50-518: Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock , Wiltshire , England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury , as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the suppression of Roman Catholic institutions in England in the 16th century; it was then sold to Sir William Sharington who converted the convent into a residence where he and his family lived. It
100-563: A cohesive plan; the four wings of the house are built above the cloister passages, but the house cannot be entered from the cloisters, and the cloisters cannot be seen from inside the house. The abbey underwent substantial alterations in the Gothic Revival style in the 1750s, under the ownership of John Ivory Talbot . The great hall was redesigned during this period by Sanderson Miller . The basement consists of an arcade of cloisters on three sides, surrounding several vaulted rooms including
150-545: A day for the three sessions of the Parliament of 1539 and the first two sessions of the one of 1542. He was also sheriff of Somerset and Dorset for 1548–1549. In 1549, he made a rich match in marrying Christian, a daughter of Sir Richard Gresham . The Duke of Somerset fell from power in 1549, and Thynne was twice imprisoned in the Tower of London . Somerset was arrested at Windsor on 11 October 1549, and on 13 October Thynne
200-614: A freeman of the City of London and a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers . Before he had long been Seymour's steward, Thynne began to build up his own estates in the west of England and Oxfordshire . On 11 April 1539, he took a twenty-one-year lease of the rectory of Clawton in Devon, when he was described as a resident of London. His greatest prize was the former Carthusian Longleat Priory , together with land in three parishes on
250-539: A great house at Longleat . Thynne became member of parliament for Marlborough in 1545 (and perhaps also in 1539 and 1542), and for Salisbury in 1547. A historian of Marlborough, James Waylen, states that Thynne was twice member for Marlborough before 1545. This is supported by a bond for £33 from the Corporation of Marlborough which Thynne was holding in March 1544, roughly equal to his parliamentary wages of two shillings
300-403: A sizeable income from wool. Following the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th century, Henry VIII sold the abbey to Sir William Sharington for £783. He demolished the abbey church, using the stone to extend the building, and converted the abbey into a house, starting work in about 1539. So as not to be incommoded by villagers passing close to his residence, he is said to have sold
350-510: A village cross (late medieval, re-erected outside the school in the late 19th century); a pair of bridges carrying the Bowden Hill road over the Avon (late medieval, 17th and 19th century); and a 16th-century conduit house , part of the abbey's water supply, opposite Bowden Hill church. Next to the tithe barn is a small lock-up from the late 18th century. Ray Mill House , north of the village on
400-654: Is described by Mark Girouard in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "the strongest architectural personality to have survived from the Elizabethan and Jacobean age". Thynne married twice: In 1641 Thynne's great-grandson Henry Frederick Thynne (1615–1680) was created a baronet in the Baronetage of England , and in 1682 his son, Sir Thomas Thynne, 2nd Baronet , was created Viscount Weymouth . In 1789, Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth (1734–1796) became
450-542: Is held annually in Lacock and is popular with visitors from the local area. All funds raised are donated to Lacock Primary School. Lacock is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, with a population of 160–190; with two mills and a vineyard. Lacock Abbey was founded on the manorial lands by Ela, Countess of Salisbury and established in 1232; and the village – with the manor – formed its endowment to "God and St Mary". Lacock
500-474: Is in 1535, when he was in the service of Lord Vaux of Harrowden . In a surviving account book kept by Lord Vaux's steward, he is listed among forty-six people 'ordinary of Household' who attended Lord Vaux's family at Harrowden , Northamptonshire, between 2 August and 28 October 1535. Between March and November 1538, Thynne, described as Lord Hertford's servant, brought an action in the Court of Chancery concerning
550-531: Is now the property of the National Trust , to which it was given in 1944 by Matilda Gilchrist-Clark, who had inherited the estate from her uncle Charles Henry Fox Talbot in 1916. The abbey is a Grade I listed building . The Fox Talbot Museum forms part of the ground floor. It celebrates the life of William Henry Fox Talbot, and his contributions to photography, and includes exhibits on the man himself, his mousetrap camera (so-called by his wife because he scattered
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#1733086215045600-531: Is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust and attracts many visitors by virtue of its unspoiled appearance. The parish includes Bowden Hill , a small village 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Lacock, and the hamlets of Bewley Common , Notton and Reybridge . The Chippenham – Melksham section of the A350 primary route crosses the parish from north to south, as does the River Avon . A scarecrow festival
650-402: The sacristy , chapter house , and warming house . These rooms were situated under the original dormitory . At the other end of the building, below what was formerly the abbess ' chambers and the great hall, are two rooms and the main passage. On the north side, underneath the original refectory , is the undercroft . The west front has two flights of broad, balustraded steps leading up to
700-501: The west of England , not least after he became Lord Protector of England and Duke of Somerset in 1547, while his nephew Edward VI was king. Thynne, a hard-working servant, prospered as his master did. In 1542 and 1544, Thynne was with Seymour on military expeditions to the north. He was probably at the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542 and was knighted after the victory of the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh of 1547. Also in 1547, Thynne became
750-477: The 16th and early 17th centuries, Nicholas Cooper has pointed out, bedchambers were often named for individuals who customarily inhabited them when staying at a house. At Lacock, as elsewhere, they were named for individuals "whose recognition in this way advertised the family's affinities": the best chamber was "the duke's chamber", probably signifying John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland , whom Sharington had served, while "Lady Thynne's chamber", identified it with
800-502: The BBC adaptation of Daniel Defoe 's Moll Flanders , and scenes for the BBC's historical TV serial Wolf Hall , by Hilary Mantel , were filmed here in 2014. Lacock Lacock is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire , England, about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Chippenham , and about 3.7 miles (6.0 km) outside the Cotswolds area. The village
850-471: The British band Hot Chocolate. Lacock was the childhood home of Zoe Sugg and Joe Sugg , siblings who both run YouTube channels. John Thynne Sir John Thynne (c. 1515 – 21 May 1580) was the steward to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 – 1552), and a member of parliament. He was the builder of Longleat House , and his descendants became Marquesses of Bath . Thynne's family also used
900-596: The Half-Blood Prince , and in the spin-off film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald . In the spring of 2012, it was a filming location for the fantasy adventure film Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box . In 2015, Lacock was used for an episode of the Downton Abbey TV series, portraying a livestock market of the 1920s; Lord Grantham, his family and some of the staff appeared in this location. Not long after,
950-603: The Lackham estate, in the north of the parish towards Chippenham. With its 400-acre (160 ha) farm it is now part of Wiltshire College . The village has been used as a film and television location, notably for the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and the 2007 BBC production of Cranford . It also made brief appearances in the Harry Potter films Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and
1000-510: The Lacock estate to his niece, Matilda Gilchrist-Clark, who took the name of Talbot. The estate – comprising 284 acres (1.15 km ), the Abbey and the village – was given to the National Trust in 1944 by Matilda Talbot. Lacock has three public houses and a number of shops in its High Street including a grocery store, a bakery, gift shops and a National Trust shop. Most of the surviving houses in
1050-539: The Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) were filmed at Lacock, including the cloister walk where Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised and when he comes out from Professor Lockhart's room after serving detention and hears the basilisk . Scenes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) were also shot here. The abbey
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#17330862150451100-513: The best craftsmen, including the English master mason and architect Robert Smythson and the French mason Alan Maynard . He suffered a setback in 1567, when there was a major fire at the house. However, during the long process of construction, Longleat became the centre of a new school of building. Smythson went on to design Hardwick Hall , Wollaton Hall , Burghley House , and Burton Agnes Hall , and
1150-448: The borders of Wiltshire and Somerset , which he bought on his own account in 1540. Other possessions of the former priories of Longleat and Hinton Charterhouse were granted by the Crown to Seymour, who sold them to his steward Thynne on 25 June 1541. This made a substantial estate near to Seymour's own at Maiden Bradley . Beginning in 1546, Thynne spent more than thirty-five years building
1200-414: The central door. Inside is a full-height hall with a part-hipped valley roof. On either side of this are octagonal turrets with cupolas and delicately pierced parapets . To the left of the hall is the former medieval kitchen with a balustraded parapet and buttresses . To the right is a range of parapetted rooms with a stepped buttress at the corner. The south front was plain, being the inside north wall of
1250-450: The church bells and used the proceeds to erect a bridge over the River Ray for their convenience. Few other alterations were made to the monastic buildings themselves: the cloisters , for example, still stand below the living accommodation. About 1550, Sir William added an octagonal tower containing two small chambers, one above the other; the lower one was reached through the main rooms, and
1300-533: The cities of London, Westminster , and Bristol . He was entombed in the parish church at Longbridge Deverill , Wiltshire. At his funeral, gowns were given to sixty poor men, mourning suits to sixty-one servants, and cloaks to a great many gentlemen; the funeral expenses came to £380, 8s & 3d. Thynne supervised Seymour's planned great house on a hill called Bedwyn Brail at Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, intended to replace his ancestral seat of Wolf Hall . The house
1350-415: The dissolution, he built a country house on the cloister court. He retained the cloisters and the medieval basement largely unaltered and built another storey above, so that the main rooms are on the first floor. The house is constructed of ashlar and rubble stone, the roofs are of stone slates and there are many twisted, sixteenth century chimney stacks. The house is a blend of different styles but lacks
1400-463: The earliest surviving photographic camera negative : an interior view of the oriel window in the south gallery of the abbey. Talbot's experiments eventually led to his invention of the more sensitive and practical calotype or "Talbotype" paper negative process for camera use, commercially introduced in 1841. When Sir William Sharington purchased the remains of the Augustinian nunnery in 1540, after
1450-484: The house is a mish-mash of different periods and styles. The Tudor stable courtyard to the north of the house has retained many of its original features including the brewhouse and bakehouse . The house later passed into the hands of the Talbot family, and during the 19th century was the residence of William Henry Fox Talbot . In 1835 he made what may be the earliest surviving photographic camera negative, an image of one of
1500-614: The left bank of the Avon beyond Reybridge, is a country house built in Italianate style around 1860. Since 1996 it has been a residence of Camilla Parker Bowles, later Queen Camilla . Further north and also overlooking the Avon, Lackham House was built in 1791–1796 for James Montagu , naval officer. It is a three-storey country house in Palladian style. A school was provided on a central site in Lacock village by Henry Fox Talbot in 1824, with accommodation for 100 pupils. Another classroom
1550-483: The little wooden boxes round the house), the chemical processes involved in obtaining images and the early history of photography. Exhibitions showing the works of various photographers are sometimes held in a gallery on the first floor. The Fenton Collection, an historic photographic collection, was transferred to the museum from the British Film Institute in 2017. Some interior sequences in Harry Potter and
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1600-506: The north of the house stands the well-preserved sixteenth century stable courtyard. This has timbered gabled dormer windows and a tall clock-tower at the west side of its north range. These buildings have mullion windows, and Tudor arched-doorways. Also beside the courtyard are the brew house , one of the oldest in Britain, and the bakehouse . The two lodges are seventeenth century and the carriage-houses are eighteenth century. Lacock Abbey
1650-426: The original abbey church which was pulled down, but was rebuilt by William Talbot in 1828 to include bay windows. At this end of the building is Sharington's tower, an octagonal, three-storey tower, topped with a belvedere , balustrade, and stair turret. The east front looks more medieval than the other sides but probably dates from about 1900, however the south end cross-wing appears to be mostly sixteenth century. To
1700-585: The parsonage of Wilby, Northamptonshire , claiming he had wrongly been excluded from it by Lord Vaux. In 1536, Thynne became steward to Edward Seymour, 1st Viscount Beauchamp , during the short period when Seymour's sister Jane Seymour was the Queen of Henry VIII of England. Seymour was later Marquess of Hertford and Duke of Somerset . Thynne continued in his place as steward until Seymour's execution for treason in 1552. Seymour built up great estates in London and
1750-569: The surname Boteville (or Botfield), so he was often called Thynne alias Boteville . Thynne was born in Church Stretton , Shropshire, in 1515, and was the eldest son of Thomas Thynne, otherwise Botevile, and of his wife Margaret, a daughter of Thomas Eynns. His uncle William Thynne was a courtier in the household of King Henry VIII and a literary editor. However, there is no other information about Thynne's youth, which may have been influenced by his uncle at court. The first record of Thynne
1800-464: The village are 18th century or earlier in construction. Lacock Abbey, the 14th-century St Cyriac's Church and a 14th-century tithe barn are Grade I listed . Elsewhere in the parish, the country houses at Bewley Court (14th century, restored 1920) and Bowden Park (1796) are also Grade I listed. There are four Grade II* listed structures: The Sign of the Angel (late 15th-century house, now an inn);
1850-559: The village was featured in two episodes of the Wolf Hall series, based on the novels by Hilary Mantel . Scenes for the 2017 film Beauty and the Beast were shot here, and in late 2018, scenes for the film version of Downton Abbey included a royal parade; the film was released in September 2019. The village was also used for the music video for the song I Believe (In Love), a 1971 hit for
1900-587: The wife of Sir John Thynne of Longleat , and "Mr Mildmay's chamber" was reserved for Sharington's son-in-law Anthony Mildmay of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire. Anne of Denmark came to Lacock in May 1613 during her progress to Bath . She was in pain from gout, and her physician Théodore de Mayerne examined her and made prescriptions. During the English Civil War the house was garrisoned by Royalists . It
1950-553: The windows. In 1944 artist Matilda Theresa Talbot gave the house and the surrounding village of Lacock to the National Trust . The abbey houses the Fox Talbot Museum, devoted to the pioneering work of William Talbot in the field of photography . The Trust markets the abbey and village together as "Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum & Village". The abbey is a Grade I listed building , having been so designated on 20 December 1960. Lacock Abbey, dedicated to St Mary and St Bernard,
2000-505: Was added in 1852 and around this time it became a National School ; by 1858 there were about 120 pupils. The school was rebuilt on the same site in 1859, again at the expense of the Talbot family, for 220 pupils and 80 infants. Numbers declined in the 20th century; 135 attended in 1955 when the school gained voluntary controlled status. Children of all ages were educated until the early 1960s when older pupils were transferred to Chippenham. Since 1946 there has been an agricultural college at
2050-415: Was again a member of parliament, for Wiltshire in 1559, for Great Bedwyn in 1563, for Wiltshire again in 1571, and for Heytesbury in 1572. He was High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1568–1569, and Custos rotulorum and a justice of the peace for Wiltshire from 1558–1559 until his death. When he died in 1580, Thynne left manors in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire , Somerset and Oxfordshire, and property in
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2100-444: Was for storing and viewing his treasures; the upper one, for banqueting, was only accessible by walking across the leads of the roof. In each chamber is a central octagonal stone table, carved with up-to-date Renaissance ornament. A mid-16th century stone conduit house stands over the spring from which water was conducted to the house. Further additions were made over the centuries, and the house now has various grand reception rooms. In
2150-511: Was fortified and remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War , but surrendered to the Parliamentary forces once Devizes had fallen in 1645. The house was built over the old cloisters and its main rooms are on the first floor. It is a stone house with stone slated roofs, twisted chimney stacks and mullioned windows. Throughout the life of the building, many architectural alterations, additions, and renovations have occurred so that
2200-454: Was fortified by surrounding it with earthworks. The garrison surrendered (on agreed terms) to Parliamentarian forces under the command of Colonel Devereux, Governor of Malmesbury , within days of Oliver Cromwell's capture of the nearby town of Devizes in late September 1645. The house eventually passed to the Talbot family. It is most often associated with amateur scientist and inventor William Henry Fox Talbot , who in 1835 made what may be
2250-529: Was founded in 1229 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, widow of William Longespee , an illegitimate son of King Henry II . Ela laid the abbey's first stone in Snail's Meadow, near the village of Lacock on 16 April 1232. The first of the Augustinian nuns were veiled in 1232, and Ela joined the community in 1228. Lacock Abbey prospered throughout the Middle Ages . The rich farmlands which it had received from Ela ensured it
2300-497: Was granted a market and developed a thriving woollen industry during the Middle Ages . Reybridge, and a packhorse ford, remained the only crossing points of the River Avon until the 18th century. At the dissolution , the Abbey and estate, including the village, were sold to William Sharington , later passing into the Talbot family by marriage. The Lacock estate was home to photography pioneer Henry Fox Talbot from 1800 to 1877. In 1916 Henry Fox Talbot's son Charles bequeathed
2350-442: Was heavily fined. He retired to Longleat and led a country life there. Thynne responded to Queen Mary 's orders of 19 July 1553, by proclaiming her queen at Warminster , where he was high steward, but under her reign he continued to live in Wiltshire. When Queen Elizabeth I inherited the throne, many of Thynne's friends returned to power, and he was again able to expand his estates and to recover some of his offices. Thynne
2400-469: Was one of two major locations for the 2008 film version of the historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory , directed by Justin Chadwick . Parts of the 2010 American horror film The Wolfman , starring Anthony Hopkins and directed by Joe Johnston , were shot at the abbey. The interior of the abbey was used in the 1995 BBC/A&E production of Jane Austen 's Pride and Prejudice and
2450-568: Was sent to the Tower with William Grey, Sir Thomas Smith , Sir Michael Stanhope and Edward Wolf, these being described as the Duke's "principal instruments and counsellors... in the affairs of his ill government". In August 1550, he was pardoned and all his goods and offices were restored, but he was put into the Tower again on 16 October 1551. After Somerset's execution, like his other followers who were spared, Thynne lost his offices and much of his land, and he
2500-474: Was unfinished when Seymour fell from power, but a correspondence survives, dated between November 1548 and June 1549, which shows Thynne directing the plans. He also played a part in the building of Seymour's Somerset House in London. At Longleat, Thynne took thirty-seven years to design and build his own great neo-classical house with four facades, Doric , Ionic , and Corinthian pilasters, and regularly spaced bay windows . A perfectionist, he employed only
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