Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
Houses for sale in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire: Midway Manor
Originally an Elizabethan manor farm and flanked by two large stone barns, Midway Manor became the property of the Shrapnel family in circa 1723. Originally cloth merchants in Bradford-on-Avon, their son lieutenant general, Henry Shrapnel (died 1842), famously invented the Shrapnel shell.
Henry Shrapnel resided at Midway Manor for much of his life and the entrance gate piers (listed Grade II) are each surmounted by canon balls.A stone carving wearing the Shrapnel family motto - ratio ultima regum - is immediately outside the entrance gates. On the back of the gate columns the names of various battles in which the Shrapnel shell has been used are engraved.
£5,950,000
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
I'll raise a toast tomorrow to the millions of Americans who celebrate our local inventor's "bombs bursting in the air" this weekend.
And I'll keep digging down the back of the sofa to see if I have necessary to buy the Manor...
Comments
Ratio Ultima Regum indeed. Perhaps they'll listen to Reason.
Posted by: Chuckles | July 3, 2010 8:53 AM
RATIO VLTIMA REGVM indeed!
When you find another way to resolve differences between nations in the final instance, do please let us all know.
A beautiful hot weekend shaping up here in the Ottawa Valley. Weather like this makes me nostalgic for the Niagara Peninsula. Next year, Canada Day will fall on a Friday so Independence Day will be on a Monday. There's nothing like a long weekend at Niagara-on-the-Lake when that happens.
Party on the Canadian side then everybody over the bridge for the party on the American side!
The Queen is here and proving a big hit with everyone as always.
God Save The Queen!
Posted by: JJM | July 3, 2010 3:02 PM
Now I read that as 'radio ultima regum' which makes me wonder if I am becoming too obsessed with Radio 4
Posted by: Julie | July 4, 2010 11:08 AM