Architecture | Mark Simms Photography

Witley Court

Although most of what we see today is the remains of a mid-19th century country house, designed in the ornate Italianate style reminiscent of Queen Victoria’s Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, the history of Witley dates back to the medieval period.

At it’s height in the late Victorian period, Witley Court was the setting for lavish parties hosted by it’s owner Lord Dudley and attended by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII).

After the First World War, the declining fortunes of the Dudley’s resulted in Witley Court’s sale to a local manufacturer and business man, Sir Herbert Smith. However, Sir Herbert could do little more than maintain and manage the property. Therefore Witley’s opulent past was already a distant memory by the night of the devasting fire on 7th September 1937, which gutted the interiors and left the house a shell of brick and stone.

Witley Court, Worcestershire, England, UK

© Mark Simms Photography (2023)

Drumlanrig Castle

The “Pink Palace” of Drumlanrig was built by William Douglas the first Duke of Queensbury between 1679 and 1689. Sitting on the site of an old Douglas stronghold overlooking the River Nith in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, it’s a prime example of 17th century Scottish Renaissance architecture.

© Mark Simms Photography (2023)

Eilean Glas

Eilean Glas, on the Isle of Scalpay, was first lit in 1789 and is the oldest lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides. The one you can see below was built in 1824 and automated in 1978.

© Mark Simms Photography (2023)

Callanish

The standing stones at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis are perhaps the most dramatic of all the monuments in the Outer Hebrides.

The main set of standing stones depicted below date from around 2900 BC, but these are just one of a group of Neolithic sites in the landscape around Loch Roag:

© Mark Simms Photography (2022)

A Walk to St Clements

Below are a few images depicting the walk from Borrisdale to Rodel and the small Medieval church of St Clements on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides:

© Mark Simms Photography (2022)

The Yorkshire Dales

Because it’s taken me nearly 10 months to post all my photographs from our trip to the Yorkshire Dales back in November 2021, I’ve brought them all together again in one gallery below. Yorkshire is blessed with some magnificent ruined abbey’s, so if you like that sort of thing then this post is definitely for you:

© Mark Simms Photography (2022)

Fountains Abbey

We visited Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens last November and although the weather wasn’t great it was still showing off some spectacular Autumn colours.

The Abbey was founded in 1132 and it was one of the largest and most important Cistercian monastries in England for much of it’s 407 year existence. By the early 16th Century it was also one of the wealthiest and therefore a prime target for Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monastories in 1539.

© Mark Simms Photography (2022)

Jervaulx Abbey

There are a number of ruined abbeys in and around the Yorkshire Dales. I’ve already posted about Bolton Abbey, and I have a post on Fountains Abbey to come. Today though is the turn of Jervaulx Abbey.

Like many religious houses in England and Wales, the 12th Century Cistercian Abbey at Jervaulx was ravaged by Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monastries circa 1540.