Tea at Trianon: A Medieval Castle in England Has 800 Years of Stories

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

Monday, October 27, 2025

A Medieval Castle in England Has 800 Years of Stories

From Mansion Global:

“There are gargoyles all the way around the parapet, so we suspect that if there are any ghosts, they have seen them off,” David said.

Despite the apparent lack of paranormal activity, Bishop’s Court has had plenty of other notable visitors in its near 800-year history. Nina Simone and Van Morrison stayed in the eight-bedroom mansion in the early 2000s when they performed at Bishopstock, a blues festival that ran on the estate for several years not long before the current owners bought the place.

Built in the 1200s, it was originally a country palace for Exeter’s bishops. Much of the medieval fabric of the building survives, including a tithe barn—used to store the local produce farmers paid to the church—and a stable block, thought to be one of the oldest in England. There is also a well within the main building that still supplies the couple with water today. “It goes down about 60 feet underground and the water is fantastic,” David said.

The story of Bishop’s Court reflects key moments in the history of British politics, the monarchy and the church, which is part of what made it so appealing. “The bishops were the real movers and shakers of their time,” David said. “Owning a house where a lot of very interesting people have lived over a long period of time, they become part of the ambience and environment.”

One of the bishops to live there was Walter de Stapledon, the treasurer in charge of England’s finances. Unpopular for raising taxes to support King Edward II, Stapledon was pulled from his horse and beheaded by a mob in the London uprising of 1326. His severed head was, reportedly, sent to the queen.

But in 1546, Henry VIII kicked the bishops off the estate as part of his dissolution of the monasteries, during which he seized land belonging to the Catholic church. The king gave Bishop’s Court to one of his trusted allies, the first Earl of Bedford, John Russell, as a reward for his help suppressing rebellions. (Read more.)