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Samuel Lysons: The man who revealed the Roman Cotswolds
The antiquarian Samuel Lysons played an important role in recording the Roman villas of the Cotswolds. Clive Aslet looks at his remarkable career and methods.
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'We had to extract her by her legs in an undignified fashion so she could meet him and join us all at the table': The trials and tribulations of the country-house lift
Anyone with a fear of being trapped in a lift may wish to look away, warns Melanie Cable-Alexander, as she explores the grandest alternatives to taking the stairs.
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Civic splendour: St Mary's Guildhall, Coventry
The guildhall built as a symbol of Coventry's 14th-century prosperity and self-government has recently undergone restoration.
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Beware experience, lest we forget what actually makes these places important in the first place
Jousting in castles? Falconry demonstrations? That's all fine, says Athena, as long as people don't forget about the real purposes of our visitor attractions and cultural institutions.
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The destruction and recreation of Scone Palace
In the second of two articles on Scone Palace, Perthshire, John Goodall looks at the Jacobite history of Scone and the transformation of the Palace from 1802 into a Gothic Revival prodigy house. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The tale of Scone Palace, and the mystery of the Stone of Scone
John Goodall explains the importance of Scone Palace, Perthshire — seat of the Earl and Countess of Mansfield and Mansfield — and the great abbey that formerly stood here. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Wembley isn't just a stadium — it was a vision and a pioneering adventure in the history of architecture
The 1924 Wembley Empire Exhibition was conceived on a vast scale, with a bewildering variety of displays that united such themes as Canadian butter, Tutankhamun and toffee tins. It also pioneered the architectural use of concrete, as Kathryn Ferry explains.
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A consolation and pleasure: The architectural brilliance of Prince Albert
Prince Albert took a close interest in architecture and oversaw a series of major building projects. Michael Hall considers his claims to be thought of as an architect
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At last, a new chapter for the Reading Room at the British Museum
The British Museum’s Reading Room — where Sylvia Pankhurst and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once worked — has reopened at last. Richard MacKichan celebrates.
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2,000 years of fountains, from Roman Britain to a 300ft modern masterpiece in Gloucestershire
The fountain has a long and fascinating history in England, from the Roman period to the present day, as John Goodall reveals.
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Country Life 7 August 2024
Country Life 7 August 2024 looks at wilderness huts, the architecture of Prince Albert, and the reality of life in the Royal Household.
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'The best of all worlds': Francis Terry's Woodford Hill Farm blends 18th, 19th and 21st centuries
Woodford Hill Farm in Northamptonshire is a new country house that addresses the challenge of combining the traditional architectural forms of its locality with flexible and modern living spaces. Jeremy Musson reports, with photography by Will Pryce for Country Life.
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La Corbière lighthouse: How 'the herdsman of the waves' has protected the Channel for 150 years
A feat of pioneering Victorian engineering, La Corbière lighthouse has guided seafarers to safety for 150 years, finds Antonia Windsor.
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The chapel of Lincoln College, Oxford: 'Most costly and church-wise'
John Goodall describes the 17th-century expansion of Lincoln College, Oxford, to include an outstanding chapel, amid a bitter personal clash between two strong-willed men, and the institution’s evolution to the present day. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The history of Lincoln College, Oxford: Salvaging the vine
John Goodall describes the initiative of a Bishop of Lincoln to establish Lincoln College, Oxford, and the long struggle to bring it to fruition. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Buckingham Palace, Taylor Swift and how to get your house featured in Country Life, with John Goodall
Country Life’s Architectural Editor John Goodall joins host James Fisher in this episode of the Country Life Podcast.
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The extravagant seaside splendours of the south coast's most exotic museum
Created for Merton Russell-Cotes’s wife in 1901 and then given to the town, the dazzling interiors of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth capture the spirit of the Victorian seaside, says Kathryn Ferry. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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How the spectacular Wolterton Hall went from Georgian splendour to a Palladian masterpiece you can rent by the weekend
John Goodall looks at the way in which Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, was awakened from sleep as a modern home and place of entertainment. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The origins of Wolterton Hall
John Goodall looks at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk — former home of Keith Day and Peter Sheppard — to analyse the creation of a new country house by Horace Walpole, a figure in the front rank of political and diplomatic life in the 18th century. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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How 'an insatiable appetite for brass-band music' gave rise to the bandstand, and how we almost lost them all
From Handel to Bowie, our bandstands have been a hub for free live music for centuries, as well as being buildings of architectural interest.
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'What else can you do but say "it's completely disgusting"?': Britain's worst new buildings, with Charlie Baker and the Carbuncle Cup
The Carbuncle Cup returns after a six-year hiatus. Competition judge and magazine editor Charlie Baker speaks to James Fisher about why pointing out bad architecture matters.
