Dyrham

Here’s a little titbit of a history blog for you. We went to Dyrham Park near Bath at the weekend and guess what I discovered there? Only the paintings removed from the Old Theatre Royal in Bath. If you follow my blog you’ll know I wrote several on this theatre which is the theatre Jane Austen would have attended in the years she visited and then lived in Bath.

So yes Jane Austen most likely sat beneath these pictures watching a play.

Ceiling pictures at Dyrham Park previously from the Old Theatre Royal Bath

The paintings, by the Italian artist, Andrea Casali, originally came from Fontinhill Splandens near Bath and then they were purchased by the Old Theatre Royal in Orchard St Bath and displayed on the ceiling there.

The stage, Theatre Royal, Orchard St, Bath

When the Orchard St Theatre closed n 1845 the paintings were bought by Col. Blathwayt for Dyrham, which is up on the hill above Bath, and installed in what once had been Dyrham’s great hall when it was a medieval manor house, but what had become the ballroom as well as a grand Great Hall to welcome visitors. The floor in the room at Dyrham had even been sprung for better dancing.

The Great Hall Dyrham where the pictures are placed

My Sunday blog will be about a 17^th Century Wiltshire love nest and the Lord who built it for his preferred Lady.

My other blogs on the Theatre Royal Bath are;

I discovered a real gem to add to my blogs on Bath yesterday – the old Royal Theatre, Orchard Street, Bath – Jane Austen was certainly a visitor there

The Theatre Royal, Orchard St, Bath, was the Theatre Jane Austen attended – I’ll tell you more about it today

Old Orchard Street Theatre Royal, Bath, its actors and actresses, including Sarah Siddons, and its links to Jane Austen

18th Century life in the Orchard Street Theatre Bath and its impact on everyone, including Jane Austen, through its involvement in the transport of letters

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional love stories.

See the side bar for details of Jane’s books, and Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click  ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook  page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark

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