Exceptional Travel Writing
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The manor house, Ightham Mote, dates originally from the 14th century. At first sight the Mote appears to be all of one date, but it is the result of six centuries of building and rebuilding, although the house still boasts its original great hall, chapel and crypt. |
The
name is derived from Ightham, the village three kilometers (1.8 miles)
north of the house, and "Mote" has been variously interpreted
as an earlier spelling of "moat" or, less obviously, as "moot"
or the Anglo-Saxon "mot," meaning a meeting place of local
dignitaries. As early as 1370 the house appears as "La Mote"
in the will of Sir Thomas Cawne, one of its first owners.
The moat itself is not regular in proportion, but varies in width from
three to 11 meters (10 to 36 feet) and in depth from one to three meters.
It is fed by the stream that descends from the upper lake by a waterfall,
running through culverts under the big lawn, known as the Bowling Green,
draining on the south side into the lower lake.
After a chequered ownership over six hundred years, the house was bequeathed
in 1985 to the National Trust. The current conservation of Ightham Mote
is the largest project ever undertaken by the National Trust on such
a fragile and ancient house.
Says Gervase Jackson-Stops, Architectural Advisor to the National Trust,
"There is nowhere else like Ightham Mote .... It is a house that
has been shaped through many centuries, by successive owners adding
their own embellishments, and contributing to the character of what
is one of the most picturesque of all English houses. Today we are faced
with a formidable conservation project; a program of essential work
that can proceed only with the help of voluntary contributions."
The garden at Ightham Mote has flourished in recent years and had emerged
as the ideal "olde English" garden. This is how it was described
in 1900 by Country Life magazine:
"The gardens themselves are simply delightful, with many a sunny
walk and shady retreat, with grassy paths and edgings of saxifrage,
gorgeous borders in which lilies and many other splendid denizens of
the garden flourish ... Ightham is a place where the sweetness of the
country reigns."
Woodland walks, footpaths and bridle paths also surround the garden.
One has been specially designed to accommodate visitors in wheelchairs.
For more information about Ightham Mote check the website: Ightham
Mote.
IGHTHAM
MOTE
was first published in the Victoria Times-Colonist
