Good Neighbors

Lord and Lady Carnarvon in their library

Fact for the day: Lord and Lady Carnarvon, the owners of Highclere Castle, are neighbors with Broadway and West End superstar Andrew Lloyd Webber.  In fact, before Downton Abbey showed up to film, Lord and Lady Carnarvon considered selling some of the estate's land to help pay the bills and Webber offered to take the whole place off their hands.  He thought it would be a lovely place to  hang his pre-Raphaelite art collection.  Needless to say, Lord and Lady Carnarvon were not amused.  Webber is part of the self-made rich, being able to afford his estate by writing musicals such as Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Love Never Dies, Jesus Christ Superstar, etc. Very different from his neighbors.  Anyways, the real question is whether Downton Abbey will become a musical.  "Don't Cry for me Downton Abbey"...  On second thought, I truly hope not.

An Abbey

Highclere Castle, alias: Downton Abbey

A person who is very close to me started watching Downton Abbey in the middle of season two.  One of the most pressing questions they had was, "Why is it called an abbey?  Why is it Downton Abbey or why did Jane Austen call the book/estate in the book Northanger Abbey?"

Good Question.

First off, the grand building used for the series is titled Highclere Castle, therefore the name of Abbey has nothing to do with the history of the real building.  And Julian Fellowes has yet to give us any vast history of the building itself in the series.  However, the most logical explanation is because frankly, at one time there was probably an abbey on the estate.  Many great estates are on previously ecclesiastical sites; land was often given to people who were faithful to the king, particularly in acts of war.  Needless to say, not many monks were getting estates as a gift for valor in battle.  Often these estates have a "monks' garden" to commemorate its past.