Manor House Hotel Manor House Hotel The Manor House is a 14th-century country house hotel in Castle Combe, Wiltshire in the south of England. The Manor House is noteworthy for several reasons throughout history. First of all, its land is the site of an old Norman castle settlement which has hosted a number of Lords throughout its history, the most famous of which was Sir John Oldcastle, the figure Shakespeare based his character of Sir John Falstaff upon in his play Henry IV in the late 16th century. It was also the home of English geologist and political economist George Poulett Scrope throughout
Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare The temple's interior was furnished as a shrine to Shakespeare. It was dominated by a statue of the playwright commissioned by Garrick from the French Huguenot sculptor Louis-François Roubiliac at a cost of 300 guineas (£315, equivalent to approximately £32,000 now). Roubiliac chose to model the statue on the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare while Garrick himself is said to have posed for the sculpture. Its appearance is rather more reminiscent of Garrick than Shakespeare; it is said that the actor struck a pose and exclaimed, "Lo, the Bard of Avon!" to illustrate how he wanted Shakespeare to be portrayed. The