[ News
| Homes
| Life
| Entertainment
| History
| Science
| Community
| Shop ]
| Sport
| Culture
| Cars
| Money
| Broadband
| Learning
| Health
| Dating
| Games ]
[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
[ Time Team Home | Return to programme index ]
Hidden away in Kent is an architectural gem, a building that is important not because it's bigger or better than any other but because it has survived, complete with all the many changes and bodges made to it over the course of seven centuries. It's a Grade I listed building, a Scheduled Ancient Monument and, according to Pevsner, 'the most complete small medieval manor house in the country'. It's also been the subject of the National Trust's most ambitious and expensive renovation project in its history.
Ightham Mote is a magnificent moated manor house in the small village of Ightham, near Sevenoaks. Beginning in 1989, it has literally been taken apart brick by brick and beam by beam revealing the hidden history of the house for the first time. In this special documentary, Time Team tells the story of this different kind of archaeology as the renovation of the final section of the house, the south-west quarter, was carried out in 2003-2004.
The village of Ightham is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, compiled for William the Conqueror in 1086, but the origin of its name suggests that it already existed half a millennium earlier. The modern place name, Ightham, is derived from the early Anglo-Saxon 'Ehtaham'. 'Ehta' is a Jutish personal name, while 'ham' means settlement.
The parish church dates from the 12th century, but it was not until the early 1300s that Ightham Mote appears on the scene. Its earliest parts were built at around the same time that Edward II granted the request of the lord of the manor for permission to hold an annual fair in the village. That was in 1336; dendrochronology dating from timber samples taken during the renovation of the house places the first phase of its construction around 1330. This phase included the construction of the great hall, the crypt, the Old Chapel and two solars or upper chambers.
The builder of Ightham Mote is not known, but the first owner that we know about was Sir Thomas Cawne, who lived there from 1340 until his death in 1374. A number of different owners subsequently made their mark on the property as a series of additions, changes and makeovers were carried out, each reflecting the altering fashions, materials and techniques of their times.
The house's current owner, the National Trust, lists the most notable of these owners and their additions to the house as:
Edward Haut, who enclosed the courtyard and constructed the cottage range (1487-1519);
Sir Richard Clement, who embellished the house with Tudor symbols, including the Oriel room's window barge boards, the great hall's stained glass, and, in particular, the unique New Chapel ceiling (1521-1538);
Sir William and Dame Dorothy Selby, who developed the drawing room and adjacent range (1611-1641); and
Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson, who undertook an extensive repair programme following his purchase of the house in 1889.
Colyer-Fergusson owned the property until his death in 1951. His grandson then auctioned the contents and sold the house itself to a group of local people who had hoped to renovate and preserve it. The cost turned out to be beyond them, however, and two years later it was sold again, this time to Charles Henry Robinson, of Portland, Maine. He bequeathed it to the National Trust, who took over responsibility for the property following his death in 1985. The renovation of the house began in 1989.
A £10-million project
The conservation work at Ightham Mote began back in 1989, and the final phase was completed early in 2004. Altogether, it has cost around £10 million, representing the painstaking approach to the renovation that has seen the building completely taken apart, recorded and rebuilt. Only the foundations and some of the walls have remained untouched during this process and even these have been carefully examined with impulse radar equipment to identify cracks, cavities and water penetration within the stonework.
Soon after the National Trust was bequeathed the property by the American businessman, Charles Henry Robinson, in 1985, it became apparent that it would require complete renovation to safeguard it for the future. The National Trust decided that it was such a unique building, incorporating changes, additions and even bodge repairs – from a range of different periods and fashions – that it was important to preserve everything.
Revealed and concealed
This even included features that would not be visible once the renovation was completed because they would be concealed behind walls, ceilings, panelling or other parts of the building. Among the hidden 'treasures' revealed by the restoration process but now covered up again are an original 15th-century roof support and wattle and daub plasterwork from the attic; a large, rough-cut tree trunk used in a 17th-century roof repair; 19th-century wallpaper completely covering the walls underneath the panelling in the library; painted marbling on the walls of the south west quarter bedroom and corridor; and a beautifully detailed, tiny sketch of the view to the Oriel Room adjacent to a window overlooking the courtyard.
Because of the scale of the work required, the National Trust came up with a plan to work on one part of the house at a time. This enabled the Trust to keep the property open to visitors and maintain a flow of income while the work progressed. It also meant that the public could see for themselves what was being done, with special viewing windows and information panels being provided to keep them informed.
Recorded, removed and rebuilt
At every stage of the project, before anything was removed, every detail was painstakingly measured, drawn and photographed. An exact record was made, not only so that it could all be put back together again in precisely the same way but also to facilitate future interpretation and understanding of the different phases and techniques involved in the building's construction.
Time Team followed the final year of the renovation project, focusing on the south west quarter of the house. This phase of the work took about 21 months altogether and cost around £2 million. In the process, the south west quarter was stripped to ground level and then put back together again. As Time Team's Phil Harding said when he first saw it, 'You're not renovating it, you've gutted it!'
The south west quarter includes the private apartment of its last private owner, Charles Henry Robinson, which has been restored the way he left it. This completed a restoration that represents all of the major phases in the building's 700-year history, from its beginning in the early 1300s.
Unearthly chill
Some time in 1872, or so one version of the story goes, workmen were called in to deal with an unexplained draught in the tower at Ightham Mote. Try as they might, the owners had never been able to overcome the coldness of the air in that part of the property. It was, according to those who felt it, an unearthly chill, which normal heat could not affect.
Behind a panel, the workmen were to make a discovery that would chill them to the bone. For as they removed it, they uncovered a small sealed-up space, just large enough to accommodate a chair and the skeleton of a woman seated in it.
Gunpowder Plot
The skeleton was reputed to be that of Dame Dorothy Selby, whose family owned Ightham Mote from the end of the Elizabethan era through to Victorian times. The Selby family were diehard Catholics and it was said that in November 1605 they knew of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Dame Dorothy was supposed to have sent an anonymous letter to her cousin, Lord Monteagle, warning him not to go to Parliament on 5 November. The letter was intercepted, however, the plot revealed and the conspiracy thwarted.
Subsequently, Dame Dorothy's role in betraying the conspiracy came to light and friends of the plotters resolved to punish her. According to the story, she was seized and walled up in the tiny space in Ightham Mote's tower.
Even after her body had been discovered (and presumably reburied), the strange chill continued to haunt the tower. The local bishop was supposed to have been brought in to carry out an exorcism all to no avail. The ghost of Dame Dorothy is said to continue to haunt the tower to this day.
The truth
All of which makes a great story, except that there's hardly a scrap of truth to be found in it.
The whole thing seems to stem from a misreading of the memorial to Dame Dorothy, which is where it has always been, even when she was supposed to have been walled up in Ightham Mote – in the local church in the village of Ightham. Well known for her needlework, Dame Dorothy chose the Gunpowder Plot as one of the subjects for her tapestries.
The memorial says that she was a woman 'whose art disclosed that Plot' which means simply that it was depicted in her needlework. Those few words have been misinterpreted, however, to suggest that she revealed the Gunpowder Plot to the king and parliament, and on such flimsy foundations were the subsequent fantasies about a walled-up skeleton, ghost and exorcism built.
Hidden shoes
One of the most fascinating discoveries at Ightham Mote was the large number of hidden shoes found in spaces under floorboards, in chimneys and elsewhere. This seems to have been a relatively common folk practice.
The Concealed Shoes Index at Northampton Museum receives an average of one find a month, but curators there believe that hundreds of finds every year are simply thrown out by builders. These finds come from a wide range of dates, with the numbers of shoes from different periods being roughly proportionate to the number of surviving buildings from those periods. The practice continued until the 20th century, when it seems to have gone into serious decline.
For instance, there are around 50 examples in the Concealed Shoes Index from before 1600; around 200 from 1600-1699; approximately 270 from 1700-1799; around 500 from 1800-1899; and 50 or so from after 1900.
These shoes are usually found concealed in chimneys, either on a ledge a little way up the chimney or in purpose-built cavities behind the hearth into which items can be deposited from above. These have been termed 'spiritual middens'.
Other places of concealment are found in walls, under floorboards, in window frames and in staircases. Nearly all of the shoes discovered in this context are well worn. Half of those found belonged to children and only very rarely are pairs found.
Various theories have been put forward to explain why shoes were concealed in this way. One suggestion is that they were a fertility symbol. For example, Roy Palmer in his book The Folklore of Hereford and Worcester mentions a recent case from Broadwas-on-Teme in 1960, when a midwife refused to allow a young woman to remove her shoes until her child was born.
Ralph Merrifield, the author of The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic (Batsford, 1988), cites the old rhyme, 'There was an old woman who lived in a shoe/She had so many children she didn't know what to do', as providing evidence of the connection between shoes and fertility. He also mentions a practice from Lancashire, whereby a woman who wanted to conceive would wear the shoes of someone who had just given birth, hoping that her fertility would be passed on through the shoes.
Another explanation is offered by Denise Dixon-Smith, a former assistant keeper of the Boot and Shoe Collection. She says: 'One reason for hiding shoes in chimneys and around doors may have been because they were "openings" where evil spirits could enter the home, and the shoe as a good luck symbol should warn them off.'
Ralph Merrifield suggests that an 'unofficial saint' named John Schorn was partly responsible for the custom. Schorn was reputed to have cast the devil into a boot, which fits in with the idea of shoes acting as a trap for evil spirits. This notion sees hidden shoes as a kind of folk magic to protect houses from unwanted intruders such as witches. The shoes hidden in cavities behind hearths, for example, may have been intended to act as a kind of bait. Witches would be lured into the trap by the smell of the shoe and once there would be unable to escape, since as everyone knows witches are unable to travel backwards.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Ightham Mote
Ivy Hatch
Sevenoaks TN15 0NT
Tel: 01732 810378
01732 811145 (infoline)
Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/ighthammote
E-mail: ighthammote@nationaltrust.org.uk
The house and garden at Ightham Mote are open from early spring to late autumn (18 March to 30 October 2005), from 10.30am to 5.30pm. The grounds are open from dawn to dusk all year round.
Although the house is the main attraction at Ightham, the garden has also been subject to a restoration programme since 1985. Medieval in layout, it is now primarily a reflection of the 19th century and the National Trust has taken its inspiration for planting from this period.
Free introductory talks lasting approximately 15 minutes are offered at set times displayed each day. Garden tours are also available as advertised. Children's and foreign guides are available, along with garden and estate leaflets, which include a range of beautiful walks. A Teacher's Resource Book is also available with helpful hints and ideas about how to use Ightham Mote on site and in the classroom for KS1 to 4 and above.
English Manor Houses by Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon Sykes (Laurence King Publishing, 2001) hardback £40
This coffee-table book focuses on the manor houses of England. These smaller scale houses, often of more ancient origin than the 'great houses', are scattered all over the country, ranging from simple Norman halls to picturesque Tudor manor houses and handsome buildings from the reign of the Stuarts. Whereas most of the great houses have now been sold by their original owners and are maintained as museums, many of the manor houses are still privately owned and lived in as homes. Accompanying the photographs of some 40 manor houses, one of which is Ightham Mote, the text describes the architecture and the families who created the houses.
A Gazetteer of Medieval Houses in Kent by Sarah Pearson, P S Barnwell and A T Adams (Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1994) ISBN: 0113000499
This companion volume to The Medieval Houses of Kent (ISBN 0113000472) and The House Within (ISBN 0113000480) presents a detailed record of 414 medieval buildings spread across 107 parishes, many of them dated through dendrochronological analysis. Descriptions of the buildings are accompanied by a list of documentary sources and a bibliography of previous studies. The book is profusely illustrated with plans, sections and scale drawings of architectural details, and it will be of value to anyone interested in the primary evidence gathered by the Royal Commission in the course of its survey of Kentish buildings, conducted between 1986 and 1992.
'Building repairs and the conservation of the painted ceiling in the New Chapel at Ightham Mote' by Stuart Page in Journal of Architectural Conservation (Volume 4 Number 2, July 1998)
The story of Ightham Mote and of the works that have been so important in defining parts of its history are skilfully presented by Stuart Page in this article. The nature of the work and the processes of careful assessment and evaluation that led to the success of the project are explained and illustrated in a manner that leaves no doubt as to the high professional standards of those involved. The article focuses particularly on the conservation of the 16th-century painted ceiling in the house's New Chapel.
Brick Building in Britain by R W Brunskill (Orion, 1997) paperback £16.99 ISBN: 0575065354
The Tudors reintroduced the use of bricks in building in Britain for the first time since the Romans. The manufacture of brick, its use in historic buildings and the changing styles of brick-based construction and decoration are all described in this well-illustrated book.
Life in the English Country House: A social and architectural history by Mark Girouard (Yale University Press, 1993, 2nd edition) paperback £16.95 ISBN: 0300058705
Classic introductory book on the architecture, use, and evolution of English country houses from the medieval period to the Second World War. Although not an archaeological text it provides a good background on the way house plans, facades etc reflect the original purpose of the building and social standing and expectations of the builder.
The English House by James Chambers (Thames Methuen, 1985) hardback £14.95 ISBN: 042300400X
Tells the story of the English house in all its richness and diversity, from the earliest medieval dwellings to the 20th century. Includes a good introductory chapter on Tudor country houses.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
National Trust, Ightham Mote
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/ighthammote
The National Trust website includes full details of the opening times, facilities and events at Ightham Mote. It also has a short history of the house and garden and a small picture gallery.
Ightham Community Website
www.ightham.org.uk/about_ightham.htm
The Ightham Community Website contains a short but interesting history of the village.
Adanor Photography
www.adanor.co.uk/ighthammote.html
Adanor Photography's photo gallery of images of the house and garden at Ightham Mote.
Country houses and stately homes in England and Wales
www.britainexpress.com/
Where_to_go_in_Britain/
historic_houses/historic_houses_index.htm
Handy AZ with details of location, opening arrangements etc.