One of two sets of buildings in close proximity due to go down for the dirt nap courtesy of HS2. Both sets of buildings were part of a Medieval Estate originally owned by two families that ended up on the wrong side after bloody rebellions: First: the DeClintons and then the DeMontfords. The deep moat around the original Coleshill Hall (that still exists to this day and can be clearly seen using Google Earth) was circular: but keeping up with fashion, it was re-sculpted into an octagonal shape in the 15th Century. Later on in history: after Simon Digby managed to get Simon DeMontford beheaded for treason, the Coleshill Hall Manorial Estate was owned by the Digby family until the 18th Century when they decamped and went to live in a far posher gaff with a lot less mosquitoes: Sherborne in Dorset. The neglected original Medieval half-timbered Coleshill Hall fell into such a state of disrepair that it was demolished between 1798 and 1802, but the closest building to it: what was the Grand Coach House and Stable Block built in the mid 17th Century; was in far too good nick to be knocked down as well, so the coach arches were knocked out and the frontage given a facelift that included four windows and a new front doorway. The Coach House became a Gentleman's Farm House and so it stayed until 1985 when it was finally too badly deteriorated for the Wingfield-Digby's to bother investing in it's repair. They hoofed the tenant farmer and his family out and left it to fall down of its own accord.
Almost directly opposite on the other side of the Birmingham Road stand the three buildings of Capitol Joinery. Each one of them constructed using materials salvaged from a much older building. The bricks of two outbuildings being a mixture of Tudor and Elizabethan, (yes... there are books that tell you how to accurately date bricks...and yes... I might admit to having read a few if you threatened to take my cigarettes off me) the trusses and wall plate timbers in the roof spaces of all three Capitol Joinery structures are from a building that was at least Tudor and in some places of Medieval origin. No prizes for guessing where the old Medieval Coleshill Hall went then. Recycling isn't anything new. But the real curiosity is the central building which has a very chique (and very costly) rubbed brick entrance arch as a second internal double doorway. Directly over the top of it: a genuine Tudor King Post truss supports the tiled roof that was on it before this building broke out in a bad case of the arsons. Not the only Capitol Joinery building to get infected with the arsons either... building #2 got toasty first - then a couple of months ago - building #3 ended up gutted.
The closer the HS2 construction gets to these Heritage buildings: the more they seem prone to burst into flames. Odd that. Wonder if anyone else has found a common denominator between HS2: Heritage or Grade Listed buildings standing in the way: and spontaneous combustion?
If anyone's interested: I'll post Coleshill Hall Farm next.
Almost directly opposite on the other side of the Birmingham Road stand the three buildings of Capitol Joinery. Each one of them constructed using materials salvaged from a much older building. The bricks of two outbuildings being a mixture of Tudor and Elizabethan, (yes... there are books that tell you how to accurately date bricks...and yes... I might admit to having read a few if you threatened to take my cigarettes off me) the trusses and wall plate timbers in the roof spaces of all three Capitol Joinery structures are from a building that was at least Tudor and in some places of Medieval origin. No prizes for guessing where the old Medieval Coleshill Hall went then. Recycling isn't anything new. But the real curiosity is the central building which has a very chique (and very costly) rubbed brick entrance arch as a second internal double doorway. Directly over the top of it: a genuine Tudor King Post truss supports the tiled roof that was on it before this building broke out in a bad case of the arsons. Not the only Capitol Joinery building to get infected with the arsons either... building #2 got toasty first - then a couple of months ago - building #3 ended up gutted.
The closer the HS2 construction gets to these Heritage buildings: the more they seem prone to burst into flames. Odd that. Wonder if anyone else has found a common denominator between HS2: Heritage or Grade Listed buildings standing in the way: and spontaneous combustion?
If anyone's interested: I'll post Coleshill Hall Farm next.
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