Saturday, May 29 - Castle Howard

The only thing I know about the Howard family I learned from Phillipa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl) and The Tudors on Showtime. And although I knew little about the family or Castle Howard itself at the beginning of the day, I was sure I would learn as I moved around the museum.

Castle Howard is beautiful, of course. And we could actually take pictures inside! (Of course, how many pictures did I take? not many. I'm horrible at taking pictures, especially when I'm busy talking.)

Castle Howard. Jeez, I can't seem to take straight pictures of facades either.

Famous Atlas Fountain. I realize you can barely see it. I think this was my attempt at "artistry" in the rain.

One of my favorite things in the house, this handmade quilt. Beautiful.

Another shot of the quilt. Sorry it is sideways. The table this quilt is on also has a bunch of family pictures of the current Howards. I am pretty sure the House Guide thought I was taking photographs of the photographs.

And here are some of the Rose Garden. Because it was raining pretty steadily, I didn’t make it to all of the gardens around the estate.

Rose Garden entrance

Some kind of folly at the end of the rose garden. Coy pond in the foreground.

Castle Howard relies on House guides, normally between 12 and 14 guides working simultaneously. They were the main source of interpretation; there were very few displays, with the exception of the rooms destroyed by fire and the exhibition room about the 7^th Earl. Incidentally, that exhibition room really makes you like him. He was very against slavery and often hosted American abolitionists like Harriet Beecher Stowe when they journeyed to England on fundraising trips. He actually wrote the introduction for Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

It was hard having to rely solely on guides for interpretation, even if they are very knowledgeable. As I knew little about the history of the house, I had to wait my turn to speak to the guide in whatever room I was in, and then ply him with as many questions as I could think of. Over time I began to have a better sense of who the family was and when the house was built (a few generations after the Howards of Henry VIII’s court).

Actually, one of the best things about Castle Howard was their Farm Shop, full of fresh cheese of all kinds, awesome chocolate everything, and great breads. I had chocolate caramel shortbread. Very tasty.

One other thing: you may recognize Castle Howard from the movie Brideshead Revisited. So that was pretty neat. But don’t watch the movie if you haven’t seen it. It’s awful.

Friday, May 28 - Whitby Abbey and Town, Littlest Church in England, and the White Horse

View of the coast near Whitby

We had to drive across the Moors today, which while absolutely beautiful, made me completely carsick. We ended up on the coast, at Whitby, a seaside town on the east coast, and home to Whitby Abbey, the jet trade, the setting from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and one time home to Captain Cook.

So, lots to see.

We started the morning at Whitby Abbey, which is set high above the town. Using the audio guide, which featured the voice of St. Aelfred, a (woman) saint. She chronicled the Abbey’s history, through her time to St. Hilda’s, all the way to the bombing of WWI. It was very theatrical, and pretty entertaining. The family who bought the estate after the monastery’s dissolution during Henry VIII’s reign built a large house, of which only the exterior survives. The inside has been converted into a museum for the Abbey, and has many fabulous archaeological finds. I wish I could have gotten some pictures through the glass.

Whitby Abbey

Whitby Abbey with view of the coast

Former estate home, built with stone from the Abbey. The inside is now completely converted into a museum.

Rebecca playing "archaeologist"

View of the coast

Church graveyard behind Abbey, on the way to the town.

Heading down the steps to the town was like passing through a wormhole, or something. The Abbey and its environs seem anachronastic and majestic….the town touristy and very 21^st century. Everywhere you look, it’s BUY THIS, BUY THAT, OR IF NOT THAT THAN THIS!!!!!! Dangerous place. After fish and chips for lunch, we visited the Captain Cook Museum, which was quite interesting but probably rather like all of the other Captain Cook Museums around the world. Many of the things were there on loan, or else reproductions. Still, I learned quite a bit and some of the maps were pretty amazing.

After Whitby we wound our way up the coast, eventually stopping in Skelton (nothing there, bought some candy, saw both a Cooperative grocery store and a Cooperative Funeral Home), and at the “Littlest Church in England”. What do you think?

Littlest Church in England

Oh, and then we drove BACK through the Moors to visit the White Horse Rock, which evidently was featured in the recent Robin Hood movie. What do you think?

The White Horse

Supposedly prehistoric, but actually mid-19^th century. Ugh.

We got home after nine, I think we spent a total of five hours in the car. I definitely spent the last two hours playing the “Thankful” game with myself.

Thursday, May 27 - Fourth Day of Projects

I am so glad that we decided to bring home work on Tuesday…this morning we were able to get so much done! However, the afternoon slowed down quite a bit, as we attempted to pull the rustiest, most brittle staples ever out of documents that were as thin as tissue paper. We brought home about ten more files to do over the weekend, as next week is our last week of projects, and we still have quite a bit to get through. We are hopeful that our last day (a week from tomorrow), we will be able to type up our report, label the new archival boxes, and put things in general order.

Tonight we are heading to a pub quiz in nearby Scorton. I don’t know how well we will fare, especially if it is British pop culture. But I am sure we will have a good time no matter what. Tomorrow we are heading to Whitby, and then we have a long three day weekend.

Wednesday, May 26 - Harewood House

Harewood House was absolutely beautiful. Its pedigree is a who’s who of English design superstars.

Harewood House

Photo Courtesy of Sarah Swinney

John Carr was the first architect of HH, designing both the exterior and the layout. Robert Adam took over, providing the interior decorations. In many rooms you can still see his work in the ornate ceilings. Thomas Chippendale, then an unknown, was commissioned for the majority of the furniture, much of which remains in the house. Much of the furniture was also designed to coordinate with Adam’s designs, and you can see this in repeating patterns echoed from ceiling to chair to rug in certain rooms. HH is also home to Chippendale’s most famous piece, often referred to the Diane and Artemis Commode. Capability Brown designed the original landscape; however little of it remains.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, so I strongly encourage you to google the aforementioned people, especially Robert Adam, and the famous Chippendale Commode. If you can find pictures of the interior of HH, you will have a better idea of what I mean.

We met with the head house guide a few hours before they opened for a private tour. Unfortunately, the curator with whom we were supposed to meet was called away to a meeting at the last minute, and we were not told until our arrival. This was especially discouraging, as there were many questions the house guide simply could not answer.

Still, she was rather knowledgeable, and we learned many things about how HH is run during our tour. They receive about 200,000 visitors annually during their open season, a number they view as optimal: too many visitors and the house begins to show more wear, too few, and the house doesn’t make enough money. It would be interesting to know how they decided on 200K as the optimal number though.

They try to keep their tours groups to about 8 – 10 people, although the house is open at the same time for self-guided tours. For the latter type of visitor, there are tour sheets available in every room. Actually, I have seen a lot of laminated tour sheets in historic homes here, which is something I think more houses should practice in the US, as it’s more environmentally friendly. There are also audio tours available for purchase, and the voice over is actually Lord Harewood himself, and visitors seem to think this adds a little bit extra to the interpretation.

I think that it’s important that the guides acknowledge the role of slavery in the building of Harewood House, as it was largely funded by sugar plantations in the Barbados. At many historic homes this is often brushed aside and ignored.

We toured the entire house, but I would like to focus on two things, both involving restoration. The first is the Chinese wallpaper, originally in the Chintz bedroom. It was removed during the Victorian period as it fell out of fashion. (Please google it, it is amazing!) After being found in a barn (or some such building), in excellent condition, it was decided to put it back up, in order for the public to see. Unfortunately, as the Chintz bedroom is still part of the private quarters of the current Lord Harewood and his wife, the wallpaper could not go there. It was instead placed in one of the downstairs bedrooms. Of course, some changes had to be made, due to the differences in sizes and placements of fireplaces and doors. The piece of wallpaper they were forced to cut out was preserved, and where extra wallpaper was needed the conservators made digital photographs of pieces of the wallpaper and blended it quite seamlessly (no small feat, as the wallpaper is not repeating, but rather like one big picture). What was nice is that the guides make a point of explaining the conservation work, and its importance. We also saw the Chippendale bed in the stateroom, which was also found in storage and restored using a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant. I am sure you can google both of these objects to find out more (and for pictures).

A few of the other rooms have been made into exhibition rooms, currently showcasing some of the family’s fine porcelain. Another room is also changed periodically, with the theme this year being Australia. It was quite a contrast to see modern paintings and textiles juxtaposed with the Chippendale furniture, but it was nice to see the family branching out, and continuing to show their collection, which has not stopped growing.

The family was hit hard by Death Duties several times during the 20^th century, and the Harewood Trust was subsequently formed in the 1980’s. So although the family still occupies quarters upstairs, they no longer technically own the house. This is the case with several of the great country houses now.

Their next conservation project will be the restoration of Adam, a Jacob Epstein statue in the entrance hall. It spent time in a traveling pornographic peepshow before the current Lord bought him and moved him to HH.

Possibly my favorite part was the bird sanctuary. It was almost like a zoo! We watched other visitors feed the penguins, and were immediately regretful that we hadn’t paid the ten pounds to participate.

Lucky girls feeding the penguins.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Swinney

Staying cool.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Swinney

However, I was able to feed the ducks. And I did. Several times.

Here I am creating a circle of duck food around myself, hoping to attract some mallards.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Swinney

There were many other beautiful birds, quite a few of them from tropical regions, and I felt kind of sorry for them. They must have been freezing.

Actually, overall HH was very child-friendly. I am noticing that most of the museums here are, although I’m not sure why that is. I think in America we tend to see some of the finer arts museums as “adults only”, while allotting more space in places like discovery centers and natural history museums. Maybe this is because museum directors and boards do not think young children can appreciate fine art, or will detract from other viewers’ viewing pleasure….I don’t know. What do you think?

Click here to visit Harewood House virtually.

Tuesday, May 25 - Third day of Projects

Today was the third day of our projects. We finished the Trustees series today, with plans to complete both the Financial and Properties series on Thursday. As we have to spend a good amount of our time removing staples, we pulled a few of the files for Thursday at the end of the day, and removed the staples back at the Cottage. You would be amazed at the damage metal can do to paper over time. So much rust! Not to mention the damage that actually pulling out the staples can do… It is fairly obvious that these documents have not been in climate controlled storage since they were removed from the Trust Advisor’s office.

Actually, the Secretary/Trust Advisor stopped by this morning, and I do believe he was horrified by our organized chaos. He did not seem convinced by my assurances that his filing system would not be lost as the Archive is expanded. I am sure that once we leave he will want to have a look at exactly what we did.

While waiting by the ferret pen for Rebecca this afternoon, I had the opportunity to hold one of the ferrets. One of the gardeners came over and started speaking to me about them, and at the sound of his voice they all darted out of their enclosures and looked up at us expectantly. He promptly picked one up and handed it over to me (no biting!). He was kind of cute, but not as cute as the kittens in the house across the courtyard. I guess one of the ferrets died last week, and as they are all very old they will slowly continue to die off within the next couple of years.

Speaking of farm animal deaths, Lily, Dawn’s cocker spaniel, managed to kill one of the hens today. It was actually quite a valuable hen, and the only one of that species Kiplin has. Needless to say, she was in the doghouse the rest of the day (ie, the car). Haley and Anjuli, who were meeting with a landscape architecture in regards to the conservatory, witnessed the whole thing. It was evidently quite horrifying...

Tuesday, May 24 - Beamish Open Air Museum

Beamish Open Air Museum is a different kind of experience. A Living History Museum, founded by a former curator of the Bowes Museum (which we will be visiting next week), as a way to preserve the Northern Yorkshire way of life.

We spent the first two and a half hours exploring on our own, and there was quite a lot to see. Most of the areas are interpreted as Victorian, and those are the ones I visited in the morning.

Here are a few photos from the morning, all courtesy of Rebecca Bush, as my camera died after one picture.

Sarah, me, and Anjuli on board the trolley.

Walking around the area where they keep their wagons.

Typical Victorian sitting room.

Stuffed dog (real! I cannot make this stuff up guys). Also typical type of object found in a Victorian sitting room. (Can you believe someone actually donated this???)

Watching the dentist explain the horrors of Victorian dentistry (not much has changed...)

Really cool old guy using the printing press. They sell whatever he prints downstairs in the post office.

Poster in the schoolhouse. Teaching children how to cure consumption.

Didn't really catch exactly what this was; we were down in the mine standing in about a 4 ft. tall space, which is uncomfortable for even someone as short as me after a while.

After a quick lunch we met with Kate Reeder, the Keeper of Social History. Originally the museum practiced an unselective collections policy, meaning that they would take anything and everything. Eventually, they ended up with dozens of any given object. One benefit of this policy was that the museum could form two collections: the working collection and the core collection. The working collection includes the objects on display throughout the museum.Many of the items can be touched, are used by the interpreters, and some furniture can even be sat upon! The core collection is not completely off limits to the public either. One of Kate’s jobs is giving tours to various groups of the core collection; depending on the interests of the group, visitors can see different aspects of the collection. (Example: an extensive taxidermy collection inherited when the Northallerton Natural History Museum closed down. Seriously, there are a lot of stuffed animals, as you can see below.)

Some of their core collection. Those boxes contain mostly taxidermy.

Beamish is not managed by either English Heritage or the National Trust. They are currently run by seven local councils, although these groups provide only about 2 ½ % of the operating money. Most of their operating expenses are covered by admission, which is quite an amazing feat when considering everything they are doing in the museum.

Most of the interpreters are paid employees, and have specific roles within the park.Throughout the day we saw them baking in ovens dating back to both the Victorian and Georgian periods, and there were also men giving tours of the mine (an actual coal mine, now closed down. Our guide was actually a former miner from the area). Overall you feel immersed in the culture of the different periods, although we learned very little about the history of northern Yorkshire, and how it differs from history in other parts of England.

Talking with the interpreter about Georgian era fireplaces, and eating some of the food she made on it. (Don't remember the name, but surprisingly good!)

And...more taxidermy. This time as food in a Georgian pantry.

Discussing this bed from the 18th century with another interpreter. She was trying to make us guess what this door in the side (not the one that is open, but on the left side of the bed) was for. We all guessed wrong, but it wasn't really our fault. It may have been added much later by a man who was using it as a chicken coop.

There was a lot of advertisement everywhere, several of them real sponsors. All period appropriate.

We did have a great time though, and I can see how a museum like this appeals to a lot of different demographics. I wish we had more time to spend looking around; it is definitely a museum that takes all day to explore. It is also nice that they will continue to add and change their exhibits, as there are only so many taxidermy animals one can look at.

*****

On our way home we stopped by Durham Cathedral, an absolutely beautiful building, where the famous English historian Bede is entombed. Sorry there are no pictures, but be sure to google it if you are interested.

Sunday, May 23 - Internet at Last!

Today we headed into Richmond for a book fair. There were all kinds of books there, old and new, but I unfortunately didn’t see anything that caught my eye. (I know many of you are probably sitting in shock at that last statement, but really, I am trying to carefully consider my purchases.) Afterwards we headed to Wetherspoon’s, the local pub with free Wi-Fi. I then proceeded to upload a few posts and shamelessly read everything online I could find. I would have stayed longer, but my battery eventually ran out. I also got to talk to, and see, Cary, which was really nice. I can’t believe I’ve been gone over a week. The sheer amount of information I am taking in, between my various books, our required reading, our meetings at sites, and our work at Kiplin, is mind-boggling.

Sorry there are no pictures this weekend,; I didn’t think to bring my camera out. But don’t worry, there will be plenty this next week.

Saturday, May 22 - Wash

Today was a total wash. Slept in until 11, then attempted to wash clothes most of the day—not an easy task given the lack of a drying rack and questionable low-energy washer and dryer. I also killed a few bugs lurking around; the weather has recently turned quite warm, and we now have to keep our windows open. I haven’t given much thought to what I would like to see on the weekends, as we have been so busy during the week. Next weekend is a bank holiday, so we are planning to travel as a group to somewhere within driving distance. Of course, there is quite a bit to see, and I do want to take advantage of my two membership cards (English Heritage and National Trust), so I really need to start planning.

Friday, May 21 - Tour of Rievaulx Abbey and Terrace, Starfish site, and Mount Grace Priory with Keith Emerich

WARNING: this post is ridiculously long, with a lot of information.

After a site visit full of historical inaccuracies (see Wednesday’s post), we were all really looking forward to speaking with Keith Emerich, Inspector of Ancient Monuments for English Heritage. We met with him at Rievaulx Abbey, an absolutely beautiful setting, and a Cistercian monastery until the English Reformation. (Yes, that would be the same Reformation mentioned as the downfall of Easby Abbey; the dissolution of monasteries is a recurrent theme up here.)

Keith Emerick at Rievaulx Abbey

There are different ways to mark a historical site, and in marking them you rate their importance. So a structure can be a Scheduled Ancient Monument and/or a listed building. Scheduled Monuments, which can be distinguished as ruins or remains or archeological sites that cannot be lived in, take precedence over listed buildings. Listed buildings have three grades: 1, 2*, and 2, with 1 being the most significant. Certain sites can be both listed and scheduled. Rievaulx Abbey is one of these (and actually several of the places we will visit are both).

As we attempted to clarify a few questions raised on Wednesday in regards to renovations to listed buildings (most of the buildings comprising the Inner Bailey in Richmond are listed), I learned this:

Repairs/Renovations/Demolition: First, the owner of a grade 2 listed building (the lowest of the three) can make most repairs without needing consent from outside agencies, but with larger renovations (or demolition), the owner must apply through the local council. If the building is a grade 2* or grade 1, English Heritage is sent a copy of the application and called upon in an advisory capacity. Normally other societies in the community, such as the Society from the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), are also asked to weigh in before a decision is reached. English Heritage does not normally try to stop the owner unless they feel really strongly about the proposal. Because of the possible interference by the government, most owners prefer not to have their property designated as either listed or scheduled.

Guardianship Monuments: However, when it comes to the latter (Scheduled Ancient Monuments), the owner has little choice. Actually, most of the ruins in England are sitting on land owned by someone (Lord such-and-such). When the original Ancient Monuments Act was introduced in 1882, the government designated Guardianship Monuments (although at the time these were only prehistoric sites), which allowed them to control everything within a certain area surrounding and including the site. I believe the Act eventually passed in 1913, and so control of the ground where these Guardianship Monuments sit was given to the government (or in actuality, English Heritage and/or the National Trust). Today there are 410, considered the “cream of the crop” of sites in England.

Conservation Area: Richmond is also a Conservation Area, and the changes listed above always go through the local council. English Heritage asks each council to do an appraisal of the area, stating the significance, the pressures on the area, and finally policies to alleviate the aforementioned pressures.

Each new monument that becomes a Scheduled Ancient Monument or Listed Building receives a Designation Description (I will try to scan in a sample at a later date). This includes a map of the site (and if it is a Guardianship Monument it includes the perimeter that marks the area controlled by the government), a description of the monument, and an assessment of its importance. These Designation Descriptions are actually public record, and can be accessed through the local District Council Records Office, or through English Heritage.

So, back to Rievaulx Abbey. Most of the surrounding village is also part of the Scheduled Ancient Monument as the original structures were part of the Abbey; therefore, the Guardianship perimeter surrounds the village and continues for a ways out to some of the fence lines.

Rievaulx Abbey is unique in that the owner actually wanted it to be taken over by the government. But although the government took possession of the monument in 1917, they were unable to begin any restorative work due to WWI—there was no wood for scaffolding. In the period immediately following WWI, many returning veterans were put to work “conserving” monuments like Rievaulx. Unfortunately, at the time those in charge sought to restore these places to their “high point”, which for most abbeys was the 14^th century. This was, in part, due to backlash from the 19^th century restorations previously undertaken throughout churches and abbeys (remember Sir Gilbert Scott and the parish church at Easby?). However, in this case many later surrounding buildings were completely demolished, erasing that part of a monument’s history.

Another aspect of this Preserver’s Fund involved completely removing aspects of the monument they wished to preserve, and then fortifying the interiors of columns and walls with cement and steel. They then placed the outer stonework in exactly the same place, even leaving original cracks, in order to maintain “authenticity”, and at the same time help the monument survive. Unfortunately, within a single generation the issues resulting from this technique began to show. One example would be the Scotttish Point mortar used in some of the walls. In their attempt to fortify the reconstructed wall, the builders actually made the mortar harder than the brick; moisture, which escapes through the weakest point in the wall, now leaves through the stones instead of the mortar, causing cracks to form quite quickly. What is perhaps most surprising is that the general public are unaware of these restorations, and they are never included in the interpretation of sites.

If you look closely, you can see the crack running up between these two arches. The workers removed all of the outer stonework, filled the interior with cement, and replaced the stone, taking care to place the crack in its original spot.

As I mentioned earlier, Rievaulx Abbey was (and is in many respects) part of a large estate. You can see below where they used the wall as a shooting gallery. Indeed, when ruins began to become “romanticized” during the 17^th century and thus extremely popular, the owners and their visitors began to treat them as their private playgrounds. While this may seem shocking and even distasteful to some now, this repurposing actually aided in the survival of many of these monuments.

Once again, if you look closely in the middle of the wall there are holes made from musket balls.

This isn't a great picture, but look at the windows. Notice how the style changes the higher they are from the ground. This is a great example of Gothic architecture (the pointed windows) being built on top of Romanesque (the lower, more rounded windows).

Here is how the cloister walls would have appeared. A sign attached at the top right makes note of the fact that this is merely a reconstruction.

Although I haven't posted pictures of them (but you may be able to see some in the background of the photo above), the majority of the smaller walls seen today were actually completely covered in earth as late as the 1920’s. The bits that were slowly uncovered tell a bit of a story about the English Reformation’s impact on Rievaulx. Many of the columns were knocked down and the entire roof brought down. The stained glass would have been smashed, and the surrounding lead was melt down into what is called a lead pig. “Archaeologists” (in reality war veterans) uncovered three of these lead pigs, which were trapped along with several men when the roof was brought down. You can google "lead pig" if you are interested in seeing one, I'm afraid I didn't get a picture of the one in the Rievaulx exhibition room.

After leaving Rievaulx Abbey, we drove up a steep embankment to Rievaulx Terrace, a National Trust site. It was built during the 18^th century solely to provide views of the ruins below. Honored guests of the Lord would have ridden along three miles of this:

Walking the terrace.

While looking at this:

Views of Rievaulx Abbey from above.

They would have ended their journey here, at the Ionic Temple:

Here are Rebecca and I on the steps of the Ionic Temple.

They would have dined inside:

Jeez, sorry for the awful photos. I'm not sure what I was trying to do here. Some of the furniture and décor is original to the Temple, while other pieces belonged to the family and were later donated.

*****

After leaving Rievaulx we visited two more sites: the Starfish Site, and Mount Grace Priory.

The Starfish Site was originally used during WWII as a decoy bombing site. It is also a Scheduled Monument, although as you can see it is privately owned, with sheep grazing all around. We witnessed a bit of a drama when a pair of lambs became distressed by our intrusion and started baaing, which spurred another group of sheep to run towards them. However, the adult sheep were on our side of the wall, with the lambs on the other. I believe this unforeseen separation led to a bit of confusion for both the babies and adults, and the resultant nonstop baaing was totally ridiculous.

Starfish site shelter in the distance. This was as close as we could get.

Silly parent sheep. They are preparing to charge past us to get near the lambs on the other side of the stone wall.

*****

Our last stop was Mount Grace Priory, the site of the first Carthusian monastery in Northern England. Carthusians were the most extreme of the Benedictine monks, and actually lived in seculsian in individual cells. See below:

Here is a later addition to the site.

Here is a photo of the cloister (of course now the cloister walls are gone).

Here is the doorway to an individual cell. Notice the passage for food on the right.

Here is a view from the interior of the cell, looking at the food passageway.

The interior of each cell would have been two stories, with living quarters downstairs and a workspace upstairs. Each cell would have had its own toilet and garden. Remember, these monks would have spent their entire lives in solitude and silence, not even speaking to or seeing the person who brought them food. It was a very difficult life.

By this point in the day we were pretty exhausted. We spent about an hour at Mount Grace and then headed for home.