The Five Musketeers

Today is Bank Holiday Monday here in England and that is often a time when people go out to see various shows and spectacles. One such event is an "open day" at Newton Hall, 2 miles south of Ashton. There was also an open day yesterday (Sunday).

There was a photo of Newton Hall here on this blog, three weeks ago. An archaeological dig has been taking place in the grounds of the hall over those weeks and the "open days" mark the end of this dig. Apart from members of the public being able to inspect the archaeologists' trenches and the various finds that have been uncovered, members of a re-enactment group, Colonel Montagu's Regiment of Foote, were there to present living history and drill displays, acting in character throughout the two days.

The photo shows the five musketeers firing their muskets, which made quite a loud noise, although not as loud as the canon that was also fired at times during the two days. There was actually a reasonably-sized crowd watching the drill display, but there are all standing out of view to my right and left!

Photos of the dig in progress, and some of the finds uncovered, can be seen in this album.

See Google Street View of this location.

"The Five Musketeers" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

ABC Wednesday: Newton Hall

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is N for "Newton Hall". Newton Hall is on the north side of Hyde, around 2 miles south of Ashton.

It is a very timely occasion to show a photo of this medieval hall, as this week sees the start of a major archaeological dig around the grounds of the hall, where members of the public have been invited to take part.

The photograph was taken yesterday and shows work being undertaken to uncover the foundations of a later extension to the original hall.

The hall, built around 1380, had been extended several times and additional buildings were added around the site. It eventually became used as a barn for the farm that occupied part of the site. When the farm buildings were being demolished in the 1960s, to make way for industrial buildings, the contractor saw the ancient cruck-framed construction and, realising it was an important ancient building, stopped demolition immediately. The other farm buildings were later demolished but the original medieval hall was preserved and restored.

You can see a photo of the inside of the hall on this post a year ago, when Newton Hall was also my "N" contribution.

Even on the first day of the dig, interesting finds were being uncovered. If you are interested in taking part in the dig, or just in finding out more about the event, please see the Tameside History Forum website.

See Google Street View of this location.

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"Newton Hall" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "N" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

Newton Hall

"N" is for "Newton Hall" and today's photo shows the interior of Newton Hall, situated alongside the busy A627 road one mile north of Hyde and two miles south of Ashton.

Newton Hall is a cruck-framed medieval hall built around 1380. It would have been home to the de Newton family. The cruck style of building is of Celtic origin and was often used in Western and Northern parts of Britain. It consists of huge cruck-frames attached to oak-framed walls with wattle and daub infill panels.

The building had undergone some modernisation and it was not realised that the structure was so old. In 1968 the site was being cleared for re-development and demolition of the building started. When the timbers were discovered the demolition was halted.

The later additions were carefully stripped away and the building painstakingly restored using as much of the original as possible. Around 35 percent of the timbers are original with English Oak being used for replica parts. The structure is fastened together in the traditional manner using mortice and tenon joints fixed with oak pegs.

(Click photo for larger version. Press Back button to return here.)

See Google Street View of this location.

"Newton Hall" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "N" posts from around the world please follow this link.
Please leave a comment below.