Sin,—Yon and your readers have supported the National Trust so
generously in respect of the Gowbarrow (Ullswater) scheme (for which 24,000 is still needed) that one hesitates to make any further appeal to your kindness. Nevertheless. I cannot help thinking that many of your readers will be glad to hear that if 21,500 can be raised publicly Barrington Court may be placed in the hands of the National Trust. The whole sum needed to acquire the property, which includes two hundred and twenty acres of land, is of course much larger,— £11,500, allowing for a small balance for immediate repairs and other necessary expenses. But towards this large total we have the generous offer of 210,000 (upon certain conditions with which the Trust has no difficulty in complying) from an anonymous donor. Barrington Court is a house of the mid-Tudor period, of very great beauty and architectural interest. It is a very fine example of the country mansion built in the period immediately preceding the age of the great Elizabethan and Jacobean houses, of which so many glorious examples remain. The house is E-shaped, having large mullioned windows with arched lights, while the twisted chimneys and the twisted finials which surmount the gables and buttresses are a distinctive feature of the building. The beautiful colouring of the Hamhill stone is well known to those who are acquainted with the neighbourhood. Built as the residence ,of a great sixteenth-century nobleman, and for many years occupied by an important county family, a house in which at least one King's son has been entertained, Barrington Court has now fallen from its high estate. For nearly a century half of it has been little more than a shell of great beauty, while the remainder is now used as a farmhouse. It has been to no one's interest to take care of this valuable relic, which has been to a great extent denuded of its movable ornaments. There have even been recent suggestions of moving the whole structure away, and re-erecting it in a strange country. If the house becomes the property of the Trust it will be care- fully watched, and it is hoped that it may be yet kept standing for many generations. May we hope that among your readers there will be some lovers of such buildings who will respond to the generosity of the anonymous donor by sending a con- tribution towards the 21,500 which remains to be collected ?
—I am, Sir, &c., NIGEL BOND, Secretary. The National Trust, 25 Victoria Street, S.W.
[We wish we could show our readers a picture of Barrington Court, one of the most beautiful examples of the most beauti- ful style of architecture ever devised for the country houses of rich men. To see the building itself would convert them into strong supporters of the movement to buy Barrington Court for the National Trust. The ruin or rebuilding of Barrington Court would be a national disaster. If it once passes into the hands of the National Trust all fear of such a disaster is at an end.—ED. Spectator.'
RIFLE-SHOOTING FOR BOYS: A GOOD EXAMPLE.
Previous page
