Notes from the Cellar Discovery

Coffee Cup, found in the excavations (2 pieces glued together)

The discovery of the cellar at Parlington prompted me to make the following notes at the time, 2005

He considered the options carefully, “How could it be? No one, and I mean nobody, could have been in here for around seventy or more years, not since the main entrance area was demolished when the Porte Cochère was moved to Lotherton Hall — it’s giving a tingling sensation down my neck, spooky!… Read the full article

Advertiser Mag :: 2020 #22

Bottles discovered in the Excavation of the Cellar

Following on from the previous episodes about the cellar discovery, I should like to resume with a brief story in a light hearted vein of my archaeological work. 

Continuing excavations in the gardens during a warm, sunny and settled early July 2005, the cellar being discovered, then the stone staircase down to it unearthed.… Read the full article

Advertiser Mag :: 2020 #21

Part Two

Cellar, looking back towards the stairway entrance

The destruction of Parlington Hall was not a single event. The hall was largely unoccupied sometime after the death of Colonel Frederick Trench-Gascoigne in 1905, his son Dick and new bride preferring the recently inherited Lotherton Hall. Dick, took the view that the property was really beyond saving.… Read the full article

Advertiser Mag :: 2019 #20

Excavation down to the Cellar beneath the Small Drawing Room

The majority of articles I have written on the topic of Parlington concern historical events,  references to lost heritage or details of the estate landscape and structures. However there is one event even though some fourteen years since, still affords me a moment to marvel at what occurred.… Read the full article

Advertiser Mag :: 2019 #19

Photograph by George Fowler Jones of the folly at Parlington Lake, 1882

We continue from the two previous articles at the lake. It was used by Colonel Gascoigne to great effect for his military manoeuvres, the following is an extract from a sham fight programme of 1864, the wording is a verbatim transcript from the colonel’s own hand:

‘…On the arrival of the Attacking Columns at the Wood near the Lake, they will throw forward a line of Skirmishers which will carefully feel their way through the thicket, and when they observe the enemy on the Island they will open fire, which will be kept up as rapidly as possible for the purpose of keeping down the enemy fire, whilst the attacking columns are launching their boats, and crossing to the Island.Read the full article