For walkers following the Cotswold Way on the approach to
Bath, the ups and downs of the northern part of the Cotswolds give way to a
rolling plateau just to the north of the M4 motorway. One of the points of interest on this stretch
of the trail is Horton Court, a National Trust property (now turned into a holiday cottage) which is a honey-coloured manor house built on the site of a Norman
hall. This property recently graced our
TV screens in The Living And The Dead as Shepzoy House, the home of a young
couple whose marriage is threatened by all manner of supernatural horrors going
on around them, and by the husband’s descent into madness over the death of his
son Gabriel, who died from drowning, a tragedy for which he blames himself. The series is set in Somerset in the late 19th
century, but Horton is in South Gloucestershire near Chipping Sodbury, between
Stroud and Bath, a rural area where the brooding woodlands and swaying grasses
of the fields create a suitably spooky atmosphere, prompting some to refer to the
series as a kind of Gothic Thomas Hardy.
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| Horton Court. Photo by Marion Dutcher, via Wikimedia Commons. |
The main subject of the story, Nathan Appleby (‘Merlin’ with
a beard aka Colin Morgan), is a psychologist who returns from London to the
family home after the death of his mother and with his young wife Charlotte
(Charlotte Spender) takes over the running of the farm there. The locals are
like something from a bygone age with their ancient rituals and superstitions,
something akin to the community encountered by Edward Woodward in The Wicker
Man. As for Nathan, he finds it hard to
shake off his psychological calling, and starts investigating the case of a
possessed local girl called Harriet, which unleashes a series of sinister
phenomena and apparitions. Harriet’s
party piece is mimicking the voice of the late Gabriel, which tests Nathan’s
sanity to the limit. The sinister
atmosphere and tension continue to build up in subsequent episodes, and the
final episode is full of surprises, which I won’t go into in case anyone hasn’t
seen it yet.
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| West from Highfield Lane near Horton Court - geograph.org.uk - 1001174. Photo by Maurice Pullin, via Wikimedia Commons. |
According to the Cotswold Way Trail Guide, Horton Court is
probably the oldest property along the trail, being based on a single-storey hall
house from the 12th century.
The adjoining church is the parish church of St James the Elder, built
around 1300 on the site of the previous Norman church. The manor itself, which lies alongside the
hall, was built around 1521 by the Rev. William Knight, the future Bishop of
Bath and Wells. The most charming
feature of the gardens is a 16th century Italianate loggia. Although ramblers following the Cotswold Way
are unable to enter the manor house at this time, the church is still up and
running for those wanting to relive the atmosphere surrounding the drama
series, and of course there is the bucolic countryside to wander through.
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| Horton church in South Gloucestershire England arp. Photo by Adrian Pingstone, via Wikimedia Commons. |
