Friday 8 April 2016

Sheep Street


Iris wanted a picture or two of nice old buildings, so here they are. As with everything else, I am having huge problems with both Google and photos right now, so I hope you appreciate the effort.

This is the hotel we stayed at, and it is in the best street (so the estate agents say) in Burford, in the heart of the Cotswolds. Of all the residents staying here, I reckon I was the youngest, and I am pretty sure I was the poorest as well.

This place used to be the home of The Lord Baron of the Exchequer during the reign of Elizabeth 1st. It is on Sheep Street, so named because the entire street was populated with rich people who made their fortunes from the wool trade since medieval times. Wool in those days, before cotton and synthetic fibres, was the equivalent of oil. Having flocks of sheep was like owning oil fields. You still need loads of money to live here, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer now lives in London, where today's money is made.


Turn around and look over the road and you will see the house which our friend lives in - albeit in a small flat in the attic. I didn't realise how close she was when I booked our rooms.

This used to be a coaching-inn that catered for the rich wool-traders, and the big green doors were the opening to the passage that lead to the stables. The stables are now luxury little houses as well.

That blue plaque on the wall commemorates the fact that this was where 'The Countryman' magazine was published from. Started in 1946 - just after WW2 - The Countryman typified and celebrated the pursuits of wealthy land-owners, of which this area has more than its fair share. This is prime fox-hunting country, as the pictures of hounds on the walls of our hotel illustrated.

The whole house is now owned and occupied by a somewhat eccentric couple (of men) who throw garden parties for the elite of the Conservative Party during the Summer. Our Prime Minister is a frequent visitor here, and his own house is just down the road, in the heart of his constituency.

There is another, smaller blue plaque underneath the real one, and it states, 'At this place on September 5th, 1782, nothing happened'.  I told you they are somewhat eccentric.

Our friend's little apartment is high up amongst the roof-beams in this house. These beams were built in 1305. The Georgian facade was added as an 'improvement' 400 years later. Most of the buildings on this street appear to have been built around 1600, but actually date from much, much earlier.

I often think it would be wonderful to live in a place like this, but we would only end up as museum-pieces on show, like the entire population of the old part of Bibury. All those geriatric, retired residents at our hotel over the road were on a little tour of the Cotswolds...

30 comments:

  1. I don't have enough sheep to be able to afford to live there. Will hens do I wonder.

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    1. You could get a chicken shed in Burford... maybe.

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  2. If it was not for the weavers, what would you do?
    You wouldn'a hae the clothes that's made of wool

    The owners of the resources get rich. Cleveland, Ohio, where I went to college, was the home of some of the wealthy owners of resources. John D. Rockefeller, Samuel Mather....Their mansions on Millionaires Row, which is Euclid Avenue, did not fare so well. Is the National Trust involved in the upkeep of some of these lovely spots in Britain?

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    1. Some, but by no means all. There is a narrow street here called 'Broad Street'. It was where the weavers used to produce 'broad cloth' in the 17th century.

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    2. And it's called broad cloth because they wove it on broad looms. I used to weave on a 44" loom, which is close to the extension most weavers can get to throw, catch and set up the shuttle for the next throw. I think broad looms begin at about 60", and take two people to operate. Linda has a 100" loom that has two sets of treadles so that two weavers can operate it.

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    3. Then came the flying shuttle.

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  3. I am pleased you had a nice time and to hear all about it...

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  4. I am pleased you had a nice time and to hear all about it...

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    1. I was just making a point. Did you have a good time?

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    2. Yes, it was fine apart from the work and the trip to Bicester Village in the rain, thanks.

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  5. This is interesting,thank you. The eccentricity of the blue plague under the real one made me smile. Greetings Maria x

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    1. Yes - unfortunately they are readily for sale. They are inexpensive.

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  6. Yes -must admit it does sound idyllic the idea of retiring to the Cotswolds - but on reflection, buoyed up by the commentary and your photographs above Tom - I think you are right. Everyone growing old together is actually a bit depressing when you think about it - we all need young, daft people as well to even things out a bit.

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    1. Indeed Weave. Sometime the young daft people can be a pain though.

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  7. I suppose living in a beautiful old village is the dream of many. Anytime I travel, I wonder what it would be like to live there. In fact, I think I tend to travel to places where wished I lived.

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  8. We went to ' The Lamb Inn ' in Burford for lunch. The tonic in my gin and tonic was flat and my husband's duck was over cooked !!!!!
    The Cotswolds are so pretty but now that everyone has painted their houses in Farrow and Ball ' Cooking Apple Green ', it all feel's a little sterile and Stepford Wivesish !!
    Hope you had a lovely time with your friend's. XXXX

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    1. I tried to book into The Lamb, but they were full. 'Go to our other place', they said. so I did. Dinner and a room cost over £300,

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  9. Oh, thank you! I really do appreciate it! It is just so beautiful in the Cotswolds. Burford was the first town that we once drove through when visiting the Cotswolds, and I said to my husband: "We will be leaving some $$$ here!" It wasn't too bad, though, I just bought an old tea caddy, that was it. It's so interesting about the building with the big green doors and its inhabitants. I can't even picture them, but I love them already! Ahhhhh, you do live in a pretty part of the world. Pout.

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  10. That creamy stone is so attractive, but living there if you a not minted must be harsh methinks....did you have a good dinner?

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    1. You die there if you are not minted.

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    2. Oh yes, dinner was good, as was the breakfast. I've never had venison faggots before...

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  11. Early English domestic vernacular architecture has to be the most beautiful anywhere. And The Cotswolds the best of that.

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  12. Did you stay at The Bay Tree that's in your first photograph Tom ? It looks lovely ...... a very similar building to The Bridge Tea Rooms in Bradford-on-Avon. XXXX

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    1. Yes. The Bay Tree includes a little cottage too. We had a suite which included a room with a medieval fireplace. Many Burford buildings were rebuilt in the 16th and 17th century, and most of B.O.A. is classic three-gabled 17th century.

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