website
==========================================================
I am a huge Downton Abbey fan, I will openly admit that and I wish Julian Fellowes would stop killing characters, but otherwise I love everything about this show.
Downton Abbey....
Why is it called an 'Abbey' (Downton)?
"Abbey" - The building or buildings occupied by a community of monks or nuns, according http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defini...lish/abbey
Well, maybe - as many other of the great English Estate houses, Highclere is on the site of a former ecclesiastical property and when Henry VIII turned against the Catholics in the 16th century, he appropriated Catholics - lock, stock, and barrel.
Britain always leaves us awed by ancient castles, palaces, gardens and museums. History pours out a legacy of battles, a developing monarchy, a structured class system, court-inspired behaviors and fashions, artwork and writings that have created a love for all British things.
Downton Abbey: Behind the scenes of series 5
On location at Highclere Castle for the filming of Downton Abbey
In her temporary tent outside Highclere
Castle in Berkshire, Lisa Heathcote, the home economics adviser on Downton
Abbey, is peeling countless quail eggs to be served at the
cocktail party – a reception being thrown by Robert
Crawley, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), the Lord Lieutenant of
Yorkshire – that is being filmed inside the house.
Things are going well. The sun is out. Everyone is happy. And then there is a
problem. The ice in the cocktail glasses is making too much noise. Is there
perhaps any rubber ice that they could use instead?
Inside the Victorian castle the atmosphere is hushed. Candlelight, shimmering
beads and elegant grandeur are the order of the day. Above the murmur of
polite, cocktail-party conversation, a familiar booming voice announces the
arrival of each new guest.
Jim
Carter, aka Mr Carson the butler, is the physical embodiment of
everything that its estimated global audience of 150 million viewers (100
million of them in China alone) has come to love about Downton Abbey:
dignified, reassuring, and not quite knowable.
read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/downton-abbey/11090761/Downton-Abbey-Behind-the-scenes-of-series-5.html
===================================================================
In 1838, the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon brought in Sir Charles Barry to transform his home into a grand mansion which would impress the world.
It was a time of energy and change. The young Queen Victoria had just come to the throne, and the whole decade witnessed innovation in politics and cultural life.
The new “Highclere Castle” dominated its surroundings in a most dramatic way. No wonder Benjamin Disraeli's first words on seeing Highclere were "How scenical! How scenical!".
The structural work on the interior of the Castle was finally completed in 1878. Once built, the Castle became a centre of political life during the late Victorian era.
In
many ways Highclere Castle epitomised the confidence and glamour of the
Edwardian period in the first few years of the twentieth century.
Visitor books record the house parties full of politicians,
technological innovators, Egyptologists, aviators and soldiers.
During the First World War, Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, transformed the Castle into a hospital, and patients began to arrive from Flanders in September 1914. She became an adept nurse and a skilled healer and hundreds of letters from patients and their families bear testament to her untiring work and spirit of generosity.
The Castle returned to a private home and in 1922 the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the first global world media event.
Following the death of the 5th Earl, his son, who then became the 6th Earl, returned to Highclere where he lived until 1986. During the Second World War, the Castle briefly became a home for evacuee children from north London.
The current (8th) Earl and Countess of Carnarvon live partly in the Castle and partly nearby but remain closely involved in the Castle's day to day life and future.
source: http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/about-us/history-of-highclere-castle.html
============================================================
read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/downton-abbey/11090761/Downton-Abbey-Behind-the-scenes-of-series-5.html
===================================================================
History of Highclere Castle
Early years
An Iron Age Hill Fort dominates the landscapes at Highclere and an early Anglo-Saxon charter suggests people have lived here for some 1300 years. A few maps and outlines remain from that time but records are better kept from Georgian times.Georgian and Victorian Times
Major rebuilding works were carried out in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by the Carnarvon family and the old brick and freestone house was converted to a classical Georgian mansion within a pastoral setting. The major transformation, however, was just about to happen.In 1838, the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon brought in Sir Charles Barry to transform his home into a grand mansion which would impress the world.
It was a time of energy and change. The young Queen Victoria had just come to the throne, and the whole decade witnessed innovation in politics and cultural life.
The new “Highclere Castle” dominated its surroundings in a most dramatic way. No wonder Benjamin Disraeli's first words on seeing Highclere were "How scenical! How scenical!".
The structural work on the interior of the Castle was finally completed in 1878. Once built, the Castle became a centre of political life during the late Victorian era.
The 20th Century
In
many ways Highclere Castle epitomised the confidence and glamour of the
Edwardian period in the first few years of the twentieth century.
Visitor books record the house parties full of politicians,
technological innovators, Egyptologists, aviators and soldiers.During the First World War, Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, transformed the Castle into a hospital, and patients began to arrive from Flanders in September 1914. She became an adept nurse and a skilled healer and hundreds of letters from patients and their families bear testament to her untiring work and spirit of generosity.
The Castle returned to a private home and in 1922 the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the first global world media event.
Following the death of the 5th Earl, his son, who then became the 6th Earl, returned to Highclere where he lived until 1986. During the Second World War, the Castle briefly became a home for evacuee children from north London.
The current (8th) Earl and Countess of Carnarvon live partly in the Castle and partly nearby but remain closely involved in the Castle's day to day life and future.
source: http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/about-us/history-of-highclere-castle.html
============================================================
Debt, dalliances and the real Downton; the dramatic history of her Highclere ancestors, revealed by current chatelaine Lady Carnarvon
|
|||
===================================
