Dartington Hall

P3w1

Medieval Hall

Dartington Hall is a manor house in Totnes in Devon, UK. This classified as a cultural monument is a fine Grade I mansion was known as the site of Dartington Hall School.

History

The grounds of Dartington Hall was probably inhabited since Roman times, the first time Dartington 833 is named in a royal charter. In the 12th century the estate was owned by the family FitzMartin. After the death of the last owner Nicholas Audley in 1348 it fell again to the Crown. Richard II gave the manor in 1384 to his half-brother John Holland. Once this has been created Earl of Huntingdon and finally to the Duke of Exeter, he built Dartington Hall from his residence. Until 1475 it remained in the possession of the heirs of Holland. After the death of Henry Holland in 1475, it fell to the second husband of his widow Anne of York, Thomas St. Leger. After his unsuccessful rebellion against Richard III. 1483 Dartington Hall fell again to the Crown. In 1487 the estate was granted for life to Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII awarded the Good successively to two of his wives, to Catherine Howard Catherine Parr and on.

1559 earned Arthur Champernowne the estate. After the death of Rawlin Champernowne 1774, the family Harrington Dartington Hall inherited. The impoverished family in the 19th century, so they had to sell large parts of their land in the early 20th century. 1925 acquired the Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst couple Dartington Hall with the remaining 320 acres of land. The medieval hall was at this time without a roof and fall, the other buildings were used for agricultural purposes and were badly run down. The Elmhirsts acquired the estate as a location for their school Dartington Hall School and invested in the following years a lot of time and money to renovate the building and expand. In addition to the restoration of the medieval buildings architecture critics from all over Europe and North America were aware of Dartington Hall, as the Swiss-American architect William Lescaze the High Cross House, several apartment buildings, three dormitories for the students and the administration built in the modernist style and Walter Gropius in the conversion of an old barn participated in a theater.

1961 founded the Dartington Hall Dartington College of Arts, an art college, whose disciplines among others Theater, music and choreography included. The academic collaboration took place with the University of Plymouth. In 2008, the college was merged with University College Falmouth and moved to Falmouth.

Current usage

The Dartington Hall School was closed in 1987. The property is now managed by the charitable foundation Dartington Hall Trust and serves as a center for arts, social justice and sustainability. The grounds and the park are freely available, many events take place in the great hall.

Since 1991, the Schumacher College in Dartington works as a leading center for sustainable, economic and social sustainability.

Since 1947, takes place annually over several weeks International Summer School of Music at Dartington place that gives amateur musicians the opportunity to play together with leading musicians from around the world and provides space for musical experiments and new forms of cooperation.

Plant

The manor house is situated above the valley of the River Dart in the middle of a 485 acre estate. The still existing large hall and other buildings around the courtyard still come from the built towards the end of the 14th century residence of John Holland. Excavations south of the large hall brought the remains of at least three older buildings -a-days, of which a detached stone building dating from the early 14th century. The residence of John Holland was built around two courtyards, which were completely surrounded by buildings. The system was modified several times in the 15th and 16th centuries, in 1700 became a part of the inner court, demolished most of the buildings of the outer court in the early 19th century. After the plant in the 19th century further fell, the buildings have been restored from 1926 to 1936.

The current system consists of a grassy courtyard, which is surrounded on three sides by still originally from the 14th century buildings. The building to the right of the humble portal is the oldest part of the property and was probably used as a stable. The long low building across the street dates from the late Middle Ages and was used as a barn. With the participation of Walter Gropius it was rebuilt in the 20th century in a theater. The elongated west wing contained in the Middle Ages, the properties for the wake of the dukes, and received its present appearance by 1740. In the south of the medieval hall wing is with a large porch, which contains the large hall with four arched windows next to the medieval kitchen.

Dartington Hall is one of the most remarkable mansions in Devon. It is not only the largest medieval estate in western England, but was never fortified with walls, towers, or trenches, which is very unusual for a medieval manor house.

Garden

The courtyard of the old manor house was designed in 1933 to 1938 as a new garden of Beatrix Farrand. The terrace garden in the south was created in the 17th century as a formal parterre garden. Today, the mansion in the south and west is surrounded by gardens that merge into a park. The oldest tree of the plant is about a 2000 year old yew tree. The gardens are adorned with several sculptures, including the footwall, a 1947 made ​​by Henry Moore Sandsteinskultpur. The newly created by Dorothy Elmhirst garden has large magnolias and camellias flower beds and is bordered by flower beds. Center of the complex to the west is an area with steep grassy terraces and the Twelve Apostles, a guard of honor from the 300th yew. The place was probably created as a tournament course in the Middle Ages and is still referred to as such. Not far from the old church tower of St. Mary was built in 1990 by Phil Booth, a Japanese garden.

Church tower of St. Mary

The small church tower, which is visible above the roof of the west wing, is the only remnant of the old church of St. Mary, the former church of Dartington. The church was canceled in 1878, a new church was built in 1200 meters west of the junction to Buckfastleigh using part of the old material by John L. Pearson. The tower received dates from the 13th century and was probably increased in the 15th century. The tower is still surrounded by a row of old grave stones.

High Cross House

At the entrance to the mansion is the High Cross House, which is considered one of the most important buildings of classical modernism in Britain. Built of brick, two-storey house consists of blue and white stucco, interlocking solid cubes and a smaller extension with rounded corners. The provided with parapets flat roofs are accessible partly as roof terraces. The spacious building was built in 1932, designed by the Switzerland -American architect William Lescaze for William Curry, the headmaster of Dartington Hall. The house opens into several terraces and is durchfenstert rich. Inside it is decorated in color, some rooms still have the original Bauhaus furniture and designed by Lescaze facility.

The house is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, after the closure of the school, it served as an exhibition space for the collection of modern art, which was founded by the Elmhirsts. Since 2012 it is run by the National Trust and is used as an exhibition space for contemporary art and as an event space. High Cross is to be a local center for contemporary art and serve as a communication center.