Ightham Mote - A 14th Century Medieval Manor

[@juliamurphy139]

So glad it was preserved in time! It is both conserving history and is beautiful as well. Thank you!

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Indeed. And thank you :)

[@richardhinton3801]

Great video. didn't know about Ightham Mote. What a wonderful manor house.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Bummer that I did not know of this place during my travelling years. Managed to visit the one used in the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice. Groombridge Place House near Tunbridge Wells. No inside visiting there unfortunately but they did run a falconry show and other things.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Not a whole lot of people do know about Ightham mote, which is one of the reasons why it's one of my favourite historical sites and part of my History You Didn't Know About series :)

[@travelorchidslondon]

Beautiful introduction in the beginning of the video

[@cspahn3221]

i absolutely adore your videos, thanks again to the dude with an awesome beard

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Hahah thank you, although I fear I must let you down and tell you that I'm not the man with the ginger beard in the two armouring videos. That's my friend Mitch and we do historical reenactment together. I'm currently working on my 15th century kit and it will be as equally beautiful once it's finished!

[@jamesellsworth9673]

Hooray, again, for the National Trust!

[@jasmijnariel]

Thx for the video man❤

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

My pleasure!

[@travelorchidslondon]

It is on my list to visit

[@mancroft]

Look up The Ten Million Pound House: A Time Team Special . Worth seeing.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

I think I've seen all the Time Team episodes maybe 5 times over haha!

[@erinthetraveler6168]

Great video. Any truth to the story of the girl who was walled up? Anya Seton's book Green Darkness put Ightham Mote on my radar twenty years ago. Would love to see it someday.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Yes there is a story about this - I'll copy and paste from a website dedicated to historical ghost stories instead of putting it into my own words: "The story of the haunting of Ightham Mote goes back to the days of the Gunpowder Plot, in November, 1605. Dame Dorothy Selby sent an anonymous letter to her cousin, Lord Monteagle, warning him of the plot and advising him to stay away from Parliament that day. The letter fell into the hands of the King and the conspirators were brought to justice. However, friends of the conspirators, extremely angry at the failure of the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, realizing that the letter had been sent by Dame Dorothy, proceeded to Ightham Mote, seized her and walled her up in a small room, no larger than a large cupboard, in the tower. In 1872, workmen, engaged to investigate the source of the coldness in that area of the tower, discovered the sealed-up room and inside found the skeleton of Dame Dorothy. However, there was nothing that could be done to rid the area of it’s coldness. An attempt was made by the local bishop to exorcise the spirit of Dame Dorothy, but the cold sensation still persists to this day."

[@carolescutt2257]

❤ wow i rarely use such cliche descriptive words but.... 😮😮😊thank you Alex excellent upload as is expected standard bravo history guy 😊

[@ΕρνέστοςΣμίθ]

Why aren't costume dramas filmed there? It looks so mysterious even from outside.

[@JonathanPercival-smith]

Thank God for the National Trust!!!

[@stephengraham5099]

The doghouse is the only grade I listed kennel in the UK.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

Haha it is indeed and I love that.

[@midnightchannel111]

Its a beautiful house still. I wondered as I watched, are the fireplaces banked? Here in the US fireplaces were always built with internal iron "shutters" controlled from outside by a brass key, allowing you to bank the heat from the fire and get all or most of the heat shot hack i tk the room while the CO went safely up the chimney. They also aways came with fireputs that allowed u to simply sweep the cold ash down a covered hole in the floor of the grate, which then falls o the basement. And you're ready fir akither fire. Fireplaces are cheap crap now, all the same, extremely inconvenient (even dangerous) having to feel blindly up to close the aluminum (not lead) flu, always all open or all closed, no internal graduated ratcheting, no convenient external key to gradually open or close the flu, no iron to hold the heat... In short it's for looks only now. I see all the fireplaces here and know they were essential for heat, and I wonder if they are all also designed to optimize heat, as used to be common everywhere here in the US... (?)

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

I'm not sure to be honest, I know they did have certain ways of fanning fireplaces to make the most efficient use of the heat but I didn't examine the fireplaces much as I wasn't there for long (it was a Coffee stop-off point on my way back up from Worthing). Perhaps I shall have to revisit later and take a good look :)

[@leeboss373]

Personally, I’d drain the moat to deal with the rising damp.

[@AlexTheHistoryGuy]

The moat doesn't have a damp issue:)