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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Powis Castle
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(30km/19m W of Shrewsbury) House in the county of Powys, in a commanding position looking out over the Severn towards England; it has developed over the centuries from the 13C fortress of a dynasty of Welsh princes. The interiors are of many periods, with some fine Elizabethan rooms and a baroque grand staircase. The marriage in 1784 of a Powis heiress to the son of Lord *Clive brought an excellent Indian collection as well as the wealth of a nabob, with which many of the house's impressive contents were purchased. The gardens are famous for four Italianate terraces, blasted from the rock of the hillside in the 1690s and surviving unaltered today, though the yews now bulge delightfully over the edges in a way of which the formal 17C would not have approved.
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