The juxtaposition of old and new - obviously something that never bothered town planners in Southampton!
A more pleasing view of the Museum. In my childhood, throughout the winter, I would visit here every Saturday, on my way to the swimming baths.
This lady made her own gown, and looked every inch a proper embassador for the Museum Open Day.
These date back to the Tudor period. All the exhibits had been removed (all I can remember now was a stuffed Dachshund in the Victorian parlour!) so that extensive renovation work could be carried out. This meant that in parts you were really back to how the house looked in Tudor times. Inside the Museum, work has revealed hand painted vine tendrils on some of the beams.
In one corner, a tiny Tudor doorway. Gosh, they must have been short and thin in those days . .
Wonderful old beams in one of the earliest parts of the Museum - though back in the 80s "someone" saw fit to take down the walls in between the Tudor house and the late Medieval part abutting it to make one big room for displays - which was a pity, as these were actually external SUPPORTING walls of both properties, just a hand's breadth between them and the whole building then started to lean rather nastily to one side. It has now been put right I'm glad to say, with the use of modern technology. (These beams are tied to one another with metal hawsers attached to a very solid metal upright which goes down to the ground floor.)
I love this old and new picture, with the Medieval add-ons and the Regency "modernisation" of another part of the building.
Another view of the back of the building. I love the yellow ochre colour of the limewash (similar to what we have used on our farmhouse).
Another view of old and new. The beautiful Tudor knot and herb gardens - and in the background, the awful intrusion of the De Vere hotel . . . Very in keeping - NOT!
Another view of the garden.
A pretty bower of vines.
