Markenfield Hall, UK--The Hall

After visiting the moat, let's go through the guardhouse and see the courtyard and the interior of Markenfield Hall!

The courtyard is remarkably like it was back in the middle ages. A report from Queen Elizabeth's surveyors (the property was confiscated since the owners were on the losing side of the Rising of the North) gives the same impression that modern visitors would--the main hall is in the back, flanked by various farm buildings and lodgings for farm workers and visitors. The only thing out of place now is the modern vehicles.

Stables, now the garage

The main hall across the courtyard

Visitor accommodations and work rooms (and anachronistic vehicle)

The entrance is slightly changed in that a stone staircase formerly lead above the current door into the great hall on the first floor (or second floor if you are American). Visitors can see the archway that has been filled in slowly being covered over in foliage.

Main Hall

Inside, the first room is the Undercroft, which would have provided support to the great kitchen on the left. The kitchen is no longer there, it has been subdivided into several other rooms. After the Crown took over in the 1570s, the Undercroft also was subdivided. The entrance room became the kitchen for the tenant farmers who worked on the estate. The great hall's fireplace was dismantled and brought downstairs, making the centerpiece of the farm kitchen.

Entrance fireplace

Neighboring small kitchen

Medieval arches from the Undercroft

The rooms to the right lead to the interior stairwell, with the usual apparatus--coat hooks and a nice grandfather clock.

L can't wait to go upstairs

J is serious about being on time!

The Great Hall was originally built in 1280 and was a free standing building. When John de Markenfield was licensed to crenelate the house, he united the Great Hall to the surrounding buildings, making the impressive manor house that stands today. The hall was used for entertaining until the confiscation. Both it and the chapel were used for storage by the farmers. A modern replica of the 1340 fireplace has been installed, along with many furnishings and paintings to make a comfortable if busy room.

Great Hall from the stairs

The "new" fireplace

Books, busts, and breakables (luckily out of children's reach)

My dream--a bookcase with a ladder!

A fancy chest

Down a short hallway from the Great Hall is the Chapel. The hallway has a spooky arch and the windy staircase we guessed must be in the house when we were outside.

Spooky arch

Windy staircase

Exterior of windy staircase

The chapel is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel and was part of the 1310 expansion of the house. Mass was said here daily for 250 years by a series of resident priests, who were probably associated with nearby Ripon Cathedral (only three miles away). After the Rising, it became a store house and was eventually restored as a chapel in the 1980s.

St. Michael Archangel

Altar

North wall, indicating where two levels were built for storage

One remarkable part of the chapel is the medieval double piscina. It was used by the priest to wash his hand on one side and to clean the chalice and paten on the other side. The carving is quite elaborate, including the Markenfield crest and several oak leaves and acorns.

Medieval piscina

Nearby is a 17th century statue of a pelican feeding her young. It was believed that pelicans would tear open their breasts and feed their own blood to their young, much like Christ offering His blood on the cross to save mankind. Beneath the baby pelicans is the crown of thorns.

Pelican in her piety

We saw several bedrooms but signs asked not to take photos since the bedrooms are in use by the family. The rooms look cozy but it is hard to imagine living in such a house day to day.

Markenfield Hall is only open a few times a year and we have been meaning to see it for quite some time. We were happy to have the opportunity and highly recommend a visit. Services are still held in the chapel, which we have thought about attending but haven't worked it out yet.

Markenfield Hall, UK--The Moat!

The main feature that drew us to Markenfield Hall is the moat. This medieval fortified home still has a moat full of water surrounding it. Such a feature is remarkably hard to find in England. We've seen a few dry ditches, but nothing approaching what we've been led to expect from Hollywood movies, TV shows, and comic books.

Moat view from the parking area

The moat and the house are hidden behind a row of farm houses that are still used for farming. The estate has some sheep and cows, as we discovered on our walk around the place.

Horse trailer and buildings outside the moat

Even more buildings!

L found out the door was locked, bummer!

The moat goes all the way around the house and is fed by two underwater springs. Interestingly, that spot is the only part of the moat that doesn't freeze in the winter, so ducks and the black swans that live here can still swim around.

Black swans!

A little ladder for little paddlers

The moat and the house were built for defense in 1310. The country was on the verge of a civil war and Lord Markenfield received a license to crenelate his home, which means fortifying it. Later in the 14th century, Scots would come south every summer to raid northern English towns, including nearby Ripon, so manor houses needed protection. Of the six fortified manor houses near Ripon, this is the only one to be still standing today.

We walked around the moat and house anti-clockwise as was recommended. We came to a stile leading into the eastern fields, where cows awaited us.

Crossing in stile

Cows unimpressed by us

The eastern end of the house looks well defended and has some of the previous 1230 house incorporated into the structure. Also, the large, arched window is the eastern window for the chapel inside the hall.

Farmhouse inside the moat with few windows facing out

The main part of the hall with the chapel window and defensive crenelations on top

Coming around to the north side, which is the back of the hall, the chimney for the downstairs kitchen and the great hall above is easily seen. A small door leads into a mud room, where dogs would go in and out along with any workers who needed to visit the back gardens.

Back of the Hall

Footbridge to the great kitchen

A small orchard provides apples for the house and a small garden produces vegetables and herbs for the kitchen. We also discovered another small pond!

Extra water if needed

The west side of the house has farm workers' quarters that have not changed much since the medieval days.

North end of the farmers' quarters

More of the farmers' quarters, defended by trees rather than crenelations!

The walk led us back to the gate house, which had a draw bridge up to the 1700s. The upstairs room is now used by the administrator of the estate, though its original use by the gateman was probably the same--to keep track of who came in and out and what they were up to.

Gatehouse

In our next post, we go inside Markenfield Hall!

Father's Day 2013

This year I received a special treat for Father's Day--breakfast in bed! Not only breakfast, but gifts too. And I was allowed to sleep in till 6:30! Such luxuries are quite rare in our family.

L enjoys some of my pancakes

One of my presents is Shipmates Dice Games, a box with a variety of exotic and normal dice along with a book describing the history of dice (briefly) and various games to play with the set. We tried out Crown & Anchor, a classic game with special dice. The three dice have symbols of the four card suits (spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts), a crown, and an anchor. Other players place bets on a mat, predicting which symbols were be rolled. We used our leftover Hungarian forints and Czech crowns as playing piece. J loved the game.

Playing Crown and Anchor

We went to the 9 a.m. Mass at our local parish where the priest blessed us fathers at the end of Mass and children were handing out sweets to dads. Quickly they realized they had too many sweets and started handing them out to everyone, so J and L also had sweets to take home.

In the afternoon we visited a local home, Markenfield Hall, which was built in the 1300s and still has a moat around it. The hall is only open a couple of weeks each year. There will be a blog about it in the future. We had a fun, home-made pizza dinner and some friends came over for game night later, which was a blast too. It was a great Father's Day.