THE HOUSE
Doughton Manor, Another source of my inspiration
Originally built in 1594, Doughton is located in the Cotswolds near the town of Tetbury.
Despite historians saying the house was built in 1641, Dick discovered that it was actually built before 1600. The diamond-shaped glass in the windows indicated that the house was built before 1600, because of technological improvements in glass making.
The front gate post has 1641 inscribed on it, however, this is when the walls were built. The gate post also has “RT” inscribed, which stands for Richard Talboys, the second owner who built the walls.
The earliest known image of the house, a drawing from 1845. The house was then known as “Farmer Hughes House”, the tenant farmer at that time.
Raising the Chimneys
Dick had a long-term goal of raising the chimneys to their original height. One of the previous owner took the prudent step of removing the chimneys instead of repairing them, to keep them from falling. The house looked quite out of sorts without the chimneys at their full height.
Scaffolding went up for the drawing room chimneys in July 2009. Not surprising that the base of the chimneys looked this grim if they were roughly 420 years old.
Vesey’s quarry had been closed for some time but reopened when a new vein of stone was found. The new chimneys are built using stone from the same quarry as the original chimneys.
Our interest in the house has everything to do with celebrating the craftsmanship that went into building the house by hand. We wanted to honor that effort in maintaining and updating the house. Dick found the mason’s marks scratched into a lintel and also inside the drawing room fireplace. He was able to identify the masons as John Horwood and William Whiting. He found their wills witnessed by Vesey, the quarryman.
