BROADCHURCH REVISITED: LITTLEBREDY, DORSET

The latest (and last) series of Broadchurch is currently gracing our TV screens, and with it a new location – the scene of the rape which forms the core of the latest investigation.  The rape took place at a party in a manor house called Axehampton House in the series, but in real life the house is the privately owned Bridehead House.  Originally the Manor of Brydian, owned by Cerne Abbey from 987 until the Dissolution, a new manor house was built on the site around 1600 by Sir Robert Mellor.  In the 19^th century the architect Benjamin Ferrey made substantial changes to the house on behalf of his client Robert Williams of the Williams Deacon & Co bank.

The house, situated between Bridport and Dorchester, is surrounded by the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs, at the head of the Bride Valley.  The lake seen in Broadchurch is fed by the waters of the River Bride which gushes from nearby springs and tumbles down a waterfall.  Although the house itself is private, there is a 5-acre site open to visitors, including the Victorian Walled Kitchen and Flower Gardens and a series of walks. 

Along with the revamped manor house, Ferrey built the estate village of Littlebredy (bredy pronounced ‘briddy’) and he added a spire to the 14^th century tower of the church of St Michael and All Angels.  The church has a lovely carved font and in the churchyard is a memorial to the former Bishop of Wellington, New Zealand, Frederic Wallis, who returned to the UK to become Archdeacon of Sherborne.  The attractive thatched village hall used to be the village school.  The area around the village is dotted with signs of early occupation – stone circles, tumuli etc.  The National Nature Reserve known as the Valley of Stones in the south of the parish was the source of building material for many of these early constructions.

Map of the area.

Bridehead House from the Littlebredy road - geograph.org.uk - 415796. Photo by Mike Searle, via Wikimedia Commons.

NAKED AMBITION: HARDRAW FORCE

Stand by ladies.  Hot on the heels of Colin Firth diving into the lake at Lyme Park and Aidan Turner baring his torso in Poldark, here we have another male heartthrob stripping off, only this time we get the full frontal.  In 1991 the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was released, starring Kevin Costner as Robin and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Maid Marian, just two of an illustrious cast.  In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Maid Marian happens upon a naked Robin Hood bathing in a beautiful waterfall. 

The waterfall in question was Hardraw Force, just one of a number of spectacular waterfalls to be found in the north of England – Hardraw is old English for ‘shepherd’s dwelling’.  Another one, Aysgarth Falls, was used in the same film for the fight scene between Robin and Little John.  Located just under a mile from the town of Hawes in Wensleydale, Hardraw Force has its origin in Hardraw Beck, in Hardraw Scar, a wooded ravine.  With a drop of 100 feet, the waterfall claims the title of England’s highest unbroken waterfall, not including underground ones. 

Near the waterfall is a 13^th century pub called The Green Dragon which, last year, went up for sale for 1.5 million pounds.  The price included not only the pub but 5.5 acres of parkland, a visitor centre, a campsite and Hardraw Force waterfall itself.  Apparently when the owner at the time of the sale originally bought the pub in 2001, the leaks in the roof were a rival for the waterfall itself.  (Postscript - 2020 - the Green Dragon is now open again as a pub and hotel.)

As an aside, the inn was visited by the painter JMW Turner in 1816, and Turner painted the gorge into which the waterfall plunges in the painting titled Hardraw Fall.    

Map of the area.  

Hardraw Force (6250). Photo by Nilfanion, via Wikimedia Commons.