Fun with Friends - Farleigh Hungerford and Wells

 I had visitors last weekend, which was lovely, and also the first non-family guests I have had for a while.

We were lucky with the weather, so went out to be proper tourists . We started with a trip to Farleigh Hungerford Castle, which is quite nearby, and met up there with another local friend.

Gatehouse, Farleigh Hungerford Castle

There's been a castle on the site since the 14th C. Walter Hungerford, who fought at Agincourt,  and became a Very Important Person, extended it , andalso ordered wall paintings for the Chapel - these were completed in about 1440 and have survived (Although damaged by some unfortunate attempts at renovation in the 1930s) 

Medieval wall painting of St George

Sadly, St George's dragon seems to have been lost, but there are other paintings, of the coat of arms, for instance, as well as some rather nice (and naked) cherubs painted on the beams.

So far as I can gather, the fortunes of the Hugerfords peaked with Walter  - a few of them picked the wrong side during the Wars of the Roses and lost their heads and the castle, but then another Walter sucked up to Henry VII and got it back. 

THen there were a few murders - one Lady Hungerford was executed for having murdered her first husband (I suspect her error may have been getting the servants to help burn his body), but she survived for a quite a long time and did not get 'caught' until her second husband (the HUngerford of the day) died and she had less power. 

Another Lady Hungerford was imprisoned and starved by her husband, in one of the towers, surviving through the help of village women passing food to her through the windows. She wrote to Thomas Cromwell about it (He did nothing, but the letter survived as a record of her claims)  Her husband wound up being executed by Henry VIII for treason, witchcraft,  homosexuality and, probably, being too closely associated with Cromwell. He was the first and only man to be executed for homosexulaity in the Tudor period, and was executed with Cromwell, so it seems likely that his being Cromwell's agent and associate may have had more to do with his fall than his sexuality.

Yet another Walter bought back the castle and improved it again, in the 1550s, then a little later, two Hungerford half-brothers picked opposite sides in the Civil War (and their fight over it resulted in the only military action associated with the Castle, since presumably Farleigh Hungerford is devoid of any real military or strategic importance)

Edward 'the Spendthrift' Hungerford sold the castle to pay his debts in 1686, so after nearly 4 centuries, the family left, and the castle went downhill.

THe tower fell down after Victorian teen tearaways set fire to the ivy covering it, which, it turned out, was all that was holding it up.

It's now a nice site to visit, there are lovely views, and we enjoyed it a lot. 

After sustaining ourselves with ice cream, ands buying some English Heritage wine to take home, we headed across to Wells, as it's a cathedral my friend hasn't visited  before.

It's my home town, of course, and so familiar to me, but we dis more touristy stuff, ate lunch outside the Bishop's PAlace, admired this season's new cygnets on the moat (and one of last year's cygnets, near the path, channelling Hot Fuzz)

Swan

Then we went round the cathedral, admired the clock and the Doctor Who locations, (There  was a rehearsal going on for a concert at the time)

And of course also admired the Anthony Gormley statue and  Vicar's Close

A very nice day out , I thought!