A fairytale castle, Bayons Manor, Tealby, Lincolnshire.
It was built between 1836 and 1840 by Alfred Lord Tennyson's uncle, Charles Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, Member of Parliament for Lambeth.
The short version of how this house came to be built is most clearly told by Henry Thorold, in his book "Lincolnshire".
"Not very far away, near Market Rasen, stood the most romantic ruins of Bayons Manor, built between 1836 and 1840 by Tennyson's uncle, Charles Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. The story of the house and the family who built it will be familiar. The poet's grandfather decided to pass over his elder son, George, in favour of his younger brother, Charles, who was thought the more likely to promote the glory of the Tennyson family. George was forced by his father to take Holy Orders, a calling to which he felt himself unsuited, and throughout his life found uncongenial. Yet it was his son who made the name Tennyson immortal.
Charles built this remarkable, bogus, medieval fortified manor. What began as a modest Regency house was encrusted in an impressive Gothic covering, and to this were added great hall, library, and other large reception rooms, and a tower. An immense castellated wall was built to surround this, a moat and barbican gatehouse and drawbridge, and all was so ingeniously devised that it was necessary to make a complete circuit of the defences to reach the front door. There was a huge ruined keep on the hill behind. It was magnificent. But a century later, the family had left, and in the early 1960's what had become already a beautiful ruin was blown up."
Yes, you read that correctly. Blown up.
All that remains now is part of the gatehouse and that is set inside a private estate, not accessible to the public.
There are so many ways I could pad this out, lots of little details about the family, but this post is simply about a lost house.
Good taste/bad taste, a wonderful fantasy home or a self-indulgent architectural nightmare?
I remember being taken as a child to have a picnic in the grounds of Bayons manor and then playing in the nearby stream.
ReplyDeleteSo many Lincolnshire houses were blown up the the 1960s. This week I was at the site of Willingham Hall (just seven miles from Bayons Manor) which suffered the same fate.
That sounds idyllic! Happy memories.
DeleteWillingham Hall - now there was a grand house! Lots of tales waiting to be told about that one. It really is shocking just how many were destroyed during that period.
Blown Up? How strange.Demolished and the stone re-used I can understand but blown up?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, that was quite a common way to dispose of them during those years - cheaper than careful dismantling them. The interiors were partially cleared and then - boom! The remains were then carted off to be used as hardcore.
DeleteWhen I saw it around 1960 it was in a very dangerous state. BY the time it was blown up it was not much more than a shell. The interior had been removed long before, there had been a fire which rendered the whole place unsafe.
DeleteIt had been used by troops during the war, which added to the decay and decline of the building. Oddly enough, it was opened to the public for a short time afterwards.
DeleteWhy oh why? Was a shopping center built on the land? Apartments? And who would order such a thing to happen?
ReplyDeleteNo, the estate was returned to farm land. It is in one of the most beautiful villages in Lincolnshire. Definitely no shopping centres or apartments, thank goodness!
DeleteBeautiful.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed seeing it.
DeleteIt certainly looks an eclectic mix of styles in the illustration, but hey, eclectic can be good. So sad to hear that it met the fate of many a big old ruinous house in the 1960s and 1970s. Lots of beautiful old Welsh houses went the same way. I am surprised that the ruins (walls only) of Iscoed, General Picton's once-beautiful house, are still standing. If our local county council had had its way, they would have knocked it down 50 years ago too. So much fascinating history wrapped up in these old houses. Such a shame they are just illustrations in a book now.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere on my shelves I have a couple of books which show just a tiny fraction of the wonderful old houses which were lost in this way. I suppose death duties, which were charged at something like 80% of the value of the estate, were partly to blame for the destruction, along with the changes in society, and rural life in general.
DeleteGeneral Picton - now there's a 'strong' character. I wouldn't have wanted him as a neighbour!
Seemed to be the common way of doing things back then, now H&S would be in effect and they would have to prove there was a cheaper was. Also there was not the terrorist threat now they would not get away with blowing old houses up !Ike that, they tend to be protected more. Thing it was a terrible waste
ReplyDeleteOne of my old books shows how one old house was used to store grain, in the photographs you can see that some furniture and huge old oil paintings had been left on the walls, carpet left on the floor. Different times. As you say, a terrible waste.
DeleteBlown up in the '60's? By whom? Why?
ReplyDeleteRead your other comments....
DeleteNow I know the answer....
Ahhh yes, those death duties! Evil things, say I. Money grubbing governments. -grumble-grumble-grumble-
And away I go, grumbling as I walk away...
,-)
One of these days I will get to the ruins. My grandfather sold the property in 1944, my great-grandmother moved into one of her cottages in Tealby and the rest of the family dispersed if they had not already done so. I stumbled upon this site while looking for a picture of the family plot. I remember my parents talking about Bayons being blown up. My mother said it was in a dangerous state of disrepair when she was a child although she and her sisters used to play in the old house and outbuildings. This would have been in the 1940's/early 1950's. I wonder how different my life would have been if the house remained lived in and stayed in the family?...
ReplyDelete