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Even a visit from Queen Mary couldn't save this 15th-century Yorkshire mansion from Britain's coal industryMethley Hall surpassed everyone's expectations and managed to stay standing long beyond its time.
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Bird poo fuelled the First World War and also financed this manor house with a plant collection that rivals KewMelanie Bryan recounts the green-tinged history of Aldenham House.
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The great Tudor hall that housed the guillotine probably used on Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette was executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793. Rumour has is that the exact same machine found its way to Weald Hall in Essex where it was photographed by Country Life.
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This remarkable timbered home was preserved for 300 years — and then flattened by a earlLynmore Hall was inextricably linked to the fall and rise of the British monarchy, but it only took a humble earl to finish it off.
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Time well spent: The watch adverts from the Country Life Archive that chart 130 years of styleRosie Paterson uncovers 11 outstanding watch adverts from the Country Life Archive.
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The unpublished photographs of a gargantuan Victorian mansion whose bulldozed remains were dumped in its own ornamental lakeWarter Priory was once a prime example of peak Victoriana architecture and interior design — but it met a watery end.
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'It contained a hippopotamus, which lived in the Billiards Room': The strange country house that gave way to a crematoriumMelanie Bryan traces the history of Muntham Court and its eccentric residents.
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Felled by a pair of cursed shoes — the butterfly-shaped house that Lutyens builtMelanie Bryan investigates the spooky and eccentric history of Papillon Hall.
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The never-before-seen, 70-year-old photographs of Pugin's Bishop's House that Parliament destroyed to make room for a ring roadMelanie Bryan tells the tale of a Gothic Revival bishop's residence in Birmingham that lives on only in the Country Life Archive.
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The pen is mightier than dynamite: A truly unique 20th-century building destroyed by the wrong paperworkWhat happens when you accidentally knock down the wrong Fonthill House.
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House of the Dragon: The Elizabethan mansion protected by a fire-breathing beast — until it wasn'tMelanie Bryan recounts the fascinating story of Drakelow Hall.
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The financier, racing driver and prolific party animal who saved — and then lost — one of the 20th century's most notable country housesArdenrun Place was a short-lived yet architecturally notable English country house. Melanie Bryan tells its tale.
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Back when we were a proper country: Putting a V12 in a Jaguar E-TypeIn our latest dip into the Country Life motoring archive, John Taylor takes us back to 1971, when the E-Type was rewarded with a V12 engine for being a very handsome car indeed.
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Monarchs, Rothschilds and ruin: The extraordinary tale of one of Britain’s most beautiful moated homesRushbrooke Hall was arguably one of Britain's most beautiful and romantic-looking homes. But, like most of the houses in this series, it's demise was brutal.
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Why one of Cornwall's oldest and most definitely haunted houses burned to the ground — 30 years after it was photographed for Country LifeMelanie Bryan traces the history of Treworgey Manor, built during the reign of Henry VIII.
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Built for a pretender to the Scottish throne, consumed by a coalfield: The doom of Hamilton PalaceAt its zenith, Hamilton Palace rivalled Buckingham Palace in size — but when it was photographed for Country Life, its days were already numbered, says Melanie Bryan.
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The 17th century Devon home that inspired a smoking ban and lives on only inside the Country Life ArchiveOnce upon a time, no one batted an eyelid at smoking in public places — including inside listed buildings. Melanie Bryan investigates why that began to change in the 1960s.
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The owners of this Palladian masterpiece amassed an enviable collection of exotic plants before it all burned to the groundMelanie Bryan digs into the Country Life Archive to find out how it all went so wrong at Carclew, in Cornwall.
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How did a staircase from this Reformation-era country house end up on the other side of the world?Melanie Bryan takes a look at the intriguing history and sad ending of Beaudesert Hall.
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Where was Guy Ritchie's Young Sherlock series filmed? In a historic Welsh home that first appeared in Country Life a century agoLlanvihangel Court has a Spanish Armada-era avenue of trees and may have been visited by Charles I. To celebrate its star turn in Guy Ritchie's new Amazon Prime television series, 'Young Sherlock', we're revisiting our feature and photographs on the house that first appeared in the magazine in 1916.
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'Hard times breed sumptuous cars': The costly stars of the last-ever London Motor ShowMore than 50 new cars made their Earls Court debut at the 1976 London Motor Show — its last appearance in the capital before it moved to Birmingham in 1978. In this article from the November 25, 1976, issue of Country Life, writer John Taylor revealed some of his favourite launches.
