Behind the bramble

Field Note No. 9

Date: 20 July 2026

Status: Still piecing it together

Clearing years of bramble and overgrowth from the stable walls in the quad turned out to be more than a tidying job.

Two things emerged that the vegetation had been quietly concealing. The first was a staircase — external steps that we believe once led up to the hayloft. The diagonal line is still there in the photograph, if you look closely.

The second was easier to miss. Of the four windows along the stable wall, one sits differently from the others. Look at the base of the second window from the left. Where the others meet the ground cleanly, this one doesn't. There are rocks visible beneath it — original threshold material, we think — and a small gap where it meets the floor.

The brickwork beneath tells a slightly different story from its neighbours. When Caistor Hall opened as a hotel in 1948, changes were made throughout the buildings. This, we think, was one of them. A working stable door, bricked up and glazed over.

The wall looks the same as it always has. It just had more to say than we expected.