Tea at Trianon: A Former Nunnery

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, December 19, 2024

A Former Nunnery

From Country Life:

The property — technically No.1 – 3 Barrow Court — is a former Benedictine nunnery, and now a nine-bedroom house with a floorplan larger than the map of some entire villages. There’s nearly 12,000sq ft of space on offer in the main house, with a couple of cellars, an annexe and garage taking the total over 13,000sq ft. As you might have guessed from the name of the place, the house has actually been divided into three — back in the 1970s — but the three parts of the main house are for sale as one, potentially opening up the possibility of making it one enormous house once more. That said, you’d have to get the right permissions in place: this is a Grade II*-listed building that dates back to the 12th century, and as well as planning and conservation officers you’ll also have to bear in mind that it’s offered not as freehold, but with a 972-year lease. There is precedent for it being one home again, naturally. Though it started out as a religious house, it became a wealthy merchant’s house following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. (Read more.)