A-Z Challenge 2017 - Houses, some real, some not - 'Y'

Y - York House

Having 'cheated' slightly on 'X' I was thinking of doing the same for 'Y' by posting on the royal members of the House of York.

But as you might expect there are many houses in England call 'York House'. The one I have chosen is one at the home of rugby in Twickenham.

York House, Twickenham
(!7 January 2015, by Jim Linwood - CC BY-SA 2.0)

This historic stately home currently serves as the Town Hall for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

It occupies part of the site belonging from at least Tudor times to Yorke Farm; its name derives from that family.

Over the centuries the house passed through several owners after Queen Elizabeth I and King Edward VI granted Yorke farm to members of their household.

In 1897 the house was sold to the Duc of Orleans who had been a Pretender to be King of France, but by 1906 it was acquired by an Indian merchant Prince, Sir Rata J Tata. He was to be the last private owner.

Subsequently in 1924 the property was purchased by Twickenham Urban District Council. In August 1926, Twickenham received its Charter of Incorporation and in November the new borough held its first council meeting in York House. Appropriately the building was officially opened by the Duke of York (later George VI) on 16th November 1926. 

A-Z Challenge 2017 - Houses, some real, some not. - 'E'

E - Englefield House

An AD 871 battle between Saxons and Danes on what was to be called the "Englishman's battle field" or the "field of angels" is possibly the origin of the name of Englefield.

The Englefield family were lords of the manor from as early as the 9th century.

However it was via a John Constable painting that I first heard of Englefield House.

Constable's Englefield House© V & A Museum

The Berkshire mansion, with 18th and 19th century modelling is built loosely on the Elizabethan E-plan.

Sir Francis Englefield, the last of the Englefield family to live here, was prosecuted by Queen Elizabeth 1 for his Catholic sympathies. The house was seized by the crown in 1585.

Elizabeth gave the house to her favoured Earl of Essex. He later fell from grace and was executed for treason.

In 1635 the house was purchased by John Paulet, the 5th Marquis of Winchester. Paulet had married the daughter of Walsingham, Elizabeth's spymaster.

Englefield House became the main residence of the Paulets after their Basingstoke palace burnt down, It has remained in the ownership of the descendants of them ever since.

Englefield House - 16 April 2010
(ex geograph.org.uk - by Richard Croft - CC BY-SA 2.0)

A-Z Challenge 2017 - Houses, some real, some not -' B'

B - Burghley House

This is a house that I first saw as a boy at Stamford School. Our annual cross-country run was held in its park.

Burghley House, near Stamford, Lincolnshire

I was to get even closer when playing cricket next to the house against the Burghley estate team. 

However it was in the Burghley Park's cricket team pavilion were my live was changed for ever.

Burghley Park Cricket Club pavilion

Here I volunteered during one match to help the ladies wash up after tea. To cut a 60 year story short let me just say I married one of them.

William Cecil, Lord Burghley was the prime councillor to the Queen - Elizabeth I, that is.

His house built between 1555 and 1587 is one of England's largest mansions and was constructed in an enormous 'E' as a tribute to the Queen.

With the house still lived in by the Cecil family many of you may know that the Burghley Horse Trials, a 3 day event, are held in the each year in the park laid out by Capability Brown.

Photo attribution:

• Burghley House - 4 April 2011 - CC transferred ex ml.wikipedia by Sreejith K - in the public domain

Art on Sunday Stamps

I joined Sunday Stamps hosted by Viridian in the second week it ran and have participated since up to this, its 200th edition. As Viridian is handing over the baton after this week to Violet Sky I must pay tribute to Viridian for all the hard work she has put in for us to reach that 200 milestone.

Over the weeks there have been many stamps depicting art of various forms, but I am returning to British paintings on stamps issued on 12 August 1968. I have shown two of these before but have since acquired the full set of four.

Great Britain - British Paintings

The paintings are:

• 4d Queen Elizabeth I - unknown artist
• 1s6d Ruins of St Mary Le Port - John Piper
• 1s Pinkie - Thomas Lawrence
• 1s6d The Hay Wain - John Constable

The 'Darnley Portrait' of Elizabeth I hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.Painted about 1575 it was named after a previous owner and shows the Queen with a crown and sceptre on the table beside her. The portrait is the source of the face pattern 'The Mask of Youth' used for portraits of Elizabeth for years to come.

John Piper was commissioned as a war artist during WWII to paint the 'Home Front.' His series of paintings of bombed buildings included the Bristol church of St Mary le Port which had been hit in attacks on Bristol Docks in November 1940

Pinkie, painted in 1794 by Thomas Lawrence hangs in the Huntington Library at San Marino, California. The museum has given it the title of Sarah Barrett Moulton, Pinkie. Sarah was about eleven years old when she posed for the artist.

Constable's Hay Wain finished in 1821 is one of the greatest and most popular English paintings. It show the wagon in the River Stour between the counties of Suffolk and Essex - the left bank is in Suffolk, the right in Essex.

For links to other art, cross over to Sunday-stamps-200.

Sir Francis Chichester - Sunday Stamps

The theme this week is ships of any sort. This gives me the chance to select one stamp commemorating the exploits of one man.

In 1960 Francis Chichester won the first solo transatlantic yacht race in 40 days.

On 28 May 1967 in the yacht Gipsy Moth IV he became the first man to race solo round the world with only one port of call (Sydney). The first solo circumnavigation had been completed by Joshua Slocum in the 1890s but he had numerous stops and had taken 3 years. Chichester completed the circumnavigation in 226 sailing days.

The commemorative stamp was issued 24 July 1967.

Sir Francis Chichester's World Voyage

Francis Chichester was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, also in July 1967, using the same sword used by Elizabeth I to knight another Francis - Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman with his crew to complete a circumnavigation of the world.

I could have chosen stamps from 13 different countries for this week's theme, but thought Gipsy Moth IV and Chichester, of course, deserved a post of their own.

To see what other ships have been chosen sail across to Sunday-stamps-93