Being three-storey and largely brick-built (freestone wall quoins) Burton Agnes Hall (see above, south facing front elevation) shares many features with Burton Constable. Even the ground-plan is similar although on a more domestic, less expansive scale. Largely built in the early 1600s Burton Agnes Hall is a classic example of grand Jacobean architecture (James I, the first Stuart monarch, 1603-1625). From 1654 to the present it has been the home of generations of the Boynton family, it remains a family home but part of the interior is open to the public (see website).
Although probably never on the scale at Burton Constable the land around Burton Agnes was landscaped at some point although only a small portion remains to the east of the house, this visible from the Bridlington road.
(Breaking off for 11am Remembrance).
This morning when taking the dog first thing and on crossing East Drain, the ebb tide having resulted in the sluice gates being open, noticed quite vigorous eddies in the flowing water resulting from a small in the bank at water level. This conjured in my mind’s eye recollections of a small tributary stream which drained/drains Oxborough Fen (south-west Norfolk). The bank I often walked as a young person, always intrigued by the eddies and swirling waters caused by local bank collapses or beds of aquatic plants. At points where the stream had eroded down to the chalk bedrock trout might be seen, generally facing up-stream and generating the minimal motion to remain still, with dace more common where the stream-bed was muddy. I occasionally followed the locally popular ‘sport’ of fishing and once caught a trout (the only one) from the bridge of the Fen road. Sadly I could not extract the hook from its throat and it bled to death. Have never forgiven myself and had a life-long hatred of blood-‘sports’ and the deployment of other animals in any human ‘sports’ or recreations.
The stream was a tributary of the River String which in-turn is a tributary of the River Wissey which in-turn is a tributary of the River Great Ouse.