Brickworth, Wiltshire, England

I meant to include something about this beautiful home in the posting on Dec. 1, 2005.
Prior to our trip I located a web site for Brickworth and learned that it was a B & B. But alas, they ceased to be one as we were booking our lodging in England.

The web site for the B&B had some very interesting material on the house: I am copying that here ---
Brickworth Farmhouse was built in 1725, in the reign of King George I, though there is evidence that a much older house stood on the site. It was the farm for the large house built by Giles Eyre, who also built the local landmark, the Pepperbox, on the hill above the house. The farm passed into the Trafalgar estates when Kitty, sister of Admiral Lord Nelson, married into the Eyre family. The deeds of the farmhouse show it was sold by Albert Horatio Nelson Esq. to Laetitia Piggott, wife of Brigadier General Piggott in 1925. For many years it was a working farm, then well known as a riding stables, but now just 5 acres of land remain as part of the estate. We keep rare breed chickens in the orchard and also produce our own honey.

Because we were so close, right down the street in Whiteparish, and because the Brickworth property had been mentioned in Uncle Hampden's travelogue - from 1934: and additionally, in the monuments inside White Parish church, we decided to try and locate and visit the property.
We had brought with us a map showing where the home was located, very close to a major roadway, and not far from where we were staying. So, after visiting the church, we drove just a few miles and located the property.

We drove up to the property and parked in the parking area. I took a couple of photos of the exterior of the home and was greeted by the owner. After explaining who we were he was a bvery gracious fellow. We were also able to meet briefly with the lady of the house who was off for appointments!

As long as this web site stays 'up an drunning' you can access it to see the rooms inside. I did not take any photos of the interior of the home in an effort to preserve the privace of the current owners. This web site describes the property as an available B & B: http://www.2stay.com/uk/hotels/brickworthfarm.html

I located the following which describes the delelopment of the Whiteparish area - and later the building of Brickworth farmhouse - around 1605 by Giles Eyre: The 15th and 16th centuries saw the break up of the manorial system and by the mid 16th century most of the parish population was concentrated in Whiteparish village. There was no expansion in other areas and most of the 450 people estimated to have been here in 1580 must have lived in the village. The 17th century saw the enclosure of more open fields and an expansion into the area of a new land-owning class that had made their money elsewhere. New country houses, such as Bricksworth (c.1605 for Giles Eyre), and here is where I saw that there had been a fire and a rebuilding: .....while in 1860 Brickworth House was destroyed by fire and rebuilt.

Knowing this, I tried to photo thel house - and from the following angles you can pretty much determine the newer construction. . . . .

Somewhere I had read that there was a serious fire and the home was (at least partially) rebuilt in the 19th century.

While I did not ask, I believe the addition is the slightly taller building on the left - which also has the more outside and attached fireplace as opposed to the one on the right - built into the home.

This view is looking toward the front of the home, from an adjacent parking lot. The roof located closest to the lefft is also new construction - added after the fire in the 19th century. Shortly after the above photo was taken, I was met by the owner, and he showed us the home. We had a 'spot of tea. . . . .' in the front garden with their very pleasant guard dog. . . . . . . .

The following photo is of the front of the home.

We completed our visit at Brickworth, and left to drive up the road only a short distance to the "Folly" built by Giles Eyre around 1606. This is called the "peopperbox" and will appear on the next posting.