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Carew Manor

A Photographic Tour

The following images were taken by Andy Hyldon and pupils from both Carew Manor and Wandle Valley school.
Welcome To Carew Manor
 
Up until Victorian times there was actually a lake in front of the manor, linking it to the vast grounds now known as Beddington Park.
 
During Tudor times it was a large deer park attached to the Carew estates and in most probability, Henry VIII would have hunted there alongside Nicholas Carew. More information on the park can be found at:
 
www.friendsofbeddingtonpark.co.uk
The Great Hall
 
The Great Hall is the most famous aspect of Carew Manor, and it is also the only Grade 1* listed building in the borough.

When not being used for ceremony or banqueting, the Great Hall would have been a day-to-day room, used by servants to have their meals in as well as an everyday loitering room for guests to wait before having a private audience with Nicholas Carew. These “audiences” were for people to report on matters concerning the estate or wider political problems of the country or to ask for “favours”. Perhaps the best example of how this “audience” might have been during Tudor times (including the power of the nobility) can be seen in the opening scene of the first Godfather film!
 
* An English Heritage “Grade 1‟ listing means it is of “exceptional‟ historical interest and there are certain restrictions placed on how the building is used and looked after. For example, the school that currently resides at Carew Manor and uses the Great Hall for school lunches, assembly presentation and classes, is not allowed to stick anything on walls and should any repairs need to be made they need to get special permission to ensure it is in keeping with its Tudor heritage and architecture.
Banquets would have taken place in the Great Hall with Nicholas Carew (and on occasion Henry VIII) sitting at the head table. The food would have been brought from the kitchen at the far end (opposite where the school kitchen is currently located) and paraded up to the top table.
 
The further away you were from the top table, the lower you were in social standing/status and the less choice you would have regarding the food (also the dishes would have got colder) – although no one would have ever gone wanting as that would have been a great social shame on the host.
 
The hall is also home to the famous “hammer-beam” roof.  It looks like an upturned boat and indeed was made in very a very similar way.  Hammer-Beam roofs were very popular during the Tudor period, however there are only a few of them now remaining.  The closest “cousin” to this roof is at Hampton Court palace and there is also one at Eltham Place in South London.
 
The motto on the Carew coat of arms in the Great Hall is: “Be conscious of no guilt”
Into The Back Garden
 
Thanks to Francis Carew, the gardens of Carew Manor during the Elizabethan era were known as some of the finest in England. The following is an account from Baron Waldstein, a German traveller who documents the gardens.
“We made a four mile detour via Beddington in order to see a most lovely garden belonging to a nobleman called Francis Carew. A little river runs through the middle of this garden, so crystal clear that you see the water plants beneath the surface. A thing of interest is the oval fish pond enclosed by trim hedges. The garden contains a beautiful square shaped rock, sheltered on all sides and very cleverly contrived: the stream flows right through it and washes all around. In the stream one can see a number of different representations: the best of these is Polyphome playing on his pipe, surrounded by all kinds of animals. There is also a Hydra out of whose many heads the water gushes The garden also contained orange trees that were covered by a removable wooden shed, or sheds, each autumn and heated with stoves over the winter to keep the frost at bay.”
St.Mary’s Church is located directly beside Carew Manor.

Sir Richard Carew (father of the beheaded Nicholas) and Francis Carew (the gardener) are both entomed there.
 
There are also persistent rumours that Sir Walter Raleigh‟s body was eventually buried in the Carew vault. His body is currently said to be at St.Margaret‟s church (next to Westminster Abbey). His wife (Bess) certainly pleaded with her brother (who was at the time in charge of the estate) to allow him to be buried in Beddington, but as the Carew family vault at the church is now sealed I guess we”ll never know…
Ghostly Images In The Cellars
 
There are vast cellars underneath Carew Manor. Originally these cellars would have been used as cool storage for food and water (like one large refrigerator). Today they are mostly unused (although the school do use some of the space as storage). The ceilings are quite low with modern pipework running throughout and although there are now electric lights down there it still feels dark … and just a little bit spooky!
We spent time down in the cellars creating some ghostly images using digital SLR cameras and the following two methods:
 
Method 1 – Shutter Speed
 
  • It helps if you can put the camera on a tripod or keep it still on a table.
  • Set the shutter speed to 3 seconds.
  • Set the aperture to suit light exposure.
  • Get your “ghost” to stand in shot.
  • Use the self-timer to take the shot.
  • Hit the shutter button and when the camera starts to take the picture, count to 2 and have the “ghost” quickly walk out of shot.
 
Method 2 – Double Exposure
(This method will only work if your camera has a multiple exposure setting)
 
  • Again, stabilise the camera on a tripod or table.
  • Set the camera for 2 exposures.
  • Again, adjust the shutter speed and aperture for light exposure (or use the automatic setting).
  • Take first picture with person in shot.
  • Take second picture without them in shot.
  • Ensure you don‟t move the camera between each picture.
Ghost Stories
 
There are a couple of ghost stories associated with Carew Manor.
The first involves the famous tree in the back garden by the Orangery Wall. The story goes that if you walk around it 3 times after midnight the image of a hanging figure appears (some stories say that it‟s actually the head of Sir Walter Raleigh that appears) – although the current caretaker of Carew Manor assures me that having tried it himself many times over the years, it has never actually appeared to him. However he is more convinced of the Victorian ghost girl that appears above the Manor‟s walkway as she has appeared at least twice over the past 20 years to members of the school staff.
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