Thursday, October 16, 2014

Lacock Abbey

Another day of waking up at 8:15 am which is totally unusual for us. I told Angela that she and Steve must think we are a couple of slugs! Angela had prepared a delicious cooked breakfast for us which consisted of back bacon (delicious), pork sausage, eggs, potatoes and toast. She also introduced us to lychee juice which has a taste like a mild grapefruit juice.

We headed out to Lacock Abbey and Fox Talbot Museum, which is an abbey built in the early 1200's. When King Henry came to power and switched the entire country from Catholicism to his church, those in power destroyed many of the monasteries throughout the country. This one was sold to Sir William Sharington who converted it to a home. It had some changes made to it and other occupants but it still has many rooms from the original abbey. Of course there is so much more to this national treasure but for some its draw is seen in films. In the 1700's the house passed to the Talbot family and in the mid 1800's William Henry Fox Talbot took ownership.

In addition to being an abbey from the early 13th century it also has film credits to its name:

Some interior sequences in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were filmed at Lacock, including the cloister walk where Harry comes out from Professor Lockhart's room after serving detention and hears the basilisk. During four days in October 2007 Lacock was also used to film some scenes for the sixth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Warner Bros. announced that the spooky nights of Hogwarts were also filmed here with most of the main characters including Daniel Radcliffe
The Abbey was one of two major locations for the 2008 film version of the historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl.[13]
Lacock appears in the "Robin Hood and the Sorcerer", "Cromm Cruac" and "The Pretender" episodes of Robin of Sherwood. It was also used in the 1995 BBC/A&E production of "Pride and Prejudice".

If that wasn't enough Fox Talbot is best known as one of the pioneering geniuses to invent and develop the photographic negative. Actually an entire display is whether the Frenchman, Louis Daguerre or Fox Talbot, the Englishman, should get credit for being the first to introduce his talent to the world in January 1839 or Fox Talbot who introduced his discovery a few weeks later. Each has pros and cons and each inventor wanted to be the first.

We walked around the little village of Lacock which is also used in films since no power poles, or satellite dishes or anything modern is attached to the homes. We ate lunch at another pub and fully enjoyed our long day there.

Oh yes they let me play a piano that was in a parlor from the 1800's. Both of us were a little out of tune but I enjoyed it immensely










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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The history of Europe just astounds me! It makes our country seem so immature. Beautiful town and architecture.