"nationally famous for what a contemporary guide to the seats of the gentry called its ""exquisitely beautiful and uncommonly extensive"" prospect northwards across the Severn Estuary to Wales and southwards over the River Avon towards the Avon Gorge and Bristol. It formed the climax of well-published rides from fashionable resorts such as Bath, Clifton and Hotwells returning across Kingsweston Hill, Blaise Castle Estate and Westbury on Trym. Jane Austen has characters of hers talk of excursions to the estate in Northanger Abbey and in Emma (but in both cases those characters are generally depicted as foolish by the author). It"
"Public Speaker Barnard Castle Barnard Castle is a market town in Teesdale, County Durham, England. It is named after the castle around which it was built. It is the main settlement in the Teesdale area, and is a popular tourist destination. The Bowes Museum has the best collection of European fine and decorative arts in the North of England, housed in a ""magnificent"" 19th-century French-style chateau. Its most famous exhibit is the 18th-century Silver Swan automaton, though art includes work by Goya and El Greco. Barnard Castle sits on the north bank of the River Tees, opposite Startforth and south-west"
"Barnard Castle Barnard Castle is a market town in Teesdale, County Durham, England. It is named after the castle around which it was built. It is the main settlement in the Teesdale area, and is a popular tourist destination. The Bowes Museum has the best collection of European fine and decorative arts in the North of England, housed in a ""magnificent"" 19th-century French-style chateau. Its most famous exhibit is the 18th-century Silver Swan automaton, though art includes work by Goya and El Greco. Barnard Castle sits on the north bank of the River Tees, opposite Startforth and south-west of the"
"Highclere Highclere (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish situated in the North Wessex Downs (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It lies in the northern part of the county, near the Berkshire border. It is most famous for being the location of Highclere Castle, a noted Victorian house of the Earl of Carnarvon. It is the setting for numerous films and TV series, including ""Downton Abbey"". The parish church of St Michael and All Angels sits between Highclere Castle and the main part of the village. This 'new' church"
"Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town and was a historic city in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about from London. Rochester was for many years a favourite of Charles Dickens, who owned nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham, basing many of his novels on the area. The Diocese of Rochester, the second oldest in England, is centred on Rochester Cathedral and was responsible for the founding of a school, now ""The King's School"" in 604 AD, which is recognised as being the second oldest continuously"
"but run by his rich uncle Sir Thomas Blunt. One of the oldest and grandest houses in England, Dreever is famed for an old ghost story, handed down from generation to generation. There is a picturesque rose-garden, and a lake with an island, ideal for young lovers. In ""The Gem Collector"", an earlier version of the story, the house is called ""Corven Abbey"", and owned by former New York policeman McEachern. The Drones Club is a fictional gentlemen's club for feckless youth, located in Dover Street, London. Easeby Hall is the fictional Shropshire seat of Bertie Wooster's Uncle Willoughby in"
"stories the two attempted to escape before the final assault but died in a flash flood while trying to cross the River Wye, and live on as ghosts on the site. Goodrich Castle Goodrich Castle is a Norman medieval castle ruin north of the village of Goodrich in Herefordshire, England, controlling a key location between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye. It was praised by William Wordsworth as the ""noblest ruin in Herefordshire"" and is considered by historian Adrian Pettifer to be the ""most splendid in the county, and one of the best examples of English military architecture"". Goodrich Castle was probably built"
"a golden shield with a red cross, upon a green mount, surmounted by a mural crown, relating to Carlisle's history as an ancient walled city. This is supported by two red wyverns—legendary dragons used in heraldry—their wings strewn with golden roses, with reference to the city's Brythonic history. The motto beneath the arms comes from Thomas Wolsey's speech to Thomas Cromwell, in Shakespeare's play, ""Henry VIII"": ""Be just and fear not."" The City of Carlisle is located at the extreme north of North West England. It encompasses Cumbria's county town, Carlisle, and its surrounding rural hinterland, which together total ,"
"of the Highclere Estate Chapel. Highclere Highclere (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish situated in the North Wessex Downs (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It lies in the northern part of the county, near the Berkshire border. It is most famous for being the location of Highclere Castle, a noted Victorian house of the Earl of Carnarvon. It is the setting for numerous films and TV series, including ""Downton Abbey"". The parish church of St Michael and All Angels sits between Highclere Castle and the main part of"
"Saga"". In a radio broadcast on 15 July 1961, Evelyn Waugh said: ""The gardens of Blandings Castle are that original garden from which we are all exiled."" Blandings Castle, lying in the picturesque Vale of Blandings, Shropshire, England, is two miles from the town of Market Blandings, home to at least nine pubs, most notably the Emsworth Arms. The tiny hamlet of Blandings Parva lies directly outside the castle gates and the town of Much Matchingham, home to Matchingham Hall, the residence of Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, is also nearby. The castle is a noble pile, of Early Tudor building (""its"
"Inverness Inverness (; from the , meaning ""Mouth of the River Ness""; ) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Inverness lies near two important battle sites: the 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on the Aird and the 18th century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor. It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen (Gleann Mòr) at its north-eastern extremity where the River Ness enters the"
"Hatfield. It has more than 23,000 students. Hertfordshire is the location of Jack Worthing's country house in Oscar Wilde's play ""The Importance of Being Earnest"". Jane Austen's novel ""Pride and Prejudice"" is primarily set in Hertfordshire. The location of Mr Jarndyce's Bleak House in Charles Dickens's ""Bleak House"" is near St Albans. The eponymous residence in E. M. Forster's novel ""Howards End"" was based on Rooks Nest House just outside Stevenage. George Orwell based ""Animal Farm"" on Wallington, Hertfordshire where he lived between 1936 and 1940. Manor Farm and The Great Barn both feature in the novel. Hertfordshire Hertfordshire (;"
"look into the possibility of a Mr Brick from Wales being the victim of Rouse. Hardingstone Hardingstone is a village in Northamptonshire, England. It is on the southern edge of Northampton, and now forms a suburb of the town within the Northampton Borough Council area. It is about from the town centre. The Newport Pagnell road (the B526, formerly part of the A50) separates the village from the nearby village of Wootton, which has also been absorbed into the urban area. As a village distinct from the town it has its own parish council, unlike more recent 20th and 21st"
"in Belgrave Square. A house in Belgrave Square is used for exterior shots. Inveraray Castle in Argyll, Scotland, doubled as ""Duneagle Castle"" in the 2012 Christmas special. Greys Court near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire was used as the family's secondary property, which they proposed moving into and calling ""Downton Place"" due to financial difficulties in Series Three. Also in the third series, Bates's prison scenes were filmed at Lincoln Castle in Lincolnshire. Horsted Keynes railway station in Sussex is used as Downton station. The station is part of the heritage Bluebell Railway. St Pancras station in London doubled for King's Cross"
"in the BBC's natural-history programmes, including ""Animal Magic"" (filmed at Bristol Zoo). Bristol is the birthplace of 18th-century poets Robert Southey and Thomas Chatterton. Southey (born on Wine Street in 1774) and his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, married the Fricker sisters from the city. William Wordsworth spent time in Bristol, where Joseph Cottle published ""Lyrical Ballads"" in 1798. Actor Cary Grant was born in Bristol and comedians from the city include Justin Lee Collins, Lee Evans, Lloyd Langford, Russell Howard and writer-comedian Stephen Merchant. Bristol has 51 Grade I, 500 Grade II* and over 3,800 Grade II listed buildings in"
"Bruce Castle was among the buildings mentioned in John Abraham Heraud's 1820 Spenserian epic, ""Tottenham"", a romantic depiction of the life of Robert the Bruce: Bruce Castle is now a museum, holding the archives of the London Borough of Haringey, and housing a permanent exhibition on the past, present and future of Haringey and its predecessor boroughs, and temporary displays on the history of the area. Other exhibits include an exhibition on Rowland Hill and postal history, a significant collection of early photography, a collection of historic manorial documents and court rolls related to the area, and one of the"
"Austen's brother. Austen visited her brother and Elizabeth at the estate regularly during their early married life. Goodnestone, Dover Goodnestone is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of Kent, England. The village is situated approximately east-southeast from the city of Canterbury, and west-southwest from Sandwich. The civil parish also contains the villages of Chillenden and Knowlton, and the hamlets of Rowling and Tickenhurst. Goodnestone's Grade I listed parish church of the Holy Cross is in the Diocese and Archdeaconry of Canterbury and the Deanery of East Bridge. The church is set adjacent to Goodnestone Park, and dates"
"Gaunt. Her court lavishly patronised music and the arts, and was said to have ""somewhat similar to a modern Windsor"" in its ambition. In June 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots was at Carlisle Castle after fleeing from Scotland after her defeat at the battle of Langside, and the English Privy Council decided to lodge her either at Nottingham Castle, Fotheringhay Castle or Tutbury, so that she was further from the Scottish border or Yorkshire. In January 1569 the Scottish Queen was taken from Bolton Castle, going first to Ripon and staying a night nearby, then to Wetherby staying a night"
"Blandings is a fictional town, being the closest town to Blandings Castle. It is the site of the Emsworth Arms and a host of other hostelries (such as the ""Beetle and Wedge"", the ""Blue Boar"", the ""Blue Cow"", the ""Blue Dragon"", the ""Cow and Grasshopper"", the ""Goat and Feathers"", the ""Goose and Gander"", the ""Jolly Cricketers"", the ""Stitch in Time"", the ""Wheatsheaf"", and the ""Waggoner's Rest""), as well as a useful railway station, from where a fast train can get you to Paddington in under four hours. A sleepy old place, Market Blandings is one of England's most picturesque towns,"
"Northampton Northampton is the county town of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies on the River Nene, about north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham as the crow flies. It is one of the largest towns in the UK. Northampton had a population of 212,100 in the 2011 census. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. During the Middle Ages, the town rose to national significance with the establishment of Northampton Castle, which was an occasional royal residence and regularly hosted the Parliament of England. Medieval Northampton"
"the Galaxy"" while he lived in Stalbridge; John le Carré, author of espionage novels, was born in Poole; Tom Sharpe of ""Wilt"" fame lived in Bridport; John Fowles (""The French Lieutenant's Woman"") lived in Lyme Regis before he died in late 2005; T.F. Powys lived in Chaldon Herring for over 20 years and used it as inspiration for the fictitious village of Folly Down in his novel ""Mr. Weston's Good Wine""; John Cowper Powys, his elder brother, also set a number of his works in Dorset, such as the novels ""Maiden Castle"" and ""Weymouth Sands"". The 19th-century poet William Barnes"
"the ""Barsetshire"" novels of Anthony Trollope, who attended Winchester College; ""The Warden"" (1855) is said to be based on a scandal at the Hospital of St Cross. A fictionalised Winchester appears as ""Wintoncester"" in Hardy's ""Tess of the d'Urbervilles"" (1891). Some of the action in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ""The Adventure of the Copper Beeches"" (1892) takes place in the city—the Black Swan hotel mentioned in the story formerly stood at the end of Southgate St and is still acknowledged by a figure on the outside of the building. In Charles Kingsley's romantic history ""Hereward the Wake"" (1866), Hereward smashes"
"Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in West Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Styled ""The Pearl of Dorset"", it lies at Lyme Bay on the English Channel coast at the Dorset–Devon border. It is noted for fossils found in cliffs and beaches on the Heritage Coast or Jurassic Coast – a World Heritage Site. The harbour wall known as ""The Cobb"" appears in Jane Austen's novel ""Persuasion"", in the John Fowles novel ""The French Lieutenant's Woman"", and in the 1981 film of that name, which was partly shot in the town. A former mayor and"
"nearby villages, holds regular performances in the castle—a tradition carried on now for some years. Academic Dr. Robert Clark theorized Jane Austen based her 1814 novel ""Mansfield Park""'s eponymous fictional Northamptonshire country house on Castle Ashby. Castle Ashby House Castle Ashby House is a country house at Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, England. It is one of the seats of the Marquess of Northampton. The house, church, formal gardens and landscaped park are Grade I listed. The original castle, a manor house, came about as the result of a licence obtained in 1306 by Walter Langton, Bishop of Coventry, to castellate his"
"rich in iconography it shows an exquisitely carved and outstandingly preserved eagle with a serpent in its beak. It was exhibited at the Museum of London in October 2013.[16] The nearest London Underground station is Aldgate on the Circle and Metropolitan lines. Nearby mainline railway stations are located at Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street, and Tower Gateway is the closest Docklands Light Railway station. Aldgate Aldgate is an area of Central London, England, within the City of London. is located east north-east of Charing Cross. It lies within the Historic County of Middlesex. It was the eastern-most gateway through the"
"Rochester Castle. There are however a few areas where the plot differs from accepted historical narrative. The historic city was for many years the favourite of Charles Dickens, who lived within the diocese at nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham, many of his novels being based on the area. Descriptions of the town appear in ""Pickwick Papers"", ""Great Expectations"" and (lightly fictionalised as ""Cloisterham"") in ""The Mystery of Edwin Drood"". Elements of two houses in Rochester, Satis House and Restoration House, are used for Miss Havisham's house in ""Great Expectations"", Satis House. The actress Dame Sybil Thorndike and her brother Russell"
"an oath of loyalty to one another. In 1686, Thomas Erle hosted a secret meeting in the ice house at Charborough Park. The discussion led directly to the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Soviet spy Anthony Blunt was born in Bournemouth in 1907. He was stripped of his knighthood in 1979 for treason. Dorset has produced two archbishops: John Morton and William Wake. Dorset is a popular home for performing artists. Those who have moved to or own second homes in Dorset include the director Guy Ritchie, actors Martin Clunes and Edward Fox; singer-songwriters Billy Bragg and Noel Gallagher; and"
"an international centre of reconciliation. Rose Castle Rose Castle is a fortified house in Cumbria, England, on a site that was home to the bishops of Carlisle from 1230 to 2009. It is within the parish of Dalston, from Dalston itself. The architects Anthony Salvin and Thomas Rickman were responsible for the alterations which took place in the 19th century. The historical importance of Rose Castle is shown by its Grade I listing by Historic England. In September 2015, Rose Castle was listed for sale, with a sale price in excess of £2,950,000. It has since been purchased with the"
"which provides an ideal spot for wildlife observation. Since William Camden, Burgh Castle has been suggested as the site of Cnobheresburg, the unknown place (a ""castrum"" or fort) in East Anglia, where in about 630 the first Irish monastery in southern England was founded by Saint Fursey as part of the Hiberno-Scottish mission described by Bede. Historians find many arguments against this location, but are unable to agree on a better one. The Roman fort at Burgh Castle was excavated by Charles Green during 1958-61. A detailed report by Norfolk Museums Service in 1983 (""East Anglian Archaeology 20"") shows that"
"War. It is now an oblong tower house and one of the best-preserved hall houses in the north of England. It is a Grade I listed building. In 1888 it was acquired by the Cruddas family, and it is currently owned by the Braithwaite family. Haughton Castle Haughton Castle is a privately owned country mansion situated to the north of the village of Humshaugh on the west bank of the North Tyne. It is some 10 km north of Hexham, Northumberland (). It was built originally in the 13th century as a tower house, and enlarged and fortified in the"
"and Helsingør harbour. Kronborg Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play ""Hamlet"", Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list (2000). The castle is situated on the extreme northeastern tip of the island of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between present Denmark and the provinces of present Sweden that were also Danish at the time the castle was built. In this part, the sound is only wide, hence the"
"open to the public. Hardy is buried in Westminster Abbey, but his heart was removed and buried in Stinsford. William Barnes, the West Country dialect poet, was Rector of Winterborne Came, a hamlet near Dorchester, for 24 years until his death in 1886, and ran a school in the town. There are statues of both Barnes and Hardy in the town centre; Barnes outside St. Peter's Church, and Hardy's beside the Top o' Town crossroads. John Cowper Powys's novel ""Maiden Castle"" (1936) is set in Dorchester and Powys intended it to be ""a Rival of the ""Mayor of Casterbridge"". Powys"
"a series of aqueducts to the Alston Reservoirs near Longridge. Trough of Bowland The Trough of Bowland is a valley and high pass in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Lancashire, England. The pass, reaching above sea level at the head of the valley, links to Wyresdale, dividing the upland core of Bowland into two main blocks. Though steep and narrow, the road is the most direct connection between Lancaster and Dunsop Bridge, and hence Clitheroe. It was the route taken by the ""Pendle witches"" to their trial at Lancaster Castle in 1612. The Grey Stone of"