Hats on
These recent weeks of hot weather have seen me more often than not wearing a hat when out and about. The media have been full of advice about covering up and I’ve also seen statistics about the great temperature difference in the shade. I don’t need statistics, though – in sun this hot I instinctively make for shadows, overhangs, arcades, and other refuges, like this lovely timber-framed market house or Butter Market, built in c. 1668 in Newent. It has one big room upstairs and a ground-floor open-sided space for a market: the same layout as many others in English and Welsh towns. The timber work on the end in the sun is quite plain, but the side facing the street has a winning combination of diagonal and curved braces, together with curvy bargeboards to please the eye. The weather vane – in the form of a running fox – is an added touch of charm that catches the sun.
The space for the market has quite a low ceiling – there are about ten feet of headroom – and if not a forest at least a grove of thick supporting posts. The effect of standing inside it reminded me of a description by Ian Nairn of another market house, the one in Llanidloes. Nairn described the even lower space in the market house there as ‘a very personal possessed space: it is not so much a question of walking in but of putting it on like a hat.’ In Newent I tried on the building myself for a minute, before walking out again into the sunshine. The fit was not bad at all.
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§ See Ian Nairn, Nairn’s Towns (updated edition, Notting Hill Editions, 2013)
4 comments:
I just discovered your blog tonight by chance when I googled the deserted medieval village of Pinnock. I then went on to discover that you'd visited some places I know well in West Oxfordshire and I wondered if you'd had chance to visit the village of Compton Beauchamp in the Vale of the White Horse (Oxfordshire) or nearby Bishopstone or Woolstone - there is so much wonderful architecture in that area.
Thank you for your comment. I've not been to these places, but I'll put them on my list of places to explore.
I meant to add that I really enjoyed your blog and have enjoyed working my way through your posts. If you visit the village of Bishopstone (it's about 7 miles east of Swindon but very rural and adjoins The Ridgeway) the most interesting part of it is the area of the village known as "The City" which is absolutely fascinating and like nowhere else I've ever been. There is a famous pub there called The Royal Oak which is well worth a visit too. Also very close by is Ashdown House which is the least visited National Trust property in the country due to it's very remote position on the Lambourn Downs. It's a very beautiful Stuart house in Dutch style and looks so improbable in it's remote setting just below the Ridgeway.
http://www.candidalycettgreen.co.uk/live/journalism/ashdown-house-3/
Thank you. That's very interesting. I've been to Uffington and Ashdown House, but seem to have missed these villages. I must return to the area when I get the chance.
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