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(The
quotes with acknowledgments are from Pevsner - Buildings of England)
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"The
Bliss Valley Tweed Mill built to resemble a great house in a park and far removed from the
simplicity of Early Victorian industrial architecture. It has a balustraded parapet and
square corner cowers with urns. A chimneystack of the Tuscan order dominates. It rises
from a domed tower and is dated 1872. The architect was George Woodhouse from Lancashire,
who specialised in the design of mills and factories." |
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"The
Almshouses are set back from the road behind a low wall and gateway with strapwork
cresting and finials.A parade of eight gables and tall chimneystacks with the
inscription"The work and gift of Henry Cornish, gent1640". |
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"St Mary. The chancel and
aisles retain 13thC and 14thC work but the nave rebuilt c1485 is one of the finest 15thC
interiors in the county. The nave was rebuilt at the expense of John Ashfield - a wool
merchant - and is as ambitious as those of other great Cotswold churches such as
Northleach and Cirencester.The clustered shafts of the piers are continued upwards
unbroken by capitals to support the timber roof. They are the only division between the
clerestory windows, which form an almost continuous band of glazing above the nave - one
of the most striking examples of Gothic curtain walling in the county." |
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"The Town Hall. 1842 by
G.S. Repton. Neo-classical with a pedimented Tuscan portico placed strangely to one side
and not facing the Market Square as might be expected." |
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"Chastleton House stands
at the end of a forecourt entered through a handsome archedstone gateway. In 1602 the
estate was purchased by Walter Jones - a Witney wool merchant - and the house was built
soon after. It has since been little altered. The front of three storeys over a basement
has a dramatic group of five narrow gables receding from the centre to the massive
staircase towers on either side. It is an accomplished design....The Great Chamber on the
first floor could not be more opulent. Every inch of the walls and ceilings is covered in
vigorous but coarse decoration in Flemish style. the effect is blatantly nouveau
riche, even barbaric, uninhibited by any consideration of insipid good taste."
Chastleton House is now owned by The National
Trust. |
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"The garden at Rousham is one of the
earliest and least altered embodiments of the idea of the Picturesque. It is on wooded
ground sloping sharply towards the River Cherwell. A tour of the garden unfolds a series
of classical scenes composed like paintings. The intricacies of the layout are not
immediately apparent - demostrating the element of surprise required in Picturesque
composition - a perfect illustration of Pope's advice on planning a garden in which every
turn should conceal a surprise. "Let
not each beauty everywhere be spied
When half the skill is decently to hide."
MORE ABOUT ROUSHAM? |
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The Rollright
Stones - about two miles north of Chippy. The following quote is NOT from Pevsner, I found
it on the Rough Guide Travel website and if you believe this you'll believe anything!!... Legend says that no one can accurately count these stones - apparently they
go for a drink down at the stream at night! It is said to be a highly magnetic field and I
had quite a strange experience while I was there. I took my video camera into the circle
to video and found that the tape actually stopped running, my batteries all went dead.
When I arrived home in Australia and tried to play the tape - it had been completely
erased. Another lady who was there had terrible trouble with her hearing aid. Also, when
holding divining type rods they became quite active....Peter & Yvonne Kerr, Australia
(Aug 98)
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