on a shoot and the
thrift club was known as the Temple Club or The Hants and Dorset
Deposit Society whose members used to attend a church service on Whit
Monday and then had a procession carrying banners to the Temple.
Highclere Street is a small hamlet that lies about a mile from the
centre of the village, there is an old inn and some medieval houses
that seems to prove that this was in fact the original village. On one
of the larger houses there is a plaster Royal Coat of arms. The lane
that leads to the or iginal church begins here.
The present day Highclere has a church
that was built in the 1800s.
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(photo courtesy of
Tommy Thomas)* |
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HIGHCLERE CASTLE
As mentioned above Highclere is graced with a castle that was
designed by Charles Barry during the 1830s which was the time he
was building the Houses of Parliament. The castle is not a
fortified castle but a grand house that was built for the 3rd Earl
of Carnarvon who was classed as one of the greatest hosts of
Victorian times. It is in fact a large square mansion that is
built of a honey coloured stone and has a square tower in the
centre and a roof line that has pinnacles up on it. The inside of
the house is just as stunning and the rooms are magnificent. there
is a fan vaulted Gothic style ceiling in the Entrance Hall and the
enormous library is designed on the Reform Club Library in London,
in the centralised tower can be found the main staircase. The house
has a collection of paintings done by old masters and some
portraits by Van Dyck and the furniture which is mainly 18th and
19th century includes the desk and chair that Napoleon used at St
Helena.In the cellars there
is a collection of finds by the 5th Earl of Carnarvon who along
with Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamuns tomb in Egypt. these
were discovered in the castle in 1988. The present Earl of
Carnarvon is the Racing Manager of the Queens horses and in 1993
The Lord Carnarvon Racing Exhibition was opened to celebrate his
50th year as an owner and breeder. The castle is surrounded by
parkland that was designed by Capability Brown.
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*Permission to use the above photo
of Highclere Castle has been applied for but all email are retuned
User unknown
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