Newstead Abbey I

We're both into Byron at the moment and it was a nice day so we took ourselves off to Newstead Abbey- the house he lived in for six years in his early twenties.

Newstead has a wild history. It was a proper Abbey- gifted to the Byron family by Henry VIII after the dissolution of the monasteries- and much of the building is still intact, including the spectacular west front of the church, complete with a rare, undamaged statue of the Virgin and Child. Byron's uncle, the fifth Lord Byron, who was so bad he got called "the Bad Lord Byron"- though probably not to his face- used to stage naval battles (with real cannon and real powder and shot) on the big lake and built a make-believe castle on the hill (now demolished- alas, alack) for holding orgies in. He ran the estate into the ground and when Byron the poet moved in the house was a shell and the grounds were a wilderness- very gothick, very romantick.  The famous Lord Byron fixed a few rooms up for his private use and filled the rest of the building with whores and wild animals- including a bear- and in a fit of angry satire buried his favourite hound, Boatswain, on the site of the Abbey church's high altar.

After moving to Italy, Byron sold the estate to his friend Thomas Wildman- who in spite of his name and in spite of having fought at Waterloo- was a gentle soul who spent millions in today's money turning it into a tasteful Victorian family home. It's his spirit and that of the family that succeeded his- the Webbs- that are dominant at Newstead now. I don't think I've ever been in a house of this sort that felt so welcoming and so tranquil. 

It's a beautiful place. And I'm not just talking architecture, I'm talking genius locii. 



Here are a couple of pictures of  the cloister garth- the heart of the building. It's been planted with herbs and flowers sacred to the Virgin Mary- and has this glorious late medieval fountain set up in the middle.  I've been in churches and cathedrals- and stone circles-  that felt much less spiritual. This is holy ground. 



And here are two images of the famous West Front

Newstead Abbey- Gardens

The 19th century Spanish Garden



An ornament in the Rose Garden



The Japanese Garden- created for Ethel Webb in 1907



Japanese maples

Newstead III

Here is Ailz, wearing her ever so fashionable cap, enjoying a sit down in the courtyard cafe. Another remarkable thing about Newstead is that the catering is really very good. Also there are ducks and peacocks wandering about, begging for treats. 



And here is Ailz, still wearing her ever so fashionable cap, waiting to be admitted by the disabled entrance. This door is known as "The Dark Entry". I was hoping it might have some ghastly medieval legend or ghost story attached to it, but the sad truth, the guide explained,  is that it got its name simply because it opens onto a dark passage.

But there are ghosts at Newstead. The most famous of them is the Black Friar who used to appear to the Byrons when one of them was about to suffer a disaster. Byron the poet maintained that the Friar showed up in his dressing room shortly before his ill-advised, short-lived and scandal-generating marriage to Arabella Millman.