DoneThat
The Gatehouse, Brockhampton Manor, Herefordshire, England
The Gatehouse bridges the moat and there are rather a lot of water plants growing in the moat which hides the water - but it is there.
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As you walk through the Gatehouse arch you will see a small doorway, seen here, on your right. This gives access to some narrow stairs which lead to an upper room.
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This is the staircase with the rather nice door down below. The original would have been just a ladder but the staircase was added in the seventeenth century.
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It is thought that illegal Catholic masses were once held here between 1559 and 1791 and if you look closely at the walls of the Gatehouse, you might spot the double Vs burnt into the wood. These are religious marks that symbolised the Virgin Mary.
If you look at the far wall and staircase corridor, you might notice some dark marks that look like imperfections in the wood. These are in fact 'burn marks' commonly found on the inside of timber framed buildings across northern Europe. It is now known that these marks were purposely scorched into walls as it was believed that they protected the building from fire.
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