What have you all been up to today ?
I've been to the dentist !! Half an hour of ' fun ' with the hygienist and a check up with the dentist, who would like me to fund his next three holidays in the South of France !!! My dentist is about 5 miles away from our house and is situated just behind the river in Ware { no Ware jokes please .... I've heard them all before !!! }
The gazebos along the river date from the 18th century and are a unique feature of Ware. Whilst there may be individual gazebos elsewhere in Britain, nowhere else do they survive as a group as they do on the River Lee in Ware. These riverside " summerhouses " stand in the former gardens of the High Street coaching inns that used to run down to the river.
Scott's Grotto in Scott's Road is an enchanting place for a visit if you find yourself in Ware ..... with it's captivating underground passages and chambers, Scott's Grotto is a Grade 1 listed building and is the largest grotto in the United Kingdom. The grotto, which is said to have taken about 30 years to complete, was formerly in the garden of Amwell House and was completed by John Scott, an 18th century Quaker poet, who inherited Amwell House from his father in 1768. The grotto is set into the northeast face of a hill with air shafts, light wells and connecting passages, decorated with shells, stones, flint, fossils and coloured glass. There is a " Council Chamber ", two " Committee Rooms ", a ' Refreshments Room ", a " Consulting Room " and a " Robing Room ". Scott also had other romantic features built in his garden, including an octagonal gazebo on the hillside above. Scott kept a book which lists 3,000 visitors from 1779 to 1787. Samuel Johnson visited several times and pronounced the Grotto a ' Fairy Hall ', adding that ' none but a poet could have made such a garden'.
Are you bored yet ? ...... keep with me as I have one more historical fact about Ware and it's a good one !!!
It's all about ' The Great Bed of Ware .....
The Great Bed of Ware is an extremely large oak four poster bed, carved with marquetry, that was originally housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware. Built by Hertfordshire carpenter Jonas Fosbrooke in 1580, the bed measures ten by eleven feet and can ' reputedly ' accommodate at least twelve people. Allegedly, Jonas Fosbrooke did not approve of riff - raff in his luxury bed so, his ghost pinches and scratches all who dare sleep in it !!! Many of those who have used the bed have carved their names into it's posts and the graffiti is as interesting as the bed itself. Travellers broke their journey at Ware just to spend a night in the bed. Reported guests include a party of butchers and their wives and a Bavarian Prince.
.The fantastical creatures and the male and female figures at the back suggest the potential for sexual pleasure . This bed is so famous that Shakespeare has Sir Toby Belch describe a sheet as " big enough for the bed of Ware "in Twelfth Night. The bed moved from the White Hart to the Saracen's Head, another Ware Inn. In 1870, William Henry Teale, acquired the bed and put it to use in a pleasure garden. It's now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
..... and, following on nicely from the Great Bed of Ware .....
I polished my knobs and knockers this afternoon !!!
Here endeth the history lesson of Ware, Hertfordshire.
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image 1: via google, image 2: via the best, image 3: via 40cg, image 4: via me.
