You might call today’s Mystery Photo a typical Southern home. Yet it is most different in one regard, and another in who once lived there. Can you solve this mystery? Send your answers to ebrack2@gmail.com.
Ruthy Lachman Paul, Norcross, recognized St. Michael and All Angels Church on Thornton College Lane, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. She says: “The church stands to the north of the village, in the grounds of Thornton Hall of the Day and Boarding Thornton School. Thornton College was founded in 1811. Thornton Academy is an independent, private day and boarding school for girls ages 3-19 years, located between Milton Keynes and Buckingham. The photo was taken in front of the Chapel Library Thornton College and the fountain is on the field before the athletic runner field.” The picture came from Tom Ferrin of Suwanee.
The regulars came through with the right answer: Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; and Allen Peel of San Antonio, Texas. Peel adds: “The church was built in the first half of the 14th century and significantly restored between 1770 and 1800. It was later rebuilt in 1850 by the Gothic Revival architect John Tarring (1806–1875), and retains many of its original medieval features, including the 14th-century belltower, chancel arch, and clerestory, and 15th-century clerestory windows. By the 1990s, the church had fallen into disrepair and was officially vested in the Churches Conservation Trust on April 1, 1993, marking its formal transition away from being used as an active parish church and place of worship.
“The decorative water fountain in the foreground is a ‘cherub fountain., with a historical link to the last days of Imperial Russia. The fountain depicts a pair of young boys, standing on a base of intertwined dolphins, attempting to wrestle an eel which is spouting water into the pond. The fountain originally belonged to Prince Felix Yussupov (1887–1967), a member of the Russian Royal Family who assassinated Grigori Rasputin (1869–1916) in 1916. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Prince Yussupov and his wife Princess Irina fled their homeland and eventually settled in London. To support themselves, they sold off many valuable possessions that they had managed to bring with them – the fountain being one of them. The fountain was purchased by Ivor Samuel Roberts (1883–1947), the owner of the Thornton estate at the time, who had it installed on the grounds.”
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