Here is a photo of the east facing facade, showing leafy Corinthian capitals, and the inscription, DEUS NOBIS HAEC OTIA FECIT, and luckily and because my camera has scene recognition software, it locked on to the lettering chisseled into the frieze, and provided a translation, "GOD MADE US THIS PEACE". How nice I thought, the rational part of me thinking that it might have been more, forward planning, good luck and a certain amount of ruthlessness made us this peace
- meditandum justo, fortunatos quodam et impietatis nobis haec otia fecit, however that would have required a much larger frieze and wages for the stone masons.Later, on glancing at the Cornbury website, I noticed that front page provides an alternative translation, "GOD MADE THIS PLEASANT PLACE FOR US", which using my camera again would provide, DEUS NOBIS HAEC PULCHITRUDINE.
So which is it? Did God make the peace, or the pleasant place and who did he make it for? My guess is he would have gone for the Peace, he wouldn't have much time for knocking out pleasant places, peace would have been a bit higher up his shopping list and probably more useful to his flock in sunny Charlbury at the time.
The Burton~Moore family motto by contrast has far less ambiguity, and simply seems to float along due to its total lack of gravitas;
LORUM . RERUM . IN . MODUM . LEPIDUS, "WE ONLY LIKE NICE THINGS", no hint of God or Compassion. Neat Hah?
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