A piece of history

This Building is call Stratford House

and it is in Birmingham in the UK

It is listed as a grade ll* building which means

particularly important building 

of more than special interest

and has been scheduled as an ancient monument

 Now it is offices

but in 1601 it was built by Ambrose Rotton as a home

for him, his wife Bridget and their children.

The initials of Ambrose and Bridget are carved over the porch

and they called it Camp Hill Farm  

I wonder if it looked something like this 

or perhaps this in 1601

If, it was still a home

 perhaps the staircase would look more like this today

Was the dining room of those years

served from a kitchen like this?

and could it look like this now?

Would Ambrose and Bridget

 have had their living room looking like this?

and would current owners have it more like this?

Would a new dining room have looked like this

         

When once it was this?

         

Perhaps it would look more like this today.

***

It doesn't really matter though

 because

 what matters is

that we have a family tree on my Mothers side

 that goes unbroken back to 1216

and smack dab in the middle of that family tree sit

 Ambrose and Bridget Rotton!

The Rotton family lived in this house for 95 years

 before the farm was broken up and sold

Apparently the City streets of Birmingham

 are built over the paddocks that Ambrose's cattle once ran in.

Now isn't that a fascinating piece of history for my family?

UK daughter doesn't yet know

 that she is going to try and get photos of the interior

 but she will when she read this. LOL!!!      

Goodnight

           

measure twice...cut once!

When Top was a small boy

 he was given a box, 

very like this,

 for his toys

The main difference being

 that the lid was rounded at the corners in the front

                                                                                                                                                                                         here

  

Over the years 

it became rather battered

 and eventually 

it passed to our children, 

as their toy box.

But, as all children do,

 they grew up 

and didn't want, or need a toy box anymore.

So now we had a well worn but well loved box

What to do with it?

We stripped it....

we painted it white....

we painted it black...

It just didn't fit with the rest of the house.

  So

I painted it citrus yellow 

 and then aged it with burnt sienna

I removed the lid

and painted it with a scene from

the tapestry

the Lady and the Unicorn

This scene in fact.

I was absolutely thrilled with it

 it had taken me two weeks of painstaking work

note the detail in the background    

When we were sure it was dry Top very carefully screwed the 

lid back onto the box

 remember those rounded corners at the front!!!!!!!

I HAD PAINTED 

THE WHOLE THING

 UPSIDE DOWN 

Two days later,  it was sanded back, 

repainted yellow

 aged again with the burnt sienna

Two days later I had finished the top again

remember it took two weeks the first time!!

 and now it looks like this

  

Not quite as good as it had

and I realise now

 that when I started painting the first time 

I should have remembered that there is a reason that carpenters 

always measure twice and cut once!

  it saves a lot of costly mistakes

There's a little change here Kerry from
 http://tranquiltownhouse.blogspot.com    
suggested I  send this link to                                                                                                                  

Between naps on the porch  

for metamorphosis Monday 

don't know if it will work but I am going to give it a try.