About Bring Back Guys Cliffe
Dedicated to helping the restoration work of Guys Cliffe House
Bring Back Guys Cliffe Description
When legends fade. . .
Long, long ago when the world moved at a gentler pace the land and greenwoods harboured special places, evocative retreats where certain delights of nature stirred the soul. . .
Guy’s Cliffe is one such place and it blossomed from such humble beginnings to have an Oratory founded here in the 5th Century and thereon it afforded shelter to the legendary 10th Century Guy of Warwick, resident chantry priests also made their home here in the middle ages amongst whom was the noted 15th Century antiquarian John Rous whose history the site is now mostly lost. Latterly the famous Georgian actress Sarah Siddons stayed here often in the welcoming bosom of the Greatheed family, who along with the succeeding Percy family did further embellish the location to see it become a country manor of some worth and intrigue. . .
Ultimately and sadly though it ended up somewhat slighted for it suffered greatly at the hands of negligence and fire, but all was not lost. . . Its present owners rescued the 15th Century Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene and ancillary rooms in the 1970’s armed with limited resources but bountiful determination.
Now the outer grounds need that same commitment and attention and indeed the determination is there but our resources are few. . . We really need your help!
Principally with this appeal we hope with your contributions to address two areas of Guy’s Cliffe.
The first is at the foot of the buildings aside the river Avon and is known as The Lower Walks, the second is an upper cliff area that has lost its walkway and where it is said Felice the wife of Guy of Warwick strode back in the 10th Century, therefore this area is known as Fair Felice’s Walk in her honour.
On the Lower Walk two pathways existed along its length that were straddled with ornamental planting to supplement the delightfulness of the areas' aspect. Along the cliff's rise here are the cave of Guy of Warwick and its odd neighbourly hollows together with the mysterious Cloisters cavern, further still is the old pump house, a subterranean water cave and the alcoves of the cliff gallery. Evidence of subterranean workings and possibly a sub-basement level in the rock also exist, tempting exploration, but they are blocked by great mounds of post WWII partial demolition and 1992 fire demolition piles.
The Lower Walk area is itself a Site of Special Scientific Interest resplendent with the rise of the cliff along its length, laying bare its alluring, ancient geological features.
It is an area we hope you agree needs to find its former glory and be given regular access to. We have with the help of Natural England begun to address the issue of restoring this unique spot, much clearing of the invasive Japanese Bamboo has occurred, a small footpath has been put in and the doors of the pump house re-instated.
Bigger hurdles now face us though for we need to clear the large debris piles, grade and plant out the land and possibly install a large cliff-side ramp to go up to and meet Fair Felice’s Walk and thus afford access for all visitors and machinery relating to ongoing maintenance.
By doing this another aspect of Guy’s Cliffe will return to be enjoyed by many and as part of the hire of the site as a whole it may go on to contribute towards the future restoration of even the great house itself, but importantly we will have righted one wrong from a disregarding past’s many blunders.
It’s ambitious we know and beyond our own means financially, but with the success of this appeal we can show that you the public want and can buck the often bureaucratic and frustrating lack of monetary help for such matters and that truly with your means we can cement a worthy aspect of history and myth back into its rightful place.
In anticipation of whatever you can give towards this appeal we thank you so much for your contribution!
Reviews
Kind donation from my two very good friends from Holland, Piet and Annette. Thank you so much x
Guy's Cliffe Triple SI Status (SSSI)
“Guy’s Cliffe represents a good exposure of Middle Triassic aeolian (wind-blown) and river-deposited sandstones which have yielded the finest specimens of a large labyrinthodont amphibian Mastodonsaurus jægeri. This is an important animal which is also found in the rocks of Germany and allows the relative dating of the Warwickshire sediments". Wow !!!
Thanks to all the hard work of our volunteers, we have made great progress clearing and levelling down by the riverside. We now urgently need donations to purchase a couple of 20kg bags of grass seed, which cost around £70.each. If you can make any contribution toward this, it would be so great as we are now well into the grass sowing season. Every little helps, and just imagine how wonderful it will look In the spring.
A brief view of what we are trying to achieve. The Volunteers have been working extremely hard last week and this week to clear the river embankments as the japense bamboo was really taking hold again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TspN2DBee x8
We all got a little wet today, fantastic progress being made ! We need your help. We are desperately trying to raise money for 3 petrol flymo’s as we have no way of accessing the rear of the property with large machinery. If you can spare anything from a £1.00 to £5.00 this would be great help. Can we ask our wonderful followers to share the post and tag people who may be able help. We have raised £2000 in the last year which has been used on levelling and cultivating the overgrown areas which is now complete https://uk.gofundme.com/restoreguyscliffe house
The volunteers once again have been hard at work clearing brambles, nettles and trimming up the overgrown Rhododendron on the rear of the property. Over the next few weeks we need help to clear the river bank as this is full of rubbish and debris please get in touch if you can help !
A big thank you again to Tony for making a new sign we have a few more to still put up. Once again we cannot do this without the help of all the volunteers and people donating signs garden equipment etc
WE NEED YOUR HELP ! We need you to help put this Historicial landmark back to it`s former glory . We are concentrating on Felice`s Walk don`t worry if its raining as we have indoor areas that also need your touch ! We are also asking if anyone has any old gardening equipment that they no longer want from Spades to garden pots please bring along or ask around for us. Please tag your friends and share this post. This is the link to more information on what we aim to achieve ht...
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A big thank you once again to the amazing volunteers that started to slowly clear the back of property and also clear the brambles along the hedgerow. We are starting to make progress. Beautiful seeing the swan on the river ! If you want to get involved with volunteering please get in touch.
Next Saturday and Sunday We are opening the gates and inviting you all to come along and see this historicial site. From 10am till 4.00pm entry free of charge however donations are glady received (as these help to restore the location) Please share tag your friends and most of all come along. We look forward to seeing you all !
Once again thank you so much to all the volunteers today. We are slowly making headway through this task of restoring the gardens here #bringbackguyscliffe. We would love more volunteers can you do light weeding ? General clearing of rubble and mass brambles if you have an hour to a three hours please help us restore the grounds and gardens here please get in touch. We have a volunteer day on Wednesday 5th September 2018 from 11am Till 2.00 pm come along and meet the amazing guys who devote so much to this location
A before an after shot yesterday some of the fantastic volunteers took to work in the courtyard. The first picture is this archway covered in weeds and brambles the second all tidy and looking presentable
Here is an before and after, we started to work on this area back end of summer 2017 as it was literally a dumping ground for rubble, large blocks and everything else. Although taken at slightly different angles you can clearly see that we are starting to make progress. We have a volunteer day tomorrow 11am Till 2.00 pm please come along if you can, without the help and time of the volunteers we could not do this .
Hidden deep below the undercroft here #bringbackguyscliffe We are slowly making progress. We rely heavily on volunteers and donations to keep this project going. Please get involved if you can or please donate from a £1.00 https://www.gofundme.com/restoreguyscliff ehouse
This is one of the hidden chambers that is barely accessible. Once filled with water and rubble Thank you to John Pilkington for the Incredible photography. We are slowly making progress on restoration of the grounds and gardens, unfortunately many years of rubble have been dumped in these chambers. Get involved #volunteer #bringbackguyscliffe Please email volunteersguyscliffe@btinternet.com to be part of this.
Fancy a tour around this stunning location ? The gates are opening on Saturday 8th September and Sunday 9th September 10am till 4.00pm https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/…/g uys-cliffe-masonic-r…
Inside the ruins Rococo Plasterwork on archway on main staircase half landing https://www.gofundme.com/restoreguyscliff ehouse