Guys Cliffe House

Guys Cliffe House, Warwick (nr. Saxon Mill) is having its Heritage open days Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th at 10:00am, entrance fee £0:00p (Donation) If you've ever sat outside the Saxon mill supping a coffee whilst looking over the river Avon at that mysterious building now's your chance to view it's remains. These are a couple of photos I took in 2010. BTW im not a promoter, I just like our local history

It looks a lovely building wish I could go to see it, shame buildings like this are not renovated, that's the best about Coventry it's central and close and easy to get around to our local historic places like Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth, Stratford, Nuneaton, Astley, Stoneleigh etc including Coventry itself.

I think unfortunately it's beyond restoration ,it didn't help when they filmed Sherlock Holmes 'The Last Vampyre' there in the early 90's and the pyrotechnics went out of control and burnt down the place even more. We are lucky to have so many places of history at arms length so to speak and even better when you can access them

Hi Catshed & Hi all Much of our surrounding area has now, & has had in the past, such a huge effect on Coventry, that if we ignore it, we miss out on so much. Our church history is tied up with Lichfield. So much of our civil history has roots in places as diverse as Leicestershire & the Cotswolds. Just read accounts of the battle that Gosford Green is famous for. I love reading about venues that are right on our doorstep & my first reaction is to see how easy it is to get there. That is a huge issue that is so relevant to Coventry, because of all of the places to live in, I don't believe there is anywhere else with such a diversity of radiating routes as we have in Coventry, particularly public transport. That is something that we should be shouting from the roof-tops. Birmingham has a good radiating public transport system, but it takes at least half an hour to get out of Birmingham & nearly an hour in some areas. Yesterday, Pam & I left Trinity St, & in fifteen minutes were out in the sticks going through Crackley aboard the X17. It was bril. Guys Cliffe House

Very interesting past this building has. Not going to go into it to much as most is on their website. But it is said that Piers Gaveston prayed here before being led to his death at Blacklow Hill, outside Kenilworth, Piers Gaveston being King Edward II's lover. Here is a snippet of what I have done in the research dept. On the 9th June 1312, at Deddington, in Oxfordshire, Pembroke left Piers at the rectory while he himself went to visit his wife. When Warwick (Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick), found out about Gaveston's whereabouts, he rode out immediately to capture him. The next morning, Warwick appeared at the rectory, and took Piers captive, returning with him to his castle at Warwick. Piers was held there until 19th June 1312, when before an assembly of barons, including Warwick, Lancaster, Hereford and Arundel, he was condemned to death for violating the terms of the ordinances. He was taken out on the road towards Kenilworth as far as Blacklow Hill, where two Welshmen ran him through with a sword, before beheading him. He was 28 years old. In 1821 on Blacklow Hill, near Warwick, Bertie Greatheed (the son of Samuel Greatheed of Guy's Cliffe) completed a project that he had been proposing for some time. He erected a stone cross to mark the execution site of Piers Gaveston,1st Earl of Cornwall. The words he wrote on the stone - "In the Hollow of this Rock, Was beheaded, On the 1st Day of July, 1312, By Barons lawless as himself, PIERS GAVESTON, Earl of Cornwall; The Minion of a hateful King. In Life and Death. A memorable Instance of Misrule." (He got the date wrong )

This is one of the main reasons I got into history. Warwick has a very controversial history. Piers Gaveston's death, a great fire, the Castle that has never been fought over, and the famous Warwick tunnels that no one knows about (apart from me and a couple of local people). Kenilworth Castle is where King Edward II was held before he was also killed, some say by his wife and her lover, Roger Moretimer. PS. Edward's wife Isabella also lived in Cheylesmore Manor in Coventry.

Oh the Warwick Tunnels, they do exist, I know a publican that had one blocked off in his cellar. It would be magic to explore wouldn't it. I have also been in another cellar on the High Street in Warwick and seen the charred wood from the 'Great Fire'.

Ref the tunnels - They do say they go all the way from the Castle to the old Priory, and even Guys Cliffe. The basement in the house at Guys Cliffe is said to have a way into them, but this is only what I have found out on other web sites. The church at Guys Cliffe (now owned by the Masons) has a much-eroded stone statue of Guy (Guy of Warwick) originally thought to be twelve feet high, and the church itself dates to the 10th century.

An interesting subject to me, love the idea of exploring, the details of them seem to be kept quiet I reckon for some reason.

The castle end was covered over, or lost when the grounds were reworked by Capability Brown around 1750. Some say that the (famous) Warwick tunnels are not known too much about due to them linking houses, pubs, and law courts. If any one wanted to get out of jail, and knew the tunnels were there, they would not need a get out of jail free card. The same goes for robbers helping themselves to beer, property of others etc. They say that the Crypt at St Mary's in the town was the only thing left untouched by the Great Fire. It started at 2.00 pm. on 5 September 1694.

Here's the photo I took of the large statue depicting Guy of Warwick.

Oh Baz, I sit in the waiting-room at my dentist in Warwick which is opposite Lord Leycester's Hospital, just next to where the fire started and ponder about it all. A 'kindling torch' sent a spark onto a thatched roof on a warm, windy, dry afternoon and turned into an inferno all down the High Street and the side streets and people had taken charred belongings with them and taken refuge in the Church and the charred stuff set the 1395 built Church on fire, as you say about two thirds of that went up. The only saviour was a brick built building in Jury St that halted the flames. All those jettied buildings that nearly touched one another across a street were replaced with stone/brick and streets widened for safety. No Fire Insurance either. People pulled down some houses to try and halt the fire but it jumped the gaps in certain places. The damage caused to the buildings was as catastrophic as the Blitz in Coventry. However, I don't believe there were any fatalities due to the Warwick fire, which obviously palls into insignificance when you know what happened to Coventry. Oh, regarding the tunnels, I see the security issue with the tunnels.

Thanks for that photo, never seen that statue of Guy before, thanks for bothering.

Probably to stop vandals scratching their names everywhere Foxcote. It's just the same Downunder ! Spoils it for all that would like to view these places.

A photo interlude--: In fact Catshed & Baz, this is all closer to home than anyone could imagine. Even the calendar hanging up came from an engineering business in Durbar Ave. What a pip.