Maxstoke Castle

I have lived in Nuneaton and for some time Coventry all my life but I had no idea this castle existed. When I saw the Open Day advertised I thought it was for the ruins at Maxstoke village, it was quite a surprise to arrive at this beautiful moated castle. 

It was built by the 1st Earl of Huntingdon and completed in 1345. The Castle remained in the family for 80 years before being exchange for manors in Northamptonshire. The Earl of Stafford and 1st Duke of Buckingham took ownership and his family lived at the Castle until 1521

The Earl's son later married Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII and up to the late 16th century the Castle had a mixed history including at times being of requisition  by the Crown. During the Civil War the Castle was garrisoned by Lord Brooke, a Parliamentarian. William Dilke, then owner, pledged £2000 that the Castle would not be occupied by Royalists. The Dilke family owned the Castle for over 400 years and it is still a family home.

The inner courtyard and grounds were open and it was possible to visit the first floor of the tudor black and white timbered house. Both inside and out were superb examples of the Castles and its houses age. Inside there were many magnificent objects including many royal items. 

We had a superb day out, learning so much about somewhere so close to home yet unknown. The Castle grounds outside the moat included a walled garden and woodland walks. It is somewhere we'd visit again on their annual Open Day and probably take a picnic next time too. 

Witley Court and Gardens

Although we are members of English Heritage we don't visit many properties in England, its usually Welsh castles when visiting our daughter. Witley Court and Gardens is in Worcestershire very near the Welsh border and, with a little detour, on the way home from Rogerstone. 

Whitley Court is now in ruins, although it was once a superb mansion house over time it has suffered in many ways and now is a skeleton  full of history.  It was quite strange wandering round ruins, usually that would be an old castle and not a stately home once filled with treasures.

Great Witley manor dates back to the mid 13th century and was passed through families to Sir William Russell in 1624. It was probably a timber framed house with a stone under croft that is still there today. Sir William was the first to begin rebuilding the house in stone. The house was bequeathed to Thomas Russell who sold it just a year later to Thomas Foley of Stourbridge, a family known for its iron industry in the West Midlands. The house would belong to the Foley family for the next 200 years. 

Thomas Foley III, Lord Foley of Kidderminster, enlarged the house and after his death in 1733 his widow and son, Thomas IV rebuilt the parish church with its famous Baroque interior. Thomas also developed the house and created the lake that lies north of the house. 

Thomas was a popular name in the Foley family; upon Thomas IV death the estate passed to his cousin Thomas Foley, 1st Lord Foley. 

Thomas 2nd Lord Foley put the estate under strain with his gambling but the 3rd Lord Foley enabled the estate to recover by marrying into a wealthy family in 1806. The house was again extended and the grounds landscaped which adding to the extravagant lifestyle of the Foleys eventually brought about the sale of Witley Court in 1837 to William Ward for the sum of £680,000.

William Ward was still a minor when the property was bought in a trust, he was also heir to iron and coal industries in Staffordshire, and plantations in Jamaica. He did not receive control of his fortune in 1845 when he reached the age of 28. Now Lord Ward he married Selina Constance de Burgh in 1851 but tragedy struck as she died in childbirth shortly after. Lord Ward focussed his time on Witley Court, rebuilding the mansion house including a vast conservatory, a curved wing and the spectacular Perseus and Andromeda fountain. 

 In 1860, aged 48 he married 19 year old Georgina Moncreiffe. They went on to have a large family, six sons and a daughter, and lived many years at Witley. Following his death the house passed to his eldest son William, 2nd Earl of Dudley

A lithograph of Witley Court in 1879

Up until 1902 the house was used for lavish parties and entertaining. The estate was especially good for shooting parties and the Prince of Wales was often a visitor. The 2nd Earl and Countess were often away with his role as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and later Governor- General of Australia. The Countess became known for her tireless charity work but with Lord Dudley having many affairs their marriage ended in 1912 when they returned from Australia.

The Countess was given a life tenancy of Witley Court but her reduced income and WWI limited the party lifestyle she had previous enjoyed. Sadly whilst on holiday in Ireland the Countess drowned and as such Witley Court's future was to dramatically change. 

Lord Dudley sold the Witley Estate to Sir Herbert Smith. He added an electric dynamo system to provide electric light and power. In 1937 there was a devastating fire destroying much of the central house and east wing and although some of the house was saved the restoration was too much for Sir Herbert. The contents of the house were sold and Sir Herbert moved away, he died in 1943.

The service courtyards at Witley were used as a jam factory during WWII but the rest of the huge house was neglected and soon became ruins with the gardens overgrown. During the 19050s and 1960s various items were sold, even the magnificent fountain was offered for sale but remained in place. In 1972 the Department for the Environment took guardianship of the estate to preserve it, some repairs were carried out to reinforce the walls. 

Whitley Court was transferred to English Heritage in 1984 and during the 1990s restoration of the formal gardens including the fountain was undertaken. In 2022 the fountain was back in working order and is still provides a stunning display although only at set times a day.

Witley Court is quite a sad place, it could have still been a magnificent house filled with furnishings and possessions of the past but sadly through time and it's varied history nothing remains but the ruins. It is an impressive building and standing at the fountain watching its amazing display it is easy to imagine life as it may have been at Witley Court.

Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea is somewhere I have always wanted to visit, just to say I've been. Hubby and I popped down early June for a two night stay in the Premier Inn which had a lovely Toby Carvery net door. We couldn't see the sea from our room but the hotel was directly on the sea front so ideal to walk along. 

Arriving on a Sunday we decided to walk inland slightly to a micropub we'd found online. It was lovely, quite small and full of locals which is a good sign. There was quite a choice of beer, cider and wine. Hubby enjoyed Brewer's Gold and being a stout fan I tried the Mad Dog Black - very nice, dark, creamy with a good hint of coffee. 
 

Monday morning we set off into Southend-on-Sea walking along the seafront, it was just over a mile to the famous pier which stretches out 1.3 miles into the sea and has a train on it ... one of the main reasons for our visit. 

Southend Pier has so much history, it was originally needed for visitors to alight from pleasure boats to as the shore at Southend was too shallow.  - here's a brief timeline:

1829 - Foundations laid by the Lord Mayor of London 

1830 - a 600 foot wooden pier, using 90 oak tress, was opened

1833 - the pier was extended to 1.800 feet

1846 - the pier was extended further 

1848 - it was the longest pier in Europe and was sold for £17,000 (over £2million today)

1890 - a single track railway was installed

1898 - a further extension to 1.3 miles made it the longest pleasure pier in the world 

1903 - 250,000 passengers arrived by pleasure boat and over 1million people had paid to visit the pier.  

During World War I three prison ships were moored off the pier and the Royal Navy had a war signal station at the pierhead. 

1920 - more facilities were added to the pier as holiday makers returned

1927 - more work was done to the east side of the pier and named the Prince George Extension at a cost of £58,000
1930 - four trains, each with seven carriages, now ran daily on a double track

During World War II the pier was closed to the public and was used by the Royal Navy, renaming it HMS Leigh, the |Naval Control for the Thames Estuary. 

1945 - the pier was re-opened with visitor numbers reaching nearly 6 million by 1950, The Dolphin Café was built using timber left by the Navy and other attractions were opened. 

1949 - four new trains replaced the old ones
1959 - a fire destroyed the pavilion at the entrance to the pier, over 500 people were trapped on the pier and rescued by boat. 

1962 - a bowling alley replaced the pavilion but with holiday makers going abroad the pier visitors declined.

1976 - a fire destroyed the pierhead, the railway was deemed unsafe and closed

1983 - repair work was done with a grant from the Historic Building Committee

1986 - at a cost of £1.3 million the new railway service was completed and opened by HRH Princess Anne. 

1995 - a fire destroyed the bowling alley but did not damage the pier.

2002 - the RNLI Lifeboat Station was opened

2005 - another fire damaged the pierhead, the Southend lifeboat was used to transport firefighters to the blaze.

2009 - the new station platform was opened by The Worshipful Mayor of Southend

2012 - the new Cultural Centre was added to the pier

2013 - HRH Duke of Kent opened the Royal Pavilion and the new RNLI Lifeboat Station

2021 - new electric trains arrived replacing the old diesel trains

2022 - TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (now Our King and Queen) unveiled the new eco-friendly train sir David Amess

2023 - the pier was awarded Pier of the Year by the National Pier Society
2024 - new attractions were opened by the Worshipful Mayor of Southend

2025 - Clare and Nick had a brilliant time travelling to the end of Southend Pier on the Sir William Heygate 

Our first stop on arriving at the end of the pier was a coffee with cake in the lovely Tea with the Tide café. This cute blue wooded building was the location for Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast programme that was on Channel 4 from 2014 to 2021. Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty had a variety of celebrity guests each week, cooking a variety of meals. The building was a working café and was closed for two weeks every year to film the tv series.

Being at the end of the pier was an amazing experience, so far out at sea with the north Kent coast seeming nearer than Southend. There were some huge cargo ships sailing up towards Tilbury, the Thames Estuary is not a straight route, it looked quite a feat for some huge ships.

Back on land I was surprised to see Southend was actually up a small hill and not a flat town along the shore. It was fairly quiet when we visited but in the summer and at weekends I can see it being very busy with the funfair and amusements. 

Many of our trips in the UK involve a visit to Wetherspoons, mainly because we know the food will be good, especially the breakfasts, and in all honesty a lot cheaper than breakfast in hotels. DH has the Wetherspoons app which, to his delight, records which pub we have visited ... we are nearly at 80!

One thing I like like about Wetherspoons is the way they look after our old buildings, a lot of our heritage has been saved. The Last Post in Southend was once Southend's head post office built in 1896. It was closed in 1993 and converted into a pub. I loved the characters on the roof inside, I do think Wetherspoons pubs are more than just a hospitality venue.

We had a lovely few days in Southend-on-Sea, it was not at all as we expected but as I said it was not holiday time or a weekend. I'm not sure we'd visit again as there was not much more to see than the pier but I'm so glad we went

Sutton Hoo

Back in May we visited Sutton Hoo on our way home from Southwold. I remember doing a project at school about the Anglo Saxon burial ground, in fact I made a scroll and wrote on it in runes, it has always been a place that intrigues me.

It was Edith Pretty and Basil Brown who discovered the burial ship and it's amazing treasures. It is said to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries, Time Team have completed work on a cemetery at the site and recently some additional excavations. The replica of the boat at the visitor centre shows just how big it was.

It's a very large site, high above Woodbridge and te River Deden. It's amazing to think they pulled the boat up to the chosen site. It would be a hard task today with our modern machinery, it must have taken ages and many men.

It's quite a walk from Edith Pretty's house, with many burial mounds. I imagined it was just one but there are large mounds and smaller ones. Standing tall but not in an obtrusive way is a viewing tower, the lower level is accessible but it was quite a lot of stairs to the top .... it was so worth it, what a view.

Edith's house stands high above the river, it's a lovely house in itself. The upper floors are closed and are used by the archaeologists still researching the site. Downstairs is mainly exhibits of photos and records, very different to a furnished National Trust property.

The visitor centre however had many finds, including replicas of important discoveries that are now in the British Museum. The intricate designs are amazing, such skilled craftsman. The collection of coins and the helmet were my favourite but all the items were impressive.

We had a great visit and will be watching Time Team as they have discovered the other part of a highly decorated bucket. The top half had already been found but thought yo have been broken by ploughing. They have found and removed the bottom and are now cleaning and investigating it ... their YouTube channel has lots of videos, hopefully later this year we'll know more.