A FASCINATING insight into the construction and equipping of one of Herefordshire's most impressive buildings is to be found in a contemporary craftsman's account book.

The book, now in the possession of Leominster historian Alec Haines, was discovered in the roof of an old barn in the Leominster area and tells of the costs of some of the work which went into the construction of Hampton Court towards the end of the 1780s. The ravages of inflation can be seen from some of the entries. For example, to build a cupboard, hang a door and then paint it cost the princely sum of five shillings (25p); felling two walnut trees was a mere snip at three shillings (15p), as was 'setting up a gate in the wall in the Chestnut paddock' which would set you back four shillings and sixpence (22p).

But the low cost of the work is reflected in wages at the same period, as evidenced by another entry which shows a charge of a mere six shillings (30p) for supplying a man for 'four days of pulling down and building'.

But at least drowning your sorrows was a very cheap affair, too. And it was done in some style by the ledger owner, it seems, if entries of 16 dozen-and-a-half bottles of cider at four pence per bottle and five gallons of rum at 2/6 (12p) are anything to go by.

After getting through that little lot, another of our craftsman's skills, as a coffin builder, might also have been needed. And, in light of recent figures for the cost of funerals, even this seems reasonable. The charge for producing a coffin and shroud for Elizabeth Newton came to just £1- 6- 0 (£1.30), although the cost of writing 'two dozen and seven letters' on the coffin lid added a further 10 shillings, threepence halfpenny (52p).