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Clearwell Castle
Clearwell Castle in Clearwell, the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, is a Gothic Revival house constructed from 1727. Built by Thomas Wyndham to the designs of Roger Morris, it is the earliest Georgian Gothic Revival castle in England predating better-known examples such as Strawberry Hill House by over twenty years. A home of the Wyndham family for some 150 years, the first half of the twentieth century saw a disastrous fire, and subsequent asset-stripping, which brought the castle close to ruination. Slowly restored from 1954, in the 1970s the castle housed a recording studio used by, among other major bands, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Queen and Sweet. Now operating as a wedding venue, the castle is a Grade II* listed building. History Thomas Wyndham (1686–1752), the son of Francis Wyndham, a wealthy landowner, and Sarah Darell, was educated at Eton and the University of Cambridge, and became a barrister and later a Member of Parliament. He married ...
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Clearwell
Clearwell (anciently "Clower-Wall" etc.) is a village and former ancient manor in the Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England. A recent survey indicated that the population of Clearwell is approximately 350. There are mines locally that date back over 7,000 years to the mining of ochre and are known as Clearwell Caves. Later, the Romans mined iron at Clearwell Meend. Iron production expanded in medieval times and peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, leaving a legacy of fine stone built buildings. Clearwell Castle, a 'mock' castle of Gothic architecture built in 1728, is located in Clearwell. History of the village The village of Clearwell began as a group of hamlets which coalesced to form the village. It formed around three roads which run down shallow valleys to a central junction. The hamlets on the three roads were Clearwell, Peak, and Platwell, with a fourth hamlet, Wainlete, to the north-west of Clearwell. Clearwell and Platwell had dwellings by around 1300. In 1 ...
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Dunraven Castle
Dunraven Castle (or in Welsh, Castell Dwnrhefn) was a mansion on the South Wales coast near Southerndown. The existing manor house was rebuilt as a castellated Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom#Hunting_lodge, hunting lodge in the early 19th century and was extensively remodelled later in the century. The surviving parts of the house and its lands are Grade II listed buildings. History The site of the castle was the location for several earlier fortifications, the first of which is said to have been built by Arnold le Boteler (Butler) in the mid-12th century. By the 16th century, a manor house owned by the Vaughan family stood on the site, its existence recorded by John Leland (antiquary), John Leland. In 1642 the house was sold to the Wyndham family. Thomas Wyndham (of Dunraven Castle), Thomas Wyndham of Dunraven was Member of Parliament, MP for Glamorgan from 1789 to his death in 1814. He rebuilt the manor house as a castellated hunting lodge in 1802–1806. The building ...
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John Summerson
Sir John Newenham Summerson (25 November 1904 – 10 November 1992) was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century. Early life John Summerson was born at Barnstead, Coniscliffe Road, Darlington. His grandfather worked for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, Darlington and Stockton Railway and founded the family foundry of Thomas Summerson and Sons in Darlington in 1869. After the premature death of his father, Samuel James Summerson, in 1907, Summerson travelled extensively in England and Europe with his mother Dorothea and then attended a Preparatory school (United Kingdom), prep school at Riber Castle in Derbyshire before going to Harrow School, Harrow (1918-1922) and the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, where he gained a bachelor's degree. Career After graduation Summerson worked in several junior roles, most notably in the office of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, but architectural practice was not for him and he became a ...
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Vanbrugh Castle
Vanbrugh Castle is a house designed and built by John Vanbrugh for his own family, located on Maze Hill on the eastern edge of Greenwich Park in London, to the north of Blackheath, with views to the west past the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich down to the Thames reaching as far as the Houses of Parliament. History Vanbrugh years The castle was designed and built after Vanbrugh had been the architect of the baroque houses at Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace, and shortly after Vanbrugh succeeded his architectural mentor Christopher Wren as Surveyor to the Royal Naval Hospital in 1716. Vanbrugh took a lease of a 12-acre triangular site of the Westcombe estate from Sir Michael Biddulph, 2nd Baronet in 1718, now known as Vanbrugh Fields. In contrast to the baroque style used for his professional commissions, he chose a more medieval, almost gothic, style for his own house. Built on the southwestern corner of the triangular site, it predates the first clearly Gothic R ...
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In Through The Out Door
''In Through the Out Door'' is the eighth and final studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded in three weeks in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released by Swan Song Records on 15 August 1979. Unlike earlier Led Zeppelin albums, ''In Through the Out Door'' was dominated musically by John Paul Jones. It was the band's last studio release before they disbanded in December 1980 after the death of their drummer John Bonham three months earlier. The album was a huge commercial success; it went to on the ''Billboard'' 200 in just its second week on the American chart. It also went to in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Background The album was named by the group to describe its struggles after the death of Robert Plant's son Karac in 1977, and the taxation exile the band took from the UK. The exile resulted in the band being unable to tour on British soil for over two years, and trying to get back into the ...
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Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. Iommi was ranked number 25 in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". On his last day of work in a sheet metal factory, as a teenager, Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his right hand in an accident, an event which crucially impacted his playing style. He briefly left Black Sabbath (then known as Earth) in 1968 to join Jethro Tull, but did not record any material with the band, and subsequently returned to Black Sabbath in 1969. In 2000, he released his first solo album '' Iommi'', followed by 2005's '' Fused'', which featured his former bandmate Glenn Hughes. After releasing ''Fused'', he formed Heaven & Hell, which disbanded shortly after the death of Ronnie James Dio in 2010. ...
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Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in April to October 1973. The writing process for the album, which began in Los Angeles, California, was initially hampered in part by the band's substance abuse and fatigue following their 1972–1973 world tour in support of their previous album, '' Vol. 4''. The band then relocated to Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, where guitarist Tony Iommi conceived the main riff of what became the album's title track and lead single. Recording Following Black Sabbath's 1972–1973 world tour in support of their album, '' Vol. 4'', the group returned to Los Angeles to begin work on its successor. Pleased with ''Vol. 4'', the band sought to recreate the recording atmosphere, and returned to the Record Plant Studios. The band rented a house in Bel Air and began wr ...
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Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entity, Coverdale is the only constant member throughout their history. Whitesnake enjoyed much success in the UK, Europe and Japan through their early years. Their albums ''Ready an' Willing'', ''Come an' Get It'' and ''Saints & Sinners (Whitesnake album), Saints & Sinners'' all reached the top ten on the UK Albums Chart. By the mid-1980s, however, Coverdale had set his sights on breaking through in North America, where Whitesnake remained largely unknown. With the backing of American label Geffen Records, Whitesnake released their Whitesnake (album), eponymous album in 1987, which became their biggest success to date, selling over eight million copies in the US and spawning the hit singles "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love (Whitesnake song) ...
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Mott The Hoople
Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but failed to find commercial success. On the verge of breaking up, the band were encouraged by David Bowie to stay together. Bowie wrote the glam rock song "All the Young Dudes" for them, which became a huge commercial success in 1972. Bowie subsequently produced an album of the same name for them, which continued their success. Despite personnel changes, the band had further commercial success with ''Mott'' (1973) and ''The Hoople'' (1974). Lead singer Ian Hunter departed the band in 1974, after which the band's commercial fortunes began to dwindle. They remained together with continuing personnel changes until their break-up in 1980. The band have had reunions in 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2019. History Pre-Mott The Doc Thomas Group were formed in ...
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Pevsner Architectural Guides
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published between 1951 and 1974. The series was then extended to Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the late 1970s. Most of the English volumes have had subsequent revised and expanded editions, chiefly by other authors. The final Scottish volume, ''Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire'', was published in autumn 2016. This completed the series' coverage of Great Britain, in the 65th anniversary year of its inception. The Irish series remains incomplete. Origin and research methods After moving to the United Kingdom from his native Germany as a refugee in the 1930s, Nikolaus Pevsner found that the study of architectural history had little status in academic circles, and that the amount of information available, especially to travellers wanting to inform themselv ...
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Earl Of Dunraven And Mount-Earl
Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (usually referred to as Earl of Dunraven) was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 February 1822 for Valentine Quin, 1st Viscount Mount-Earl. Quin had already been created a Baronet, of Adare in County Limerick, in the Baronetage of Ireland, in 1781, Baron Adare, of Adare in the County of Limerick, on 31 July 1800, and Viscount Mount-Earl on 3 February 1816. He was made Viscount Adare in 1822 at the same time as he was given the earldom. The latter peerage titles were also in the Peerage of Ireland. The Quins were unusual among Irish landowning families in that era in being of Gaelic origin, although they married into Anglo-Irish families like the Widenhams of Kildimo and the Dawsons of Dublin. His son, the second Earl, represented County Limerick in the House of Commons from 1806 to 1820 and also sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer from 1839 until his death in 1850. In 1815 the second Earl had assumed by ...
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Windham Quin, 2nd Earl Of Dunraven And Mount-Earl
Windham Henry Quin, 2nd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (29 September 1782 – 6 August 1850) was an Irish Peer. Origin He was the eldest son of Valentine Richard Quin, 1st Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl and Lady Frances Muriel Fox-Strangways, daughter of Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st Earl of Ilchester, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Horner. He had one sister, Lady Harriet Quin, who married Sir William Payne-Gallwey, 1st Baronet and died in 1845. He was styled Viscount Adare from 1822 until he succeeded to the Earldom on the death of his father in 1824. He took the additional surname of Wyndham, becoming Windham Wyndham-Quin, on 7 April 1815. Life He was appointed Custos Rotulorum of County Limerick for life in 1818. He served as an MP for County Limerick in the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1820. He was accused of corruption following the 1818 General Election, but after a full inquiry, the House of Commons exonerated him. Marriage and children On 27 Dec ...
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