Fyne Court is a hidden gem in the heart of the Quantock Hills. The estate was the home of the Crosse family who lived here until the house was destroyed by fire in 1894. Andrew Crosse, Fyne Court's most famous resident, known as 'The Thunder and Lightning Man' by the locals. He is Fyne Court’s most celebrated occupant. Living here in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and was a visionary scientist and poet with a deep love of his native Quantock Hills.
He was a highly intelligent man whose fascination with electricity ignited when he attended a lecture on the force. He began experimenting by giving electric shocks to unsuspecting friends. When Crosse graduated from Oxford University, he returned to Fyne Court to run the estate. Here, his near obsession with electricity intensified.
Crosse became intrigued by its presence in the atmosphere and decided to explore this interest further. He strung up a third of a mile of copper wire in the grounds and connected it to equipment in the music room.
Voltage would build up when there was fog, heavy rain or thunder and lightning. Conducting equipment would begin sparking and flashing, and loud bangs would shake the music room.
In an experiment to generate crystals Crosse found that mites began appearing from a piece of volcanic stone he had put in acid and passed an electric current through. Crosse gave a lecture on his findings in London, and it has been claimed that Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley attended. This has led to the belief that Crosse's lecture inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein. However their presence at the lecture has never been proven.
Fyne Court was transformed in the 1750s when Arcadian landscapes were popular. A boathouse, follies, ponds, cascades and a serpentine lake were built, and the house was remodelled.
However, later descendants couldn't afford to maintain the gardens. As you walk through the woodlands you'll discover the remains of their former grandeur. The house was also lost, destroyed by a fire in 1894. The blaze was believed to have started when a housemaid left a candle she'd been using to heat curling tongs unattended.
Only the music room and library survive today, a remnant of this elegant Georgian mansion. They have incorporated a tea-room into one of the surviving sections along with a second hand bookshop. I didn't go in the bookshop but took full advantage of the tearoom.
Also, in one of the old ponds near the walled garden, if luck is on your side, you can spot the rare newts which have made Fyne Court their home.
No comments:
Post a Comment