There have been some rather disturbing accounts in recent weeks about graffiti which are clearly acts of vandalism and to be abhorred. But sometimes, just sometimes, graffiti may offer something else. This graffiti appeared on Striding Edge, part of the Helvellyn range in the Lake District, reported in the national newspapers, this picture from the Westmoreland Gazette. This appeared on a wall of a holiday home in Cornwall and was widely reported in the national newspapers and the perpetrator interviewed for her political point of view. This picture from The Telegraph. In addition the local newspaper, the Darlington and Stockton Times of 25th March 2022, reported that graves had been vandalised in the cemetery in Ripon, with symbols of the swastika, the IRA and a "Z" daubed on them. Most distressing for anyone visiting to leave flowers to loved ones. It is to be hoped that they can be cleaned. Sometimes graffiti can have an historical meaning. I can remember that there were a couple of pews on the right hand side in Richmond Methodist Chapel that were carved with names. Much tut-tutting over this, and I was told that this piece of vandalism had been the deeds of the "Bad Lads" who went to the Approved School at the top of the hill. In more recent times all the pews have been removed and replaced with comfy chairs and carpet. This has completely ruined the acoustics which were designed into the building, but also removed the historical record of the names carved on the backs of those pews. The long building in the map below was originally built as barracks for the local regiment, but they moved out in 1962 and it became the Approved School for Boys until the mid 1970s. Right at the top of the hill it could be bleak. So what should we think of graffiti? Is it vandalism? Sometimes yes, but also some can become an historical document or art. Last summer we visited Newburgh Priory near Coxwold. This was a venue for a Plant Fair where part of the grounds hosted a variety of stalls selling plants. It was a very windy day, and anyone with tall plants had to keep rescuing them. The house was not open but you could go inside one part to access the kitchen where tea and buns were served. Newburgh Priory belongs to the Wombwell family and is marketed as a high class wedding venue with limited public access (but worth while). To get to the kitchen (and the toilets) you went across the servant's hall, a long narrow, panelled room, with every part of the panelling covered with carved names. Absolutely fascinating. A true historical document of those who had worked at Newburgh Priory. The row of bells is at ceiling height, so they had to stand on something to carve initials and names this high. Some have dates, here John Hallewell arrived in 1809 but left in 1810. With him Edmund Hallewell also arrived in 1810, and I can't quite make out when he left. To the left of Edmund's names is H Coape who arrived in 1772 and left in 1774. The hall was very dark and the flash on the camera highlighted some names but obscured others. I would love to know if anyone has transcribed all the names and initials. There are pieces of furniture with carving, and some have been added to by the bearers of penknives. These are hunting scenes, and the carving on the right of two hounds tearing apart some creature, has tulips and a rose added! One piece of art added to by another artist. Some of this graffiti is very old, at the bottom of this picture there are the numbes 167, and the dates continued up to the 1800s. Sometimes graffiti can be controversial. This is Richmond Castle (photo from Yorkshire Post) and the block at the base of the keep contains the cells where Conscientious Objectors were kept prisoner. The walls of the cells are covered in grafitti, and at the time these were being publicised I worked as a volunteer at the local regimental museum. There were high feelings and objections voiced against these being made public when so many had lost their lives in the First World War, and a friend in Richmond was most indignant that these were a shame and stain on Richmond when her own father had fought and been severely wounded in that war. Even after such a span of time some called the Conscientious Objectors cowards. But those imprisoned had a valid point of view, and the first time I saw the graffiti on the cell walls tears just fell down my cheeks. You can see them on a virtual tour of the cells. Freedom of belief and the right to express personal views should be treated with respect, and here these views are written on cell walls. You can read the graffiti on the cell walls in a virtual tour on the English heritage website for Richmond Castle. Some of the prisoners were Quakers and expressed their deeply felt Christian belief. Sometimes what begins as graffiti becomes art or a political statement, and even part of a cultural tour. Thankfully "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland are behind us, but the murals which were painted to express the deeply held views on both sides have remained, some have been repainted and renewed and some adapted to follow more recent political events. The mural above depicts people being evicted from their home. Believe it or not this mural has also attracted controversy. I will say straight away that I like it, it makes me smile and I know the artist. It is on the end of a property at the bottom of Richmond Market Place, and evidently the Town Council wanted it removed because it is in a Conservation Area of listed buildings. Common sense prevailed and it is being allowed to remain. Being familiar with murals on houses in southern Germany and Switzerland, I think such art can enhance an area. The most famous wall artist must be Banksy. This is Balloon Girl, next to her the writing says "There is always Hope". Banksy says "Graffiti has always been a temporary art form. You make your mark then scrub it off". However, his art now makes large amounts of money. Do they take the wall down when they sell it ???? On my walk between York City and daughter's house I walk along an old railway line which is now a footpath and cycle path. I go under two road tunnels, both decorated. But even since I took these photographs more art work has been added over the top of these images. The murals are constantly changing and evolving. Are they vandalism or art? What do you think? I actually think they brighten up the walk. Can derelict railway architecture offer opportunities for art? Another old railway line is now a footpath and cycleway between York and Selby. Where the railway crossed the River Ouse at Naburn the bridge is now used for both poetry, sculpture and art. This reads - In York the rivers in spate ride bicycles of water through the streets and words telling old tales under the passing sky rain oiling their spoken wheels sanding the shores with leavings and goings. York flat as an aerodrome / Perfect for cycling, for recycling for upcycling Soon everyone will ride a bike and soon the cars will be abandoned rusting in the park & rides at the edges of the old city. Heaven Recycled. Cycle Heaven. Robert Powell. "RiverRain" More has been added. A very clever sculpture of a person fishing with his cat. The long established habit of carving your initials on your wooden school desk lid with you pen nib has gone. No pen nibs and no wooden desks. The spray can of paint has taken over and there is a fine line indeed between what is acceptable and what is seen as criminal activity. Hard to make out, but on the top of this gate post in a field near Nunnington TK and SK felt obliged to leave their mark. A very ancient piece of graffiti on the wall of the King's Manor in York, but I have learnt that there was once a school in this building so it may date from then, there is a date next to A.L. which is 185... and above it July. Not very good to see, but an old quarry in Wensleydale where every rock face was covered in graffiti. What was I doing in an old quarry in Wensleydale, you may well ask! I was NOT adding my initials. All around Lake Gormire near Sutton Bank above Thirsk intials have been left on trees and rocks. They follow a rich tradition which can take us back to the Catacombs in Rome and to the dawn of human existence and cave dwellers. Here the famous hand from Chauvet Cave in France. The cave was decorated sometime about 30,000 B.C. Our desire to leave a mark of our existence, thoughts, beliefs and creativity has a very long history indeed.
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My green fingers are itching, but it is not quite time to start gardening yet. The winter may have a few more nasty surprises for us, but I am planning. How has gardening changed, what fashions have come and gone? For most people gardening was necessary to produce food and plants for medicinal purposes, and flowers were a luxury. This month I am looking at tiny little snapshots of different gardeners from bygone eras. The first is just a really small mention in the Diurnal, or Journal, of Nicholas Blundell [ 1669 - 1737] who lived at Crosby Hall just north of Liverpool. He was a Roman Catholic and the part of his journal that covers the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 tells of his having to go into hiding and then fleeing from his own home. He was a countryman, taken up with his farming pursuits, hunting, and also he liked flowers. 1714 31st July From Skipton I came to Preston where I lodged at Richard Jackson's. I bought some roots of flowers in Preston of one Dolphine .... 1714 6th August. .... I set some roots of Ranunculas and Anemonyes on two beds in the Knot, they had been kept dry out of the ground. I sowed some seeds of Anemonyes in the knot and removed part of a double piany root. The picture is an etching dated 1718 by Claude Abrut [1665 - 1742] of Ranunculas Grandifloras. The Ranuncula is a large genus of plants which includes the buttercup, and we cannot really know exactly what Nicholas was planting, or what colour it would be. Now garden Ranunculas come in a wide variety of colours and shades. So what about his anemones? I am surprised that he sowed seeds as I have planted some anemone corms. [And I am looking every day to see if they are coming up or if the squirrels got there first] Were they spring flowering ones? What did Nicholas Blundell's anemones look like? The bright and cheerful Anemone Coronaria above ? The anemone is also the Latin name of the wild Wind Flower that carpets woods with snowy blossoms, and also the garden variety of Anemone Blanda, below. Nicholas dug up his peony. In 1714 how advanced was the development of these plants? It was probably Peony Lactiflora which had originated in Siberia and Mongolia, and is a sign of his investment in his garden. Is this what his looked like? It is also interesting that he had a Knot Garden at Crosby Hall. Knot gardens were poplar in the Tudor period, and some were decorated with different coloured gravel not plants. But at Crosby Hall in 1714 the design of the garden was still that of the patterned segments divided by low hedges. I wondered if any evidence has survived, but Crosby Hall now appears to be used for education and outside adventure pursuits by the local education authority. The OS map fo the late 1890s shows not a sign of any formal gardens. So now to a completely different type of garden. There are several places called Newsham, but this one is between Richmond and Barnard Castle, and somewhere in this village there lived a young man called James Coates [1761 - 1788]. As you see he did not live a long life, but he kept a diary, parts of which have survived. He was highly intelligent, educated, and had a small school. Alongside his teaching he was a surveyor, made scientific instruments, played the violin, kept up to date with current affairs, was very devout in his attendance at church and chapel, he fell in love, and he was a keen gardener. He took time to exchange cuttings, roots and seeds with other gardeners, and made a note of the weather and the appearance of wild flowers. 1784 18 August. ..... At evening took a walk to Wycliffe and had some conversation with Mr Tunstall's butler. I wanted to see the gardener, but did not ...... was at Mr Zouch's and got a globe thistle ......... 20 August .... Am going to get some pease at William Jackson's tonight. The globe thistle has the Latin name Echinops. Wycliffe was just a few miles away on the southern bank of the River Tees and the home of the Tunstall family [see blog for August 2021 which mentions Marmaduke Tunstall's museum]. The Mr Zouch was the Reverend Thomas Zouch [1737 - 1815] who had a school and was the author of several books. James was keen to get on with his gardening in 1785. 7 April Pleasant day and busy gardening. Caught a mole and knocked the poor thing on the head to make a ready end of it .... Gardening and grafting a cherry tree, put in 3 grafts. 13 April Got our beans and peas sown with some early potatoes..... 16 April Sowing our onions, carrots, radish, lettuce and cabbage seeds and digging til 6 o'clock ..... 18 April ... Grass begins to grow: I observe that Trees are only budding, and the Haws on the Bushes are yet very numerous, notwithstanding the severity of Winter: Our Flowers visible in the Garden, are the Snowdrop, Hepeticus, Polyanthus, Daisy, Mezereon, Crocus, Primrose, and almost the Narcissus; so late is the present Season! Most Persons have got all sown; Rain now will be very favourable. The Pilewort and Violet appear in the Hedges, with the Daisy, but have not yet attained their meridian Lustre. Hepetica? Not sure but could be anemone hepatica, Mezereon could be daphne mezereon. 20 April Gave Mr Pease several sorts of Flower Seeds, in return for some he gave me about 7 years ago. .... 23 April Went to Wycliffe and got a Basket of Flowers. Afternoon planted them and went for our Pig at Wm Jacksons ..... As well as a garden at his house James had an allotment, which was used for crops, not vegetables. 1785 4 May Very pleasant morning. Got our allotment ploughed and paid 2 shillings. Afternoon went to Wycliffe. Mr Zouch was very pleased to see me. Got some scarlet beans off Mr Zouch and left two pots of Balsams ... 5 May.... Day remarkably fine and pleasant: sowing beans and setting some double Rockets which I got at Wycliffe. Evening planting 5 orange trees ...... James evidently had a system of exchanging plants because a few days later he was at Wycliffe again. 11 May. Clear and pleasant morning. Evening was at Wycliffe and got 2 fine Balsams .... What were these plants? Was he really planting orange trees as in the citrus fruit? In Newsham in the North Riding of Yorkshire???? First double rockets. This is a flower called Hesperis Matronalis sometimes called Dame's Rocket or Dame's Violet. I do not know if this is what James was growing. I have not found a double variety of it. Does any one have an ideas? Scarlet runner beans we all know, and they are great fun to grow because once they get going they shoot up their poles several inches a day, and as long as you keep picking the beans they keep on producing more flowers. All the vegetables that James grew would keep him self sufficient for most of the year. But what about the Balsams? Were these Himalayan Balsams that are now such an invasive pest in the countryside? Now to another diary and a very different garden. Dorothy Wordsworth [1771 - 1855], sister of the poet William, kept diaries and in her Grasmere Journals she describes some of the plants that they grew in the garden at Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District. I have not been to Dove Cottage, to my shame, but here are some pictures from the Visit Cumbria website. The picture of the garden gives an idea that it is a very natural garden and not manicured too much. Dorothy Wordsworth- 1800 16 May Warm and mild, after a fine night of rain. Transplanted radishes after breakfast, walked to Mr Gell's with some books, gathered mosses and plants. The woods extremely beautiful... I carried a basket of mosses and gathered some wild plants ..... I also love moss, but you have to have the right damp conditions for it to flourish, which Dorothy would have at Grasmere. Dorothy often recorded "worked in the garden" in her diary, and enjoyed it. 1800 30th May .... I planted London Pride upon the well and many things on the Borders. 31st May A sweet and rainy morning .... went to the Blind man's for plants. I got such a load that I was obliged to leave my Basket in the road and sent Molly for it. Planted till after dinner ..... Now which plant did Dorothy know as London Pride? On the left is a Heuchara, and this one is sometimes called Coral Bells, but I have always known it as London Pride. My mother called it such, and I have kept cuttings and they have moved to every garden that I have had. It is now quite happy by my front door. But some people call the plant on the right, Saxifrage, London Pride. I have both plants. Which did Dorothy have? This is a bust of William Wordsworth [ 1770 - 1850] by Frank Leggatt Chantry [1781 - 1841] and is at the Keswick Museum. I don't think William joined in gardening, but must have appreciated his sister's efforts. 1800 4 June. A very fine day. I sat out of doors most of the day, wrote to Mr Jackson. Ambleside Fair, I walked to the lake-side in the morning, took up plants and sat upon a stone reading Ballads. In the evening I was watering plants.... I brought home lemon thyme and several other plants, and planted them by moonlight. 5th June I sat out of doors great part of the day and worked in the garden ... I rambled on the hill above the house and gathered wild thyme and took up roots of wild Columbine. Just as I was returning with my load, Mr and Miss Simpson called. We went again upon the hill and got more plants, set them and then went to the Blind Man's for London Pride for Miss Simpson .... My Observer's book of wild flowers identifies Columbine as Aquilega Vulgaris, the wild version of the garden Aquilega. The picture that Dorothy describes is of a very natural garden full of native plants and mosses, quite modern in fact, as that fashion is all the rage at the present time. But they did grow vegetables as well. 1800 9th June I sowed French Beans and weeded ...... 1802 29 May ... we nailed up the honeysuckles and hoed the scarlet beans. 1 June .... The Columbine was growing upon the Rocks ... it is a graceful and slender creature, a female seeking retirement and growing freest and most graceful where it is most alone. I observed that the more shaded plants were always the tallest ... 2 June. In the morning I observed that the scarlet beans were drooping in the leaves in great numbers owing, we guess, to an insect ..... 3 June ... The Thrush is singing. There are I do believe a thousand buds on the honeysuckle tree all small and far from blowing, save one that is retired behind twigs close to the wall, and as snug as a Bird's nest. John's Rose tree is very beautiful blended with the honeysuckle ...... Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells And pretty maids all in a row. My garden is still a work in progess, all gardens are. We have made lots of changes even since these photographs were taken, and have more plans as soon as the weather is warmer. These diary extracts give an idea of how the purpose and design and contents of gardens have changed over time, but I will just stick to what I like and what will grow on this clay. One of the consequences of a husband now at home all the time is that he is here for all his meals. Previously he worked away from home for about three days/nights a week. The Lock-Down first brought about the dramatic change. I have put on stones producing proper meals! Soup is not counted as a meal, evidently. The consumption of marmalade has increased almost beyond my capacity for production and by the end of last year he had eaten all the stock. So as soon as the marmalade oranges were available this January I was slicing and stirring and filling the house with a goodly fragrance. I love making marmalade so it is no great chore, and have made it every year for all the years of our marriage. See blog for January 2018. The hardest job is getting labels off jars to re-use them. Some are stuck on with glue that defeats even the hottest soapy water. BUT thanks to t'internet I found out that a few drops of cooking oil and some bicarbonate of soda removes the glue like magic! Who knew? This time I have made about 25lbs, will this see husband through the year? But as I have sliced and stirred and poured into jars I have been thinking about oranges and lemons. I try to buy as much seasonal and British, (and Yorkshire) produce as possible, but citrus fruit I could not do without. Oranges originate in Southern China (think of Mandarin oranges) and were known in Sicily by the 9th century. The Moors took them to Spain and as Italian and Portuguese explorers ventured around the globe they took oranges trees with them to those climates that could sustain them. Because they cannot survive winters in northern Europe orangeries were built by those who could afford to heat them in winter to grow these exotic fruit. Most of our oranges come from Spain, but I can remember Jaffa oranges (and Jaffa cakes are a treat) which I thought came from Jaffa in Israel, but are actually a variety. This is a page from a Children's Encyclopedia, sadly black and white photographs, with oranges from Jaffa, Sicily and California. And how oranges come to us from Spain. But how long have we been eating citrus fruits? An investigation into the art on the ArtUk website has some clues, and it is later than I thought. This painting is called Sill Life and is by Pieter Claesz [1597 - 1660] and is at the Dundee Art Gallery. I have looked at lots and lots of pictures of still life with fruit and very few have oranges or lemons in the composition. The fruits displayed always indicate luxury and opulence and the ability to enjoy the very best produce. Here there is a lemon peeled. This picture is called Still Life with Citrus fruit and is by Pieter Elinga Janssens [1623 - 1682] and is circa 1660s, at the Ashmolean Museum of Art. The oranges do not look particularly juicy or appealing. Probably marmalade oranges. It was not until the late 15th century or early 16th century that oranges were a regular import. But there are some hints in documents that they were a valuable commercial crop. The Calendar of State Papers Colonial pertaining to the Americas and the West Indies. In July 1634 - "Virginia is now become the granary of all His Majty's northern colonies." There is great plenty of beeves, goats, hogs, and all sorts of poultry, and a begining has been made of oranges, lemons, figs, vines, and all kinds of fruit. The country generally unprovided with munition. April 1638 -The Company of Providence Island to the Governor and Council. Have received their letter of 27 July last. Send a good supply of men. Are sorry for the scarcity that befell the island; suspect want of industry to have been the cause. Every man to plant a certain proportion of provisions, including oranges, lemons, and other fruits. July 1638 - Cotton to be chiefly regarded, as more valuable than tobacco; also stores of oranges and lemons to be planted. Then in May 1674 instructions about growing oranges in Bermuda and from thence to supply the state of Carolina with the fruit. As new parts of the world were discovered where the climate was suitable citrus fruits were cultivated. This painting is by Abraham van Beyeren [1620 - 1690] and is called Still Life with fruit and is at the Ashmolean Museum of Art. A peeled lemon, though could be an orange, is on the right. Another source for information about oranges is old recipe books. As well are enjoying the delights of the ArtUk collection I also like to peruse the virtual book shelves of a website called archive.org. This hosts volumes and volumes of books from libraries in America. The Family Formulary and recipe book of Catherine Webb circa 1670 is a delight. I could not find out much about her but presume that she was American. I may be wrong, but her recipes are just wonderful. To make the Oringe Pudding seems to use the rind boiled and then beaten with sugar and butter and the yolks of eggs then baked in the oven in a puff pastry. Oranges were readily available to Catherine as she has a variety of recipes including them. Back to the Calendar of State Papers Colonial for November 1700 for this information, this is about Bermuda - The first Planters made great quantities of tobacco, most part whereof was brought to England ; some have made sugar, most places in those Islands very proper for it. They formerly sent great quantities of oranges yearly to England and to the Northern Plantations on the Continent, and great Estates, but since the orange-trees are blasted and their ground barren and overrun in many places with very small insects (which they call ants), they cannot raise Indian corn and provisions sufficient for their use, but are forced to fetch it from Carolina and the Northern Plantations .... This recipe beats the peel of the orange with sugar and butter until it is like biscuit mixture and baked on top of puff pastry. This recipe does use the juice of the oranges to make a jelly. And this is for candied oranges or lemons. She boiled them whole until tender and then boiled them with equal weight of sugar and then left them for four days to soak up the syrup. But did Catherine make marmalade? This is her version of marmalade and it is made from quince and jelly made from pippins (apples). Etymologically marmalade is linked to the Portuguese word for a quince preserve. I don't think it is derived from Mary Queen of Scots being ill and cured with an orange preserve. This is the nearest to our understanding of marmalade. It took Days. You soaked the oranges for six days, then cut them up and left them another two days before cooking them and adding a pound of sugar to every pound of oranges. Here is an advertisement from 1736 for a printed cookery book which included Preserving. It also had Bills of fare for every month in the year. I associate January with marmalade but it has not always been so. Here are two advertisements from the Caledonian Mercury. This is from the 24th April 1755. And this is from the 29th April 1755. Both declare that April is the season for making marmalade. Does this indicate the speed of the sailing ships that brought the oranges? Were they still okay to use? The advertsiement above is from the Liverpool Echo 17th December 1880. This says that Hartleys had New Season marmalade in December. Interesting. Perhaps you had Chivers marmalade, Dundee Marmalade or Robertson's and collected labels to send off for a brooch or necklace with their little mascot whose name we can no longer mention. He has been replaced (quite rightly) by Paddington Bear. I still have some of these little brooches but they will never see the light of day now. Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing Stealing our senses all away? A translation of a French carol. This last painting is by Luis Melendez [1716 - 1780] and is called Still Life with Lemons and Oranges and is at the National Gallery in London. I hope that you also enjoy eating, if not making, marmalade. This picture is simply called The Nativity, Flemish School, and is in the Walker Art Gallery. It interests me because the poor baby Jesus is totally naked, thankfully a couple of animals, a cow and a donkey, are breathing on Him. And what about this one? Mary looks totally shocked at the arrival of her infant who has not got a stitch of clothing, not even any hay in the manger. This painting is called The Nativity at Night and is by Geertgen tot Sint Jans [1460 - 1490] and is in the National Gallery. The Adoration of the Magi by Hugo van der Goes [1440 - 1482] at the Victoria Art Gallery is another naked babe (although Mary is unwrapping Him) being closely inspected by the Wise Men. These are very early paintings, and later depictions of the Nativity do have the baby with some clothes. As you know I love looking at pictures on the ArtUk website. This picture is called The Nativity and it is from the studio of Lucas Cranach the elder [1472 - 1553] held by the National Trust at Knightshayes Court. Not only a naked Jesus but some naked angels as well. Fortunately it is fothering time and it looks like some sheaves are being brought for the animals [which look identical breed as the animals in the first picture]. I can only conclude that these fifteenth century depictions of the Holy Infant are to impress upon the viewer the humanity of this Divine being, rather than the poverty of Joseph and Mary. Mary was far from home, not in her own village, and very shortly was to flee as a refugee to Egypt to escape Herod's soldiers. So how did she cope? And how have countless other newly delivered mothers coped? Sometimes there are distressing stories of pregnant women on board these dreadful rubber boats crossing oceans ... I shudder to think. So how did Mary manage? she would need clothes too. Did she have her suitcase packed ready to go to Bethlehem? Some babies can arrive quite unexpectedly. Some mothers are terribly poor. I came across this report many, many years ago in the British Library in London. It was shocking. It was all to do with the price of lead and the reduced wages paid to miners which had created a huge number of paupers who could not be supported. A petition from Reeth was signed by nearly 3,000 names and was 33 feet long! It gave the number of paupers in each township of Grinton parish - in Grinton 160; Melbecks 621; Muker 400; Arkengarthdale 332; Marrick 207. The parish could only support the poor by raising the rates on land, and many miners preferred to go hungry than take Parish Relief. Subscriptions for a relief fund were gathered in. The most shocking part of the report was about a midwife called Susannah Buxton. Susannah was the wife of Thomas Buxton a miner. I think this is the family - 1794 6 November Thomas and Susannah Buxton had a son Thomas baptised at the non-conformist chapel. Thomas swore an affidavit which was presented to the report in 1818 - that his wife Susannah was a midwife and in the course of her duty she attended the wife of Christopher Metcalfe in Gunnerside. The wife was in labour with her sixth child and when it was born they had nothing to wrap the infant in, and that there was nothing upon the bed to cover the poor woman or the child, not even a blanket or a sheet upon the bed and that the bed was filled with chaff. Susannah was obliged to send to her own house for the blankets off her own bed to cover the poor woman or she would have died. The rest of the children in the house had no clothes but only clouts (rags) and that they had nothing whatever in the house but a little of the coarsest of bread made out of oatmeal - no milk, no beer or any other particle of food. Thomas Buxton visited the family again before he set off to London to give his report about the condition of miners and Mrs Metcalfe told him she "had got through her month as by a miracle of God, having been supported by nothing but a little oat meal and water during that time". Christopher Metcalfe did have a little bit of land as well as being a miner but had been obliged to sell his cow before winter so that he could pay the poor rates, and could not claim parish relief because he had a little bit of land! He was a miner at Surrender. Thomas Buxton gave many other such examples of dire need. But poor Mrs Metcalfe. Is this the family in 1841? Lodge Green. James Metcalfe born 1791 Lead Miner Christopher Metcalfe 1785 Lead Miner Mary Metcalfe 1784 Margaret Metcalfe 1816 John Metcalfe 1819 Lead Miner Thomas Metcalfe 1821 Christopher Metcalfe 1826 Lead Miner Leonard Metcalfe 1827 Lead Miner. There were so many Metcalfes I can't be sure, and Mrs Metcalfe was on her sixth pregnancy by New Year 1818. But all this does raise questions about looking after mothers as well as new infants and providing clothes for them. Bequests left in wills for cloathing must have been appreciated. This is a snippet from the will of Barbara Skaife of East Witton, 1715. She was a spinster and was very generous in her bequests setting up apprenticeships and also - Item I give and bequeath 20 shilllings per annum for ever to be secured by my executor out of my effects for the yearly cloathing of the most Indigent Poor People in the Township of East Witton at the discretion of my said Executor during his natural life & at the discretion of the Overseers of the Poor of East Witton after the death of my said Executor. Most parishes had local charities, the benefactors names inscribed on a Benefaction Board on the wall of the church, who left money for the poor. Not many specified that it as for the Lying In of new mothers, but there were costs. So when poor Mary Preston found herself in Bainbridge in Wensleydale, about to give birth, having come over the tops from Wharfedale in 1765, the costs of delivering her of her female bastard child and her lying in was laid at the door of the Bainbridge Overseer of the Poor, John Wetherald. On the 12th of August she was apprehended for wandering and begging in Bainbridge and the very same day delivered of her baby. She was allowed to remain there until the 9th of September when she was carted off to give an account of herself before two magistrates and then committed to Richmond House of Correction. All this cost Bainbridge £3 2s 9d and a halfpenny. In Thirsk in 1774 Jane Atkinson, another wandering beggar, was delivered of a child and then stayed for 31 days after her delivery, which cost £1 18s 9d. Mr Whytehead was paid for delivering the child and for medicines 1 guinea. Mrs Peat the midwife was paid for 5 days attendance 6s. And sadly the accounts end with Paid for coffin and burying the child 2s. What facilities were available for pregnant ladies other than the local midwife? The Wellcome Collection has some information and this picture - The British Lying-in Hospital, Holborn: the facade and an allegorical scene of charity. Engraving by J.S. Miller after himself. I noted that it was only available to MARRIED women. This hospital was founded in 1749 by some of the Governors of the Middlesex Hospital. Their first property was in Brownlow Street in London which they equipped with twenty beds. There were rules. A woman could only attend if she had been nominated by a subscriber or produced a letter of recommendation, and had to have proof of her marriage. Here is the equivalent of giving birth in a layby on your way to hospital! Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal 27 July 1754 Yesterday a poor Woman with Child, being carried in a coach by Charing Cross in order to go to the Lying In Hospital, Brownlow Street, she was taken in Labour and a Man-Midwife in that neighbourhood being luckily at home, she was deliver’d in the coach and she and the child sent to the Hospital. Oh dear! The idea spread. This is from the Newcastle Courant 6 September 1760. The idea took a hold and by the 18th October 1760 there was a committee and by November a meeting for all the subscribers. By December it was open. The Newcastle Courant 6 December 1760. Notice is hereby given that the House is now open for the Admission of pregnant women; and a committee will sit on every Wednesday: And each woman desiring to be received into the Hospital must produce a Letter of recommendation to the Committee from a benefactor of twenty guineas, a subscriber of two guineas per Annum, or a joint letter from two annual subscribers of one guinea each; and also must produce a Certificate of their Marriage and lawful settlement, or a full Affidavit of such marriage and lawful settlement, to the satisfaction of the Committee. So this arrangement was restricted to married women with good connections. What about the poor or the single mother? I was quite cheered to spy this at the back of Easingwold Parish Church. It was quite difficult to photograph, the Parish Church only being open when there is a service, and the box between lots of clutter and a fire extinguisher. But I like to think of the Goodwives of Easingwold teaching their daughters plain sewing and making up shifts and other necessary linen underclothes. This little booklet by Joan Grundy explains that through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries midwives had to have a licence issued by the Church of England. They did not have to show proof of any training, but they did have to swear an oath and make a long list of promises which included not using any witchcraft, sorcery or magic charms; they had not to allow any priest to baptise a child other than an Anglican one; never perform an abortion, and to bury any stillborn in a decent manner. Joan Grundy, having studied the lists of licences thinks that there were many, many more women who were local midwives than ever obtained a licence. They did not always get there in time. It was shocking indeed to read a Coroner's Report on the death of a new born who only lived a quarter of an hour because there was no midwife. It was March 1867 in Grinton and Sarah Alderson, widow, had gone into labour in the small hours of the morning. She called up Isabella Nelson, and told her to go for Betty White (who was a widow in Grinton) and Mary Wood, wife of the joiner. Betty White would not come, Mary said that she would come but never did, so Isabella called for someone else to fetch Doctor Smith. By the time Isabella got back to Sarah Alderson the baby had been born but she did not know what to do, she went again for Mrs Wood but her husband said she would not come. Isabella then went for a Mrs Bradwick (or Bradbury), returned to Sarah and thought the baby was dead. She then went back to Mrs B again who told her to go to fetch Mary D, Isabella did but she would not come either. Eventually Mrs B and Mrs Wood did go but the baby was dead. Verdict "Natural causes during childbirth". Tragic for Sarah, and you wonder if being a widow and pregnant she was a social outcast in the tiny village of Grinton. We will never know. So I was heartened to find Elizabeth Walker, midwife in the 1841 census in the house of John Stott in Gammersgill in Coverdale. Also in the house is a Male Child 1 day old. However, all was not as it seems. The Baptism Register for Horsehouse records that this infant was baptised Peter son of Ann Stott 25th July 1841, so he was a grandchild of John the head of the household, but nevertheless there was midwife Elizabeth looking after the newly delivered mother. I wonder if she delivered my Coverdale ancestors too. All of us owe our first breath to the experience of such capable women. The heavenly babe you there shall find To human view displayed, All meanly wrapped in swaddling bands And in a manger laid [Nahum Tate 1652 - 1715] So here is Mary swaddling her baby and laying Him in the manger. This is part of a triptych by Bernard Daddi [circa 1280 - 1348] and is in The Wallace Collection. Christmas is all about the Baby, but don't forget to look after the mother. All kinds of tasks with small children are accompanied by songs. From getting up to bath time, if Grandma is in charge there is a song for each activity. So when getting small children dressed the song is " "Soldier, soldier, won't you marry me/ With your musket, fife and drum?"/ "O no, sweet maid, I cannot marry you for I have no coat to put on"/ So off she went to her grandfather's chest and brought him a coat of the very, very best/ and the soldier put it on ..." etc etc, substitute whatever you are dressing the child with, vest, knickers, socks, tee shirt and so on until the child is dressed. Then six year old recently asked, "Grandma, can you remember being six?", "Yes I can", "What was it like?" Well ...... it was COLD. I don't think he quite appreciated the lack of plumbing and having to put on your coat, wellingtons, and in winter take a torch, to go to the toilet, nor that it was an earth closet, no flushing loos. But the house was exceedingly cold and damp and the only heating was from an open fire. No heating upstairs, and when you went from one room to another you often put a coat on. In winter it was perishing, you were nithered, starved (in the Yorkshire sense of the word), and just wore layers and layers of clothes. If you were working outside you wore your oldest clothes, which sometimes might once have been your Sunday best, but had been relegated to market day clothes, and then out in the fields clothes. Clothes were mended and patched, then patched on the patches until they were eventually cut up to make rag rugs for the kitchen stone flagged floor. Certainly farmers wore clothes that were hard wearing, but often very old and tied together with bits of baler band (hairy string), and were encrusted with mud and the bodily fluids of the livestock they handled. My father's cap had a patina made by milking twice a day and leaning his head into the hide of his cows. The character of Compo in "Last of the summer wine" was known as The Scruffy One, and his clothes were holed and patched and tied together with string, but I can remember lots of people like this. They worked on farms, milked cows, picked potatoes, drove tractors that had no cabs, and had to withstand all types of weather. As a school girl I can remember layers of clothes in winter, a serge gymslip with a blouse and a knitted cardigan, on top of that a blazer, and then on top of that a gaberdine mack, not to forget the horrid hat. Top coats were just that, the top layer with many other layers beneath. The history of clothes concentrates on what the great and the good wore, the latest fashions and the very expensive. This is called Lady with a fan and is by Georges Croegaert [1848 - 1923] and is at the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. This picture is called The Evening Hour, 1903, and is by William Pratt [1855 - 1936] and is at the Paisley Art Gallery. One highly fashionable, the other practical. Although the hems of the skirts worn by the women coming home from the fields are all muddy. So what DID people wear, the ordinary everyday working people? I am going to explore some descriptions of clothes. Descriptions of ordinary people appeared in newspapers when they were Wanted. Stamford Mercury 8 July 1725 This is to give notice that Samuel Rowell, an apprentice of Thomas Kingston at Thorney Abbey in the Isle of Ely and County of Cambridge, carpenter, went away on the 18th June last. Whoever gives notice of the said apprentice … shall have half a guinea. NB He’s a broad set fellow with a brown bushy head of hair, about five foot eight inches high, a pair of Buck skin Breeches, a Kersie coat, Drab colours, with his hands very full of warts, aged 24 years. NB Be it at their Peril that harbours him. Vincent Orsler, Hostler at the Blew Bell in Peterbrough, Run away from his Master Joshua Bayley on Tuesday the 29th of June last, having dark brown hair, a red face, chew’d tobacco, had on an old gray coat trimm’d with Black, about 5 foot 9 inches high …. Half a guinea reward and reasonable charges. Well here is a pair of buck skin breeches, and very serviceable they look too. This pair were sold at Tennants (Auctioneers) in 2019 for £140. They also look quite comfortable and I imagine would keep out the weather. Kersey was a woollen cloth with a twill or ridges, hard wearing. Drab was a colour, brownish / yellowish. Drab was also a type of cloth which was wool and heavy. The second Missing Person wore an "old" coat, how old we do not know. If it had been of the early 1700s it may have looked like this - The is called "A portrait of a gentleman" by Unknown Artist, at the Laing Art Gallery. The gentleman is wearing a coat on top of a long waistcoat, both decorated with buttons and button holes. Caledonian Mercury 1 November 1736 These give notice to all to seize Daniel Hanna, once servant to the Master of (now Lord) Cathcart and afterwards to William Christy, stabler in the Cowgate and late servant to Alexander Dunbar … from whom he run away with near 400 Guineas. He is a thick set fellow, scarce 5 foot high, swarthy complexion, dark chestnut hair, even down, sometimes trussed up under his Hat, broad faced, shows all his Teeth remarkably when he laughs or smiles; betwixt 25 and 30 years old, wore a blue Bavarian big coat over a blue suit with Brass Button. His Horse was a dark broun Galloway, very little and broad, without any Mark of Mouth, a star on the forehead, the near hind foot white , a little sore on the near Rib, under the saddle. He committed this Villainy 26 October at Annan and who ever seizes him shall have ten guineas reward from John Lock, Master of the Laigh Coffee house, Edinburgh. The big blue Bavarian coat is intriguing. What was an 18th century Bavarian Coat? Perhaps someone knows. Bavarian costume conjurs up images of the Oktoberfest and the ladies in white blouses and dirndls, the gentlemen in lederhosen and short woollen jackets with no lapels. Where had Daniel got his coat from? Had he been to Germany or bought it second hand. There were many mercenary soldiers fighting in European wars once we had Hanoverian kings. Had Daniel been a solider? Was he ever captured? Newcastle Courant 29 April 1769 Run Away from his master on the 10th instant for reason unknown THOMAS HODGSON four feet eight inches high, with straight dark-brown hair, black eyes, is very strong made; had on when he went away, a half worn hat, a black silk handkerchief about his neck, a copper coloured coat, a spotted flannel waistcoat with sleeves, a brown waistcoat without sleeves, a pair of leather breeches, a pair of grey stockings, new shoes, and copper buckles. Whoever will apprehend and secure him so that he may be brought back to his master, THOMAS TURNBULL, Farmer at High Street House near Leaming Lane in the parish of Hornby Castle in Yorkshire, shall receive half a guinea reward and all reasonable charges. Any person that harbours or employs him will be prosecuted. Once Thomas Hodgson had got onto the Great North Road he could have gone anywhere thumbing a lift, north or south. What a good description of his clothes from his head to his feet. The copper buckles on his shoes are an interesting item. As Thomas Turnbull was a farmer this does not strike you as being Agricultural Labourer's attire. There is evidently still a demand for 18th century shoes with buckles from re-enactment groups. Thomas wore a copper coat and a spotted flannel waistcoat with sleeves. Enough to turn the weather. If you were on the outside of a stage coach you would need hard wearing cloth. Flannel was for insulation, It was a woollen fabric with a napped finish, i.e the fibres were brushed up to make it soft and fluffy. Traditonally this was done with teasels. So Thomas had a coat, a sleeved waistcoat and then another waistcoat without sleeves. Plenty of layers. The woollen stockings that came up to the knee were worn by everyone and stocking knitters were an important part of the economy in the dales until longer trousers made them old fashioned. Here is another Wanted advert - Leeds Intelligencer 30 March 1773 Escaped from the Constable of Thornhill as he was conveying him last night through Sandal to Prison. James Stansfield of Pudsey, Clothier, charged with stealing a Grey Mare the property of Isaac Sugden of Bowling near Bradford; he appears to be about 22 years of age, of a middle size, rather thin with dark brown lank hair, fair complexion with two scars on his chin, also a fresh bruise in the inside of his right hand, talks slow, hath or affects to have a down cast demure look. Had on when escaped a Shepherd’s dark grey Coat, with black horn buttons and black cape, under which he had another coat and two waistcoats, one of the waistcoats was a red and white stripped washing one, and a Pair of Dirty Leather Breeches. Whoever will secure the above offender shall receive a handsome reward upon giving notice thereof to the Constable of Thornhill aforesaid. Shepherds would have to have very serviceable clothes and this description was sufficient to make him recognisable. As well as the coat he had a cape, yet another coat and TWO waistcoats. Only one was washable (and I don't think the others were dry clean only). This rather satirical cartoon (from the Lewis Walpole Collection, Yale University, online) is about making one pair of stocking do the business for two. The gentleman with the lower half is calling for his Pantaloons (longer than breeches) and the gentleman with the upper half of the stockings is calling for his boots. Possibly the nearest we have today are the type of stockings worn by those who wear kilts. I actually like knitting socks but I don't attempt anything as complicated are these. Newcastle Courant 7 June 1755 Run away from his master RICHARD STEPHENSON a lad of about 14 or 15 years of age, low stature, short black hair, low forehead and came from Scorton in the County of York. He had on when he went away a black leather cap, stripp’d red and white double breasted Wolsey Waistcoat and a brownish Coat: if any person can secure him and give notice thereof to Mr Michael Richardson at the sign of the Pilot Boat in Stockton, shall be well rewarded for their trouble. Wolsey was mixture of wool and linen, a strong cloth, but in looking at 18th century fashions most were single breasted so the stripped double breasted waistcoat must have been noticeable. In 1814 George Walker published a book called The Costume of Yorkshire. It is a set of forty paintings of men, women and children of a wide variety of occupations going about their everyday work. This is entitled "Lowkers" which I particularly like. They are women weeding arable crops. Before chemical sprays weeds had to be removed by hand, a laborious job in the early summer before the crops grew too high. Both my parents talked about this work and called it "Lewking" or "Lyooking", it was pronounced with a "y" after the "L". Here the women are dressed for outside work, they are wearing many, many layers of old clothes. My mother had to do this job in her Land Army days, and many other back breaking tasks. Going into the crops of corn to remove wild oats was called "Rogueing" and removing thistles with a short shafted tool with a pointed metal end was called "Stobbing thistles". This is George Walker's picture of stone breakers working on a road. This would have been a dirty and dusty job, all done outside. The clothes look very ragged and worn. The comments added to the picture are that when many other laborious jobs were being done by machines this was still entirely done by hand. This picture is of Raddle or Ruddle Miners working at a pit. This mineral was dug out and taken to a mill where it was ground into a powder and then used for paint. Ruddle or Raddle was a red colour. The older fellow was not a soldier, but just wearing an old army jacket much in the same way that I remember people buying old army surplus jackets to wear for outside work in the fields. They were made of good cloth. So, this morning I donned a Very, Very Old Coat, at least 35 years old, for doing a mucky job in the garden (turning the compost heap), and will continue the tradition of Not throwing clothes away until I have absolutely no possible use for them. I will continue the theme of clothes later, but I hope this has given an idea of how people kept out the weather and the cold in days gone by. Until then this is an interesting read which looks at the history of fabric, linen, silk, wool, cotton and man made fibres. I borrowed it from the library and could not put it down. Very readable, it crosses continents with merchants trading in cloth and investigates archaeological discoveries of the very earliest spun threads. It covers the wrappings of mummies in Egypt to modern outdoor clothes for mountain climbing. Highly recommended. Standing in Exhibition Square, there is much more to see which tells the story of the City of York. This map (from the Victoria County History of Yorkshire, York City) shows the extent of the site of St Mary's Abbey. From St Mary's Tower adjacent to Bootham to the Postern is where the Art Gallery and Exhibition Square now are. The City Walls of York are the dark line on the map, but St Mary's Abbey had its own precinct wall, much now removed, but some still standing. How many people going through the archway on the old Abbey Wall see this tiny little plaque? it says - This Gateway was broken through the Abbey Wall July 1503 to honour the Princess Margaret daughter of Henry VII who was guest of the Lord Abbot of St Mary's for two days on her journey North as the Bride of James IV of Scotland. Margaret Tudor [1489 - 1541] would have had no say in the bargaining of her marriage. It was part of an attempt to secure some peace on the border between Scotland and England. She was twelve years old in January 1502 when she was married by proxy to the King of Scotland, James IV [1473 - 1513]. She then remained with her parents, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, for another year. Her mother died in childbirth in February 1503, and four months after that, persumably as soon as roads were passable, Margaret set off on her journey north, which took a month. At every town there would be feasts and the local nobility to meet her, which is why when she came to York the Abbot of St Mary's gave her hospitality for two days, and made a gateway in the Abbey Wall. I am not sure why. If you are interested in Margaret, there are two books worth reading - Sisters to the King by Maria Perry So High a Blood by Morgan Ring. This second book is about Margaret's daughter the Countess of Lennox, but does tell Margaret's story as well. She was fortunate that King James IV died and then she was free to remarry, making her own choice. Bootham Bar is on the site of a gate into the Roman fortress of Eboracum. So I imagine messengers and troops coming and going from here to the northern outposts of Cataractonium [Catterick], or perhaps the lesser known Virosidum [Bainbridge] deep in the Yorkshire dales. The shape of the walls around York follow the line of the Roman fortress, but the existing wall is medieval. The gates through the wall are called Bars, and all had barbicans, i.e. extending walls out from the gate to protect them from attack. The barbican at Bootham was taken down in 1832, probably to facilitate traffic. Public outcry prevented the whole thing being demolished. Bootham Bar still has a portcullis which you can see if you go up the steps. The large white building is called The De Grey Rooms. It is named after this gentleman - Thomas Philip Robinson [1781 - 1859]. He changed his name - twice - first from Robinson to Weddell, and then to de Grey. He had the title 3rd Baron Grantham. This portrait of him was painted by Francis Grant [1803 - 1878] and is in York Art Gallery, which faces the De Grey Rooms. Thomas Philip Robinson / Weddell / de Grey was the Commander in Chief of the Yorkshire Hussars, and the De Grey Rooms were built in 1841 - 1842 as their Officers' Mess, designed by George Townsend Andrews. The Yorkshire Hussars were a volunteer corps. The De Grey Rooms are very elegant and can be hired for functions. It is unfortunate that they are located between two sets of traffic lights and opposite a row of bus stops, there is always standing traffic queuing for the lights and buses with their engines running. But the clock outside is useful. Right opposite the De Grey Rooms is a rather insignificant bit of crumbly wall, that you could easily overlook, and most do as they stand with their backs to it in the bus queue, but it is one of the very rare pieces of physical evidence of the Roman Fortress in York. This rather beautiful building is called The King's Manor, and was originally the Abbot's Lodging in St Mary's Abbey. The Benedictine Abbey was founded in 1089 and dissolved in 1539, the site was retained by the Crown. St Mary's Abbey was one of the largest, wealthiest and most influential monastic houses in the North and had off shoots of smaller monastic cells in different places, one being St Martin's in Richmond. Whoever was the Abbot was a very powerful man, and living cheek by jowl with the Archbishop of York did not always end in a happy relationship. On top of that medieval York was a rich and influential city and the Mayor and Aldermen also clashed with the Abbot from time to time. Who could levy tolls on people coming and going along Bootham to buy and sell goods was a frequent point of conflict. The last Abbot was William Thornton of Dent. For the next one hundred years the Abbot's lodging became the King's Manor and was used by the Crown as the headquarters of the Council of the North. This was an arm of government that controlled a large part of the North of England and whoever was President of the Council of the North was a very powerful man. Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, was the last President of the Council until he lost his head in 1641. This picture from a is a steel engraving made by J Rogers circa 1829 of a painting by Nathaniel Whittock who painted from 1828 - 1858. I think the sheep may be artistic imagination. The doorway has the insignia of King James VI of Scotland I of England, (whose grandmother had passed this way as a child bride). They were recarved and repainted in 1972. The King's Manor was remodelled, modified and added to over the years after the dissolution of the Abbey,and had many different uses. In 1835 it was acquired by the Yorkshire School for the Blind and they stayed there until 1956. One of the things this school did was train their pupils in workshops to make things, and they even had shops in which to sell their goods. I have a vague memory of occasional sales in our village school of such objects, baskets and rattan chairs. This picture is by Henry Cave [1779 - 1836] of the King's Manor, he was a topographical artist who lived in York and published a series of picturesque etchings of buildings in York. He taught drawing at various schools in York including a boarding school for ladies that was in part of this building. The King's Manor is now used as part of the University of York. I would love to have a look inside. At the moment only authorised persons are allowed in.
This look around Exhibition Square brings me full circle (or square) back to the Art Gallery. The wheels on the bus go round and round / Round and round / Round and round [as anyone who has nursery age chldren knows only too well] but while they are going round I can keep company with Roman soldiers, medieval monks and Abbots, a Tudor princess journeying hundreds of miles to an arranged marriage, the civil servants who administered justice in the North of England, the Officers of the Hussars, not forgetting William Etty and his nudes! Where did August go? September appeared far too fast and once again I am going back and forth to York, but I have cut down my hours of child minding. York does not have a central bus station, I wish that it did, but buses arriving and departing for different destinations have a variety of stops across the city. The service that I use for Easingwold and Thirsk stops at Exhibition Square. So this month is a brief look at what I can see when waiting for my bus. If you replace the horses with buses this is more or less what I see when waiting for my bus. This picture is by Myles Birket Foster [1825 - 1899] and is in the York Art Gallery. He trained as a wood engraver but then turned to watercolours. Born in North Shields he lived most of his life in the south, painting on the Continent and around Surrey where he lived. He was a very popular Victorian artist. If you are following my blogs you will start to recognise this side of York. Exhibition Square is at the bottom of the street called Bootham and near the Museum Gardens where the Yorkshire Museum is, formerly part of the ground of St Mary's Abbey and the Manor house, now called The King's Manor. However, not that long ago the site of Exhibition Square was gardens. There had been an Exhibition in York in 1866 held in temporary buildings in the grounds of Bootham Asylum. It was thought that a second exhibition should be in a permanent building which could be used as a Fine Art School, but finding the right place proved difficult. Eventually a site previously known as Bearpark's Garden was selected. This was land held on lease from the Crown by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (who built the adjacent Yorkshire Museum), and was secured on a 999 year lease for £4,000. The first stone was laid on Easter Monday 1878 and the executive committee then set about gathering exhibits. At the same time a new square was created between St Leonards's Place and the new Exhibition Gallery, where the fountains are, and the bus stops (just out of shot!). Of course lots and lots of people came into York, and York was not slow to make money out of them. Enterprising Guest Houses advertised rooms, but accommodation was also needed for staff at the exhibition. Nothing changes, husband has spent much time in hotels and guest houses when working at shows and exhibitions. At last the grand opening on the 7th May 1879 - The opening was preceded by a Grand luncheon at the Mansion House with all the great and good attending, followed by a procession with the robed Mayor and Alderman, mace and sword bearers, to the exhibition. The Archbishop then presided with the York Musical Society singing hymns and anthems accompanied by the organ. Various local worthies loaned paintings and objects to be exhibited, e.g. a Collection by the Earl of Feversham. There was also a set of thirty views of York by J W Boddy. He originally trained in architecture but turned to watercolours and taught art in York. A catalogue was produced, fortunately now on t'internet. I was pleased to see that the artist Julius Caesar Ibbotson exhibited, because he lived in Masham. His painting was entitled "Landscape with figures" and was loaned by a Mr L Wedderburn. I was even more pleased to see this item in the catalogue as Matthew Cooper was a dalesman and Master Saddler. Matthew was born in Reeth in 1814, after serving his apprenticeship as a saddler in Leyburn he moved to York. He exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851, won prizes and made saddles for Royalty. I remember the lovely leather shop called Robson and Cooper on Lendal, where you went for special presents such as a twentyfirst birthday or such, and the lovely aroma. Sadly it is now a horrid drinking establishment called "Trembling Madness" with the most ghastly so called interior decoration. Thus was the beginning of York Art Gallery. It was bought by the City Council in 1892 and received many fine donations of paintings. But is now smaller than it was. The map on the left shows that the Art Gallery extended back from the square to a Tower. The picture from google earth show a large grassy area and the building half the size. York was bombed during the Second World War and the Art Gallery was damaged in 1942 and the large hall at the rear was demolished. There is much more to see around Exhibition Square but I will save this for another time. I will end this blog with William Etty [1787 - 1849], York's own artist. He shocked prudish Victorian society by painting (almost exclusively) nudes. This statue is by George Walker Milburn and was erected in 1910, when York must have got over its prudishness. Etty established a School of Art in York, and also campaigned to save the City Walls from being demolished. A very good reason to have a statue of him in Exhibition Square. This is one of his more modest life pictures and is called "A Bather" and is in the York Art Gallery. LOTS of his pictures are on the ArtUk website if you wish to explore further, but great expanses of bare flesh are not to my taste ! Most are Full frontal of Males and Females. You have been warned! When I was a child I had a mini museum of fossils found in the fields and shards of pot, on the bink near the back door. Curiousities that hinted at sea creatures from another age, clay formed and fired for practical use. Bits of bone were added, we once found a horse's tooth, obviously the poor creature had been buried on the farm long ago. As soon as this summer term ended I treated myself to two museum visits, first to The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, and then to the Yorkshire Museum in York. So this month I am looking at Museums. York has several fine museums, the National Railway Museum, the Castle Museum, and the Yorkshire Museum in the lovely Museum Gardens which are on the site of st Mary's Abbey. The idea for the Yorkshire Museum came from the Yorkshire Philosophical Society founded in 1822. As the members studied discoveries of archaeological and scientific interest in Yorkshire they needed somewhere to keep material objects. A wealth of Roman antiquities were being uncovered in York, and further afield antiquarians were discovering ancient barrows with archaeological finds. The site of the present Museum Gardens was formerly called "Manor Shore", and as it was the site of the medieval abbey it had belonged to The Crown since the Dissolution of the Monastery. This was gifted by His Majesty to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1827 and subscriptions were invited to raise the sum required to build the museum. The York Gazette printed lists of subscribers and the amounts they gave. There was the added incentive that if you gave a large sum, £50 or more, you had a life membership of the Society and could visit the Museum any time you liked and take a guest free of charge. [With the bonus of not having to book a timed ticket online]. The foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of York in October 1827. The architect was W Wilkins, the style Grecian Doric, and the stone came from Hackness. Little mention was made of the fine ruins of St Mary's Abbey right next to the museum, the focus being on the Roman antiquties it contained, along with bronze and flint implements and specimens of natural history. These included 10,000 specimens of rocks and fossils arranged in order of their position in the earth; 2,000 minerals arranged in chemical order, and all kinds of zoological creatures. Inside the museum had a large library (where the shop is now), a theatre for public lectures, three large galleries all lit by skylights, but it was hoped gas lights could be installed later, and surrounded by a botanical garden. It was finally opened to the public in February 1830, they were still appealing for funds as the total cost had been £9,800 and they still had a debt of £1,500. If you have the chance, and survive the online booking system, do go and enjoy this lovely Museum. In contrast to this, the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle had a very different foundation, being the creation of two people. It is named after John and Josephine Bowes, local landowners in Teesdale. This is a portrait of John Bowes [ 1811 - 1885] by Jaques Eugene Feyen [1815 - 1908]. John Bowes was born illegitimately, the son of the 10th Earl of Strathmore, and although he inherited the family wealth from coalmines in the north east, he did not inherit the title. John Bowes travelled in Europe, and as many young men did, collected art. He loved France in particular, and made Paris his second home after Streatlam Castle near Barnard Castle. His interest in, and eventual purchase of, a theatre in Paris brought him into the company of an actress Josephine Benoite Coffin-Chevalier [1825 - 1874]. The painting on the left is of Josephine as a young woman by Louis William Desanges [1822 - 1906], the painting on the right Josephine later in life by Antoine Dury [1819 - 1880]. They married, and together John and Josephine set about collecting art, furniture, ceramics and all the latest collectables in Europe. Josephine was an extremely talented artist. This is a painting called Souvenir of the Danube, Hungary, by Josephine. All the paintings that are in the Bowes Museum are on the ArtUk website, including those above. Search using the term"Josephine Bowes" and you will be impressed at her talent. This is also by Josephine and is called "Still life with bread and butter". I just hope it was not my ancestors who sold her the butter, I've never seen butter with holes in it. I don't think it was Cotherstone cheese either! My ancestors sold butter at the Butter Cross in Barney. Having filled the Chateau du Barry with art treasures, and having no children, John and Josephine decided to create a museum for their collection. They sold the Chateau in France and purchased land in Barnard Castle. The foundation stone was laid in 1869. By 1870 the locals would be wondering what on earth the Bowes were building, it was unlike anything in Teesdale. The Teesdale Mercury of 27 July 1870 reported .... For some time past a good deal of curiosity has been excited in this town… concerning a considerable extent of land on the north side of the Greta Bridge Road near the Militia Barracks, which is now being enclosed with high walls, and in the centre of which the outlines of a large ornamental building are beginning to appear above the ground. We believe we are in a position to give reliable information on the matter, which may be interesting generally to our fellow townsmen. The property in question has been purchased by Mrs Bowes, the wife of John Bowes, Esq., of Streatlam Castle. The lady sold a beautiful residence she possessed in the neighbourhood of Paris, reserving the handsome furniture and objects of art it contained, with the intention of some day replacing her late French abode with one of a somewhat similar nature in England. After much consideration Mrs Bowes has fixed on the spot above mentioned … The construction commenced will be of handsome design … and will be in the nature of a museum ….. Mr and Mrs Bowes have spent many years in collecting. We think we may congratulate the inhabitants of the town that Mrs Bowes has selected this spot for a large and handsome building, surrounded by extensive and well laid out pleasure ground ….. The Teesdale Mercury of 15 June 1892 dedicated almost a whole page to the opening of the Museum. It had taken a long time to build, and sadly both Josephine and John died before it was open to the public. It is an impressive place, with a collection to rival anything you may see in our capital city. The grounds are still lovely, and exhibitions are changed from time to time. Well worth a visit[ if you can bear the online booking]. As a child I was taken often, and no visit was complete without a visit to the two headed calf. However, there were other museums in the dales, which are now forgotten. So now to curious collections in Teesdale and Wensleydale. Teesdale first. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries aristocratic men and women had travelled around Europe on "The Grand Tour". Many brought souvenirs home. The more modest collections would be kept in a cabinet of curiosities with lots of little drawers and compartments. The serious collectors came home and built a room or remodelled their house for their art collection. So I am interested to understand the motivation behind collecting scientific and botanical specimens from Britain, and more importantly, the immediate neighbourhood of some of our great houses. In Teesdale there were museums which predated The Bowes. There was a museum at Lartington Hall, the creation of Henry Thomas Maire Witham [ 1779 - 1844]. He was a collector of fossils and minerals and wrote pamphlets on the subject. This one was published in 1831 and he published another on fossil vegetables in 1833. The Museum that he created in Lartington Hall was open to visits by groups and the public, and visiting societies often had their attendance at Lartington Hall Museum reported in the press. There is no doubt the locals were quite proud of this. The Museum was begun in 1831 and was described as a highly ornamental building. A report in The Northern Echo of 8 October 1892 said - the museum alone would occupy hours for a geologist and mineralogist - there was also the barrow and spade used for cutting the first sod of the railway line that went through the Lartington Estate, and the house had many noted paintings. Further down Teesdale is Wycliffe. Thanks to Savills estate agents there are some spendid pictures in a brochure online of Wycliffe Hall. This had been the home of Marmaduke Tunstall [1743 - 1790] and he too had a museum. He was interested in the natural world and made observations on the weather and the sky. His greatest interest was in birds. First his museum was at his London home in Welbeck Street, but in 1776 he moved it to Wycliffe Hall in Teesdale. Comments have been made that the engraving of the bird on the cover of this book was not British at all but an African Sacred Ibis. However, Tunstall was ahead of the naturalists field in devising names to identify and distinguish the features of British birds. His Museum of specimens, which I understand were stuffed, attracted the great and the good. Including the wood engraver Thomas Bewick [ 1753 - 1828] who spent two months at Wycliffe making drawings. Bewick's engravings are so lovely, it seems sad that all the birds that he engraved were dead. In 1797 Bewick published "A History of British Birds", and after its publication gentlemen who were good shots sent him more dead birds. The bird on the right is The Great Bustard, and the notes in the text say that it is now only found in open countries in the south and east, in Wiltshire and Dorset and in some parts of Yorkshire! It was formerly in Scotland but is extinct there, being hunted with greyhounds! Thomas Bewick also illustrated Aesop's Fables, and it is nice to think that a visit to a Museum in Teesdale influenced him. But what happened next? Marmaduke Tunstall died in 1790 and his collection was dispersed. An article on jstor [for academic research] by Howard Jobber traces what happened to Marmaduke Tunstall's collection. After Tunstall died in 1790 his trustees put his collection up for auction. Some were bought by George Allan [1736 - 1800] of Blackwell Grange near Darlington, for £700 and the rest was sold by Christies in 1792. Allan then opened his own museum at Blackwell to the public and it was a great success attracting hundreds if not thousands. It also included curiosities brought back by Captain Cook. But then Allan died in 1800 and the collection was again put up for sale. In spite of a Mr Fothergill of Yorkshire bidding 300 guineas, Allan's own son bought the collection and kept it at Blackwell - until - This advertisement appeared in the Yorkshire Gazette on the 18th May 1822. The collection at Blackwell Grange, including that of Marmaduke Tunstall, was to be sold. This time it was bought by George Townshend Fox for £400 and went to Newcastle upon Tyne where the Literary and Philosophical Society made it part of their museum. Now to Wensleydale. I am not sure when the Museum in Bolton Castle began, but it was visited in the 1880s and 1890s and mentioned up to the 1940s. A visiting party in May 1888 were reported as going to the Castle to see the "Ethnological and Archaeological Museum which the Hon William T Orde-Powlett has recently formed". Antiquarian Discoveries were reported in the local Richmond and Ripon Chronicle. A local antiquarian called William Horne, along with the Hon W T Orde-Powlett, had discovered a human skeleton near Leyburn in 1884. In 1885 they found another one, reindeer bones and implements, all of which were deposited in Bolton Castle museum. Further mentions in the press recorded that the museum contained a bronze bushel measure, and a brass rubbing from Wensley Church. Edmund Bogg's book "Richmondshire" has information about the Bainbridge Horn, which from time out of mind was blown every evening between the Feast of the Holy Rood, 27th September, and Shrovetide, to guide travellers into the village. Bogg mentioned that one of the ancient horns was preserved in the Bolton Castle Museum. And a letter in the Yorkshire Evening Post of the 11th February 1933 from Mrs J E Ryder of Redmire, mentioned an old fashioned musical instrument called a serpent, and that there was one in the Bolton Castle Museum. This was a real eclectic collection of curiousities, a little bit of everything in the true spirit of a local museum. And lastly to William Horne himself, who had his own museum in Leyburn. He was born about 1836 and died in 1928, a native of Wensleydale he was apprenticed to a clock and watchmaker in Manchester, but returned to be a watchmaker in Leyburn. Horne was a Fellow of the Geological Society, interested in collecting coins, photography, and anything to do with rocks and fossils. His Museum in Leyburn certainly existed in 1886 and was full of curiousities of a mechanical nature, and anything that interested him. A large number of fossils was accepted by the British Museum and called "The Yore Dale Rock: Mr Horne's Collection". Geological field trips visited him, and he showed them around Wensleydale, and often gave lectures. He also had 70 grandfather clocks (where did he keep them?), and “His Museum contains a wealth of antiquities including Saxon, Roman, Norman and Egyptian curiosities and a notable collection of clocks and watches … and John Wesley’s walking stick." So bless Mr William Horne for collecting curiosities, and all like him, who were perhaps slightly obsessed with collecting, but wanted to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with others. We are all the richer for it. But where are all these objects now? Continuing the theme of stories, not all have a known author, many are lost in the mists of time. Here are some fairies in a painting by Arthur Rackham [1867 - 1939] called "Twilight Dreams" at the Victoria Art Gallery and Museum. There are stories from centuries past which were passed down and never written down until the 19th century, stories of fairies and giants, kings and princesses and wicked step-mothers, frogs and wolves and magic beans. You will know them, or half remember them from your childhood. You will have seen them acted out in pantomimes and watched them in Disney films, you will have heard them read out loud, but perhaps never wondered how they have travelled through the ages to be retold today. Naturally we will start with the Brothers Grimm. Jacob [1785 - 1863] on the left, Wilhelm [1786 - 1859] on the right. Our knowledge and understanding of fairy tales has been formed by the work of these two men, some might say that they saved fairy tales, but in writing them down they halted the natural evolution of the oral tradition of story telling. Born in Hanau in Hesse they studied law at Cassel University and became lawyers, but developed an interest in language, philology, and worked on a German dictionary. As they were looking into the origin of words they were led to the oral tradition of folk tales, which had never been printed, and published their first work "Kindermärchen" in 1812, followed by another collection in 1815, both of which were soon translated. I have a little paperback volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales [Popular Penguin Classics] which is handy reading for a few minutes diversion. They are all very short, only a couple of pages each, and have tales both well known and not so well known. Some illustrate how far the stories have been sanitised and made safe for the modern reader. Tom Thumb, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Hansel and Grettel, The Frog Prince, Rumpelstiltskin, and also Snow White, who in Grimm's version was called Snow Drop. Ladybird brought out versions, with a full page illustration next to each page of text, and tidied up some of the endings of the stories. These well thumbed volumes belonged to my children and have been handed down to the next generation. For many the image of Snow White (or Snow Drop) is that created by Disney in 1937. The Brothers Grimm were not alone in their interest in the oral tradition of story telling. Sir Walter Scott [1771 - 1832] was already collecting Border Ballads published as "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border", a collection of Scottish Ballads, in 1802. This shows that there are many ways of telling a tale, it can have rhyme and rhythm, it can have a tune, as long as it is memorable. Subsequent editions added more ballads, and one contributor, who had sung her version for Scott, commented the ballads - "war made for singing an' no for reading; but ye hae broken the charm now, an' they'll never be sung mair". I had a book of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen [1805 - 1875], no idea where it has gone now, sadly, but I do remember the stories. Andersen was born in Odense in Denmark and had a poor start to life, but managed to gain an education. His writing began by revising the stories that he had heard as a child, and then writing new tales, which were published in a collection in 1835. The story that impressed me most was The Wild Swans, pity the poor girl who had to make shirts out of nettles to redeem her brothers from being turned into swans. Nettles were only too abundant and real to me! But Andersen also brought us The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, the Ugly Duckling [Disney again] and The Princess and the Pea. Andersen was not the first to collect folk tales of Scandinavia, already P C Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe were collecting from Norway. These stories had giants and trolls, think of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. What of English / British folk tales? This is really a nursery tale with the "pig, pig, jump over the stile or I won't get home tonight" after each little episode. Joseph Jacobs [1854 - 1916] was born in Australia but studied at Cambridge, and collected folk lore and fairy tales of the British Isles which he published as English Fairy Tales and Celtic Fairy Tales. He then branched out to Indian Fairy Tales, all in the 1890s. [see project Gutenberg] He was one of many who were now interested in capturing the disappearing oral tradition of these islands. There were of course, similarities with other collections, but from Jacobs we have Cap o'Rushes, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, Henny Penny, Tom Thumb and Dick Whittington and His Cat. In his Celtic collections he drew mostly from Scotland and Ireland, but also from the Isle of Man, Wales and Cornwall, having to use translators as he collected from native speakers. He noted there were similarities between the tales collected from different places. Many of these are not so familiar to me, the only one I had heard before was the Welsh ballad of Beth Gellert, about the baby in the cradle and the man who slew his favourite hound thinking it had killed the baby, when it was actually protecting the baby from a wolf. If I was to retell some English folk tales, the only ones I can recall are the "The Hand of Glory", the "Lang Pack" and perhaps at a push, "The Lambton Worm". The Hand of Glory was a ghostly tale my father used to tell about Spittal Inn on the A66 above Bowes, if you want to know you will find it here ; The Lang Pack originates in Northumberland and you will find it on this page about Bellingham; The Lambton Worm in County Durham has a whole page to itself on wikipedia. Rudyard Kipling [ 1865 - 1936] was a man of many parts, some now controversial, but he was a great story teller and collector of stories. He was born in India, wrote the Jungle Book in 1894 and Kim in 1901, and The Just So Stories in 1902. Certainly the Jungle Book has endured, been reprinted and given the Disney make-over. Thank fully many are being read to a new generation. Many will be able to remember the songs from the Disney film of 1967, which introduced Mowgli, the man cub, to film goers. Raised by wolves he had adventures growing up in the jungle protected by Baloo the Bear and Bagheera the Panther and other creatures until he finally joined a village of people. The Just So Stories explain the characteristics of various animals - How the Camel got his hump; The Leopard his spots, the Rhinoceros his skin etc etc. Which brings us to fairy or folk tales from other parts of the world. There is a whole genre of tales that explain how animals have particular characteristics. We now live in a multi-cultural age, all races and creeds mix and share their heritage. I queue to collect small child in the school playground at three o'clock and see parents from all continents of the world. They have a heritage too. So I am glad that my grandchildren hear their stories at bed time. The Elephant's Friend has tales from India; the Tales of Mystery and Magic range from Inuit to Scotland to West Africa; the Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave, Brilliant Girls are drawn from various parts of Europe from the Orkney Isles to Spain, and even draws comparisons with some tales in Shakespeare. This painting is called "Aesop composing his fables" by Charles Landseer [1799 - 1899] at the Salford Art Gallery. Here he is supposedly writing the story of the Fox and the Stork. Aesop was possibly a collector of Greek fables which were about animals who had virtues and vices which each told a moral tale. They are still being retold. So the children of today have a rich and varied source of stories to listen to and read for themselves when they are old enough. They come from all parts of the world, they have travelled down countless generations and evolved and developed. Kate Pankhurst's introduction to Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls reflects that something was lost when tales were pinned down to a page, but also that "stories die when they are not told". Many years ago I came across a second hand copy of this. Not to be read to the grandchildren! it is brilliant, and covers every continent of the world with stories of "Brave, bold and wilful women" "Clever and resourceful women", "Unhappy families", "witches" etc, a chapter given to each category. The book includes Little Red Riding Hood, origin French, with the ending that the wolf ate both Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood, unlike the version with the woodcutter coming in the nick of time with his axe. Angela Carter in her forward says that tales evolve to suit the audience, and such tales take on a life of their own, unlike stories with a known author. They deal with birth and death, poverty and riches, murder (and in some cases in the Virago book, incest) step families and siblings and runaways. They prepare the listener for all the twist, turns and dangers of life. They are a study in history, sociology and psychology. They do not always have a Happy Ever After ending. So in the age before Charles Darwin could explain why things are as they are, and before we had David Attenborough delighting in the diversity of our world, story tellers wove imaginative tales which entertained and interpreted the world around us. Do they still have a place in our modern world? I will let you decide, but we would be poorer without them.
Don't have nightmares, but do revisit the rich cultural heritage of stories from around the world that start with "Once upon a time", it is a shame to just keep them for children! I'll tell you a story about Jackanory And now my story's begun I'll tell you another about Jack and his brother And now my story's done. The whole of May and June seems to have been taken up with child minding small children above and beyond my normal shifts, and an important part of this is Grandma reading a story book. How fortunate we are that books of all kinds are easily available. The grandchildren have a wide range of books, many new, but some that belonged to their mummy and auntie, and some even belonged to me. Some story books endure and never go out of fashion, some last only a generation. This month I am looking at story books for children, their authors and illustrators. The success of so many books is the marriage between an author and an illustrator, although some authors illustrate their own stories. Would we love Winnie the Pooh so much if we did not have E H Sheppard's endearing illustrations of the little fat bear and his friends? A A Milne [1882 - 1956] on the left and E H Shepard [1879 - 1976] on the right, both felt that the success of Pooh overshadowed their other works. Milne of course wrote poetry and the "When we were very young" and "Now we are six" books. Shepard also illustrated "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Graham, but you can never see an image of Pooh without remembering the story by Milne, or hear the story read without imagining the image drawn by Shepard. They are part of the same story, words and pictures. The poem, very much of its era, "Vespers" by A A Milne was set to music in a rather lovely if sentimental setting - Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed, Droops on the little hands little gold head. Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Christopher Robin is saying his prayers. Everything about the image this conjurs up is of a time now long gone. I often thought Christopher Robin was a rather indulged child. However the story of Winnie the Pooh does not start and end with A A Milne and E H Shepard. Winnie's story has been given another dimension by author Lindsay Mattick and illustrator Sophie Blackall. Lindsay has written "Finding Winnie - the real story of the bear who inspired Winnie the Pooh". This is a children's books which tells the true story of her great grandfather in World War One who had rescued an orphan bear in his home country, Canada, and named it after Winnipeg his home town, and how the bear came to London and was gifted to London Zoo where it was visited by the real Christopher Robin Milne. Of course story books reflect the culture, time and fashions of what ever generation they served, and some are quickly out of date. Out of my five grandchildren, three are of mixed race, and I would cringe now if they read some of the books I read years ago. Whether it is gender stereotype or racial prejudice or attitudes to servants, they are consigned to the back of the cupboard. I cannot remember my mother reading story books to me. She probably did, but I don't know what they were. I do remember her teaching me to read from this book. It was old fashioned then! Goodness knows where she got it from. As it used the term "Mama" I knew it was old when I was learning to read! But at school I went on to read the Dick and Dora books with their dog Nip and cat Fluff. I don't think many schools had Dick and Dora, most favouring Janet and John. And once I could read for myself, well I have never stopped since. Two authoresses dominated my early reading. One I will not read to my grandchildren, the other I will selectively. On the left is Enid Blyton -[1897 - 1968], so well known and so well read from Noddy and Big Ears on to the Famous Five, that I do not need to explain more. When you re-read her books as an adult some of her social prejudices are not acceptable now. On the right is Alison Uttley [1884 - 1976], who was also a strange character, but her stories of Little Grey Rabbit have lasted and have been reprinted. Margaret Tempest [1892 - 1982], on the left, specialised in drawing animals as people. Alison Uttley was a gifted writer but very odd person. She hated Enid Blyton who was a near neighbour, and hated being compared to Beatrix Potter. But having been born on a farm, and written a semi- autobiographical book called "The Country Child", I could identify with her writing both in her children's books and collections of essays about country life. I was quite surprised to find that the Little Grey Rabbit books have been reprinted and my grandchildren enjoy them. This is my own copy of Peter Rabbit from when I was a child, then my children had a collection, and now the next generation has as well. Beatrix Potter [ 1866 - 1943] needs no introduction, and she did not need an illustrator either, being a very gifted artist, who also knew just how many words to fit alongside each picture. A wonderful collection of children's books which has stood the test of time. Michael Bond [ 1926 - 2017] also created a character who has stood the test of time - Paddington. He emerged from darkest Peru in 1958 and there were several illustrators, about half a dozen, before more recent publications favoured a television version of the bear. In contrast to some other children's authors I think it rather wordy for small children, and probably best read yourself when you are older. However, I do read it at bed time. (To the children I hasten to say, not for my benefit!) Roger Hargreaves [1935 - 1988] illustrated his own books in the series of Mr Men and Little Misses. These were collected by my own daughters, and the one above was bought for a very specific reason. The stories were a bit surreal and had a dark edge to them, but nevertheless the next generation have taken to them. How times change. The Rev W Awdry [ 1911 - 1997] created the Thomas the Tank Engine books, superbly illustrated by John T Kenney [1911 - 1972] but by the time my children were little it had made the transition to the television and the book on the right, which belonged to my girls, had illustrations from the television series. The stories are just the same, and now another generation enjoys them. Judith Kerr is another writer whose story books have bridged generations. Those who enjoyed the books as children and are now parents retell her simple tales. Judith Kerr [1923 - 2019] escaped with her family from Nazi Germany and wrote a book for older children "When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit" about the Second World War. She illustrated her own books, written for her own children, and based Mog and all his adventures on her own cat who sat on her knee when she was drawing. A succesful partnership between a writer and illustrator is Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Allan born 1938 is still with us, but sadly Janet born 1944 died in 1994. Each Peach Pear Plum, I spy Tom Thumb .... uses rhyme and alliteration to make the story memorable, and the pictures include characters that you have to find on each page. Peepo is about a baby with a peephole in each page to see what is coming next. This book rather annoys me because even though it was published in 1981 the illustrations, by his wife Janet, are so terribly old fashioned. Everything is out of the 1940s or 1950s, clip mats and a tin bath in front of the fire. The Grandmother is an old crone ... I hate her and call her the great, great grandmother - but evidently the book is based on Allan Ahlberg's own childhood experiences! Allan Ahlberg has written many children's books and used other illustrators. The best loved is the Happy Family Series, my children loved them, and now the next generation do too. An surprising hit with the current grandchildren is the Topsy and Tim series, first read by my own children. These were written and illustrated by Jean and Gareth Adamson, husband and wife. These are originals. Didn't my children keep them nice and clean! Topsy and Tim have now moved on to television and can be found on that channel called Cbeebies. "Channel 202 Grandma" the children constantly remind me. Don't let them have the remote control! So what is new? And will the most recent additions to the bookshelf stand the test of time? I think they will. This is the most successful author and illustrator partnership in the bookshops. Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler. My goodness I know these books off by heart. Julia Donaldson has an amazing gift in rhythm, rhyme, repetition and vocabulary. Her subject range is amazing, and her rhyming stories and characters are memorable so that we repeat the stories endlessly.
Julia Donaldson, born 1948, is still publishing books by the dozen. She was the Children's Laureate 2011 - 2013, has 184 books to her name, was awarded MBE and OBE and writes for the Oxford Reading Tree scheme which teaches phonics. The Gruffalo, which we know off by heart and repeat when we are walking in the woods, was evidently based on a Chinese folk tale. Alex Scheffler was born 1957 in Hamburg, but studied art in the UK and USA. His first collaboration with Julia Donaldson was for "A Squash and a Squeeze" which Julia had first written as a song. His clear and colourful illustrations perfectly complement her stories. Don't ever think that books will go out of fashion when books of this quality are being published for the children of today. I hope that this has made you remember some books that you have cherished and read to yourself or read out loud. Reading a book is the greatest shared activity you can do with a small child. I will have another look back at books of old and delve into the backs of cupboards and book shelves. |
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January 2024
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