News from Athelhampton House & Gardens.

When you visit Athelhampton House & Gardens, if you explore the house you'll come across linenfold panelling at every turn. To many people, that term means nothing, and it would have meant nothing to the medieval and Tudor craftsmen who created Athelhampton House, despite their familiarity with it as an object. Linenfold panelling imitates folded linen or paper through relieve carving used on wood. While it originated in Flanders in the 1300s, it spread across Northern Europe

16th Century English money was solid, heavy, and made from precious metals. While the history of lightweight money in the form of promissory notes dates back to nearly 150BC in Carthage, by Tudor times money was made of (mostly) gold and silver. Some coins, like the gold sovereign, looked like a modern day chocolate coin in terms of colour and size! Gold Sovereign, or £1, from the time of Elizabeth I At this time, the Martyn family of Athelhampton had huge amounts of wealth,