Author: Kristine Hughes

Guest Blogger Judith Laik Carves Coade-Stone

Our guest blogger today is Judith Laik, who has traveled with us in England and loves all things Regency.  She is the author of two Regency romances with Kensington Publishing Corp., and other works of fiction. The second edition of her co-authored book of quotations, Around the Circle Gently, has been released. Judith is a columnist for 1st Turning Point . She is currently working on a Regency historical and other projects.
She lives on a small farm in Washington state with her husband, daughter, and various animals. Visit her website here.  Written sections of this post: ©Judith Laik.
  

Coade-stone lion at Westminster Bridge, London;

Near location of early 19th c. Coade Stone manufactory



First, thanks to Vicky and Kristine for posting my article on their blog, and the credit for the amazing photos that accompany the article also goes to them. Kristine also found some additional information about the Coade Stone company that adds a lot to what I had found.
Father Thames in Coade-stone, Ham House Garden
Sculptor: John Bacon 

Eleanor Coade combined scientific and business success. She ran the Coade Stone business for twenty-five years after her husband died until it was taken over by the daughter, also named Eleanor (or Elinor in some sources). Or his business might have been unrelated to the construction material and it was the daughter who became involved in the artificial stone business and ran it.

  

  

Researching the two Eleanors is an example of a researcher’s nightmare. Some of the sources have the two women confused. But the researcher’s nightmare is the fiction writer’s delight, because after a serious attempt to run down the truth, someone writing fiction can choose the preferred version, fictionalize a bit more, and have fun with it.



Entranceways in Coade-stone in
Bedford Square

 

Tomb of Captain Bligh in Coade-stone
Garden  Museum, London

Coade stone was a spectacularly durable cement-like product (actually a ceramic material that is created by subjecting it to considerable heat in a kiln) building material which still looks new even today. It was very popular during the first half of the 19th century, and used by many of the noted architects and builders of the period.

The following account is from Some Account of London by Thomas Pennant (1813) -&n
bsp; In a street called Narrow Wallis Mrs. Coade’s manufactory of artificial stone. Her repository consists of several very large rooms filled with every ornament which can be used in architecture. The statue, the vase, the urn, the rich chimneypiece, and, in a few words, every thing which could be produced out of natural stone or marble by the most elegant chissel, is here to be obtained at an easy rate. Proof has been made of its durable quality.

A look at the inner workings of the Coades business is provided in The History of Ceramic Art in Great Britain by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt (1878) –

Coades.—Coade’s Artificial Stone Works, at Pedlar’s Acre, King’s Arms Stairs, Narrow Wall, Lambeth, opposite Whitehall Stairs or Ferry, were established about 1760 by Mrs. or the Misses Coade, under the name of “Coade’s Lithodipyra, Terra Cotta, or Artificial Stone Manufactory.” This material was intended to take the place of carved stone for vases, statues, and architectural enrichments. In 1769 the two Misses Coade took into partnership their cousin, a Mr. Sealy (the nephew of Mr. Coade), and by these the works ere carried on. In 1811 the firm was still “Coades & Sealy.” At the death of Mr. Sealy, who survived the Misses Coade, a Mr. Croggan, who had for a long time been a clerk or manager attached to the business, became the proprietor of the works, which he continued for many years. He then disposed of the business to Messrs. Routledge, Greenwood, & Keene, who were succeeded by Messrs. Routledge and Lucas. These gentlemen, about 1840, dissolved partnership and sold off all their moulds, models, plant, etc, by auction, by Messrs. Rushworth and Jarvis, of Saville Row. Many of these moulds and models were bought by Mr. Blashfield and by other manufacturers, among whom was Mr. H. M. Blanchard of Blackfriars Road (which see), and who, being an apprentice with the Coades, and possessing many of their models, etc. claims to be their successor.

Coade and Sealey’s Artificial Stone Factory, by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd

The Coades are said to have come from Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, and probably it was for the purpose of turning their native clay to good account in London that induced them to establish this manufactory. Bacon, Flaxman, Banks, Rossi, and Panzetta, the sculptors, were employed to model for these works, and many of the old mansions and public buildings in London and in the country, as well as abroad—including the bas-relief in the pediment over the western portico of Greenwich Hospital, representing the death of Nelson, designed by Benjamin West, and modelled by Bacon and Panzetta; and the rood-screen of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor; the statue of Britannia on the Nelson monument at Yarmouth, &c— were executed at these works. The works principally produced at Coades were capitals of columns, statues, vases, bassi-relievi, monuments, coats of arms, key-stones, angle rusticated blocks, balustrades, &c They were of durable quality and excellent manufacture.

Another person employed at Coades was William John Coffee, who afterwards attained some celebrity as a modeller at the Derby China Works, and as a terra cotta maker, for a short time, at Derby. I believe he was employed as a fire-man at Coades, and here, no doubt, being a clever fellow, picked up his knowledge of modelling and of mixing bodies. The following curious letter and “information,” from the originals in my own possession, give some highly interesting particulars regarding Coades’ and Sealy’s manufactory in 1790 :—

“The information got from the fire-man that work’d at the Artificial Stone Manufactory, Lambeth:—There is three kilns, the largest is 9 feet diameter and about 10 feet high, the other two are sizes under; they have only three fire-holes to each, and they are about 14 inches in the clear. They make use of no saggers, but their kilns are all muffled about two inches thick, which was always done by this fire-man. They always was four days and four nights of fireing a kilns, and the moment the goods are fire’d up he always took and stop’d the kilns intirely colse from any air whatever without lowering the fires at all. He has been use to fire intirely with coal (which are call’d Hartley coals—they are not much unlike yours at Derby). He never made use of any thermometer, but depended intirely on his own knowledge. Tne composition shrinks about half an inch in a foot in the drying, and about the same in the firing. A great deal of the ornaments are 4 inches thick when fired, and he has fired figures 9 feet high. This man has had the intire management of building the kilns, setting and firing them for many years; his wages was one guinea per week, and for every night when he fired he had 2s. 6d. for the small kiln, 3.1. . . . “

One of the four Coade stone caryatids that stand atop the
columns of the east front of Pitzhanger Manor

Click here for an interesting article about Coade stone and Mrs. Coade. Further articles can be found here and here.

On The Shelf – Discovering New Authors – Part Four

Dornford Yates, real name Cecil William Mercer, born in 1885 at Walmer, Kent, is the author of the comic Berry books. The main characters of the Berry Books are the Pleydell family who reside at ‘White Ladies’ in Hampshire, made up of Berry Pleydell, Daphne Pleydell, his wife (and cousin), Boy Pleydell (Daphne’s brother and narrator of the books), Jonathan (Jonah) Mansel (cousin to all the above), Jill Mansel (Jonah’s sister) and with occasional appearances by Boy’s American fiancée (and later wife), Adèle. This is a group of privileged and pretty young things who excell at verbal barbs, comedic situations and much good humoured malice. Berry refers to Boy as “my brother-in-law, carefully kept from me before my marriage and by me ever since.” 

The stories are anecdotal, and involve some sort of privileged problem – their Rolls-Royce is stolen, a hat is blown away in the wind, an offensive neighbour is rude about Nobby, their dog. The resolution often involves outrageous coincidence. No one works, although the male members of the family occasionally do “go up to Town” on some vague business related matters which are never fully explained, and pithy conversations abounds.

Created by author George MacDonald Fraser, Sir Harry Paget Flashman (VC, KCB and KCIE) (1822–1915) is the fictional hero of the Flashman series, first begun in 1969. As Wikipedia tells us:  “Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, the book begins with an explanatory note saying that the Flashman Papers were discovered in 1965 during a sale of household furniture  Leicestershire. Flashman is a well known Victorian military hero (in Fraser’s fictional England). The papers were supposedly written between 1900 and 1905. The subsequent publishing of these papers, of which Flashman is the first, contrasts the previously believed exploits of a (fictional) hero with his own more scandalous account, which shows the life of a cowardly bully. Flashman begins with his own account of expulsion from Rugby and ends with his fame as the “Hector of Afghanistan”, detailing his life from 1839 to 1842 and his travels. It also contains a number of notes by the author, in the guise of a fictional editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. The history in these books is quite accurate; most of the people Flashman meets are real people.” Flashman is in turn charming, brave, cowardly, a liar and a legend in his own mind, but you can’t help but be amused by him.

I’ve never cared for Alexander McCall Smith’s Number One Ladies Detective Agency books, but I love the 44 Scotland Street and Corduroy Mansions series.  The Corduroy Mansions books are set in a four-storey mansion that’s been divided into flats in London’s Pimlico section.  The flats are occupied by an ensemble of cheerfully eccentric characters who are all too human and with whom the reader can readily relate. Smith handles the multi-faceted plots deftly and gives us readers to both love and loathe. Plot devices come in the form of situations with which most can identify. The third floor tenant, William French, a widower and wine merchant, is trying to get rid of his free-loading son Eddie, a young man who simply cannot take a hint. Playing on Eddie’s dread of dogs, William gets one, in the form of Freddie de la Hay, who manages to dislodge Eddie, but who also sets the stage for further problems for William. 
Set in Edinburgh, the 44 Scotland Street series focuses on yet another set of residents. As Publisher’s Weekly said, the book, “drolly chronicles the lives of residents in an Edinburgh boarding house— it’s episodic, amusing and peopled with characters both endearing and benignly problematic. Pat, 21, is on her second “gap year” (her first yearlong break from her studies was such a flop she refuses to discuss it), employed at a minor art gallery and newly settled at the eponymous address, where she admires vain flatmate Bruce and befriends neighbor Domenica. A low-level mystery develops about a possibly valuable painting that Pat discovers, proceeds to lose and then finds in the unlikely possession of Ian Rankin, whose bestselling mysteries celebrate the dark side of Edinburgh just as Smith’s explore the (mostly) sunny side. The possibility of romance, the ongoing ups and downs of the large, well-drawn cast of characters, the intricate plot and the way Smith nimbly jumps from situation to situation and POV to POVworks beautifully in book form. No doubt Smith’s fans will clamor for more about 44 Scotland Street, and given the author’s celebrated productivity, he’ll probably give them what they want.”
Really, the only problem with these books is deciding which dog is more delicious, Cyril with the gold tooth (44 Scotland Street) or Freddie de la Hay (Corduroy Mansions). You can visit the author’s website here.
Part Five Coming Soon!

Do You Know About Gresham College?

Gresham College has no students and does not teach courses, rather it is an educational institution of higher learning that exists to provide free public lectures, which have now been running for over 400 years. Gresham College was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham in 1597, son of Sir Richard Gresham who was Lord Mayor in 1537/38. Gresham College started long before there was a University of London.

Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579) stated in his will that Gresham College was to provide free public lectures in Divinity, Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Law, Physic and Rhetoric, endowed by revenue from the Royal Exchange, which he founded in 1570.

The Royal Society can trace its roots back to Gresham College and to 28 November 1660, when 12 of the members met at Gresham College after a lecture by Christopher Wren, the Gresham Professor of Astronomy, and decided to found ‘a Colledge for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning’. This group included Wren himself, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray and William, Viscount Brouncker.

The first college location was Gresham’s mansion in Bishopsgate where Tower 42 is now built. It stayed there until 1768, and next settled in 1842 in Gresham Street EC2. Gresham College did not become part of the University of London on the founding of the University in the 19th century, although a close association between the College and the University persisted for many years. Since 1991, the College has operated at Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn EC1.

A look at recenlty past and upcoming lectures will show how varied the programs are:

Fakes, Completions and the Art of Borrowing – Professor Christopher Hogwood CBE – Date/Time: 25/01/2011, 1pm Venue: Museum of London

Although Mozart’s unfinished Requiem is the most publicised composition requiring a helping-hand, there are many similar incomplete may-be masterpieces which have been assisted in some way, plus a number of well-loved classics which have very little connection with their supposed author (‘Albinoni’s Adagio’ heads such a list). In addition composers of all periods have been open to the ‘art of borrowing’ – Handel was particularly active in this area and the reasons and results of his ‘borrowings’ shed a new light on some very familiar compositions.

The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality – Professor Richard J Evans – Date/Time: 14/02/2011, 6pm
Venue: Museum of London 

‘Victorian’ came in the twentieth century to stand for sexual repression and social convention. Personal life was governed by complex and rigid rules of behaviour. Like other aspects of Victorian culture this began to break down in the fin-de-siécle. Yet recent research, discussed in this lecture, has undermined this rather simplistic picture and begun to explore some of the contradictions and complexities of Victorian attitudes to marriage and sexuality. The place of women in Victorian culture was by no means as passive or subordinate as conventional images of the era suggest.

The Gresham Astronomy Weekend – Professor Ian Morison – Date/Time: 18/03/2011 Venue: Farncombe Estate, The Cotswolds

The primary aim is to encourage newcomers to take up observational astronomy. There will be demonstrations of telescopes, planispheres and star charts, plus workshops and practical sessions for beginners, but more advanced amateurs are also welcome. There will be advice on astro-imaging using web-cams, digital cameras and dedicated CCD imagers. A set of annotated star charts will be provided. There is a charge for this event.



Engraving by George Vertue of Gresham College, looking east, showing the entrance in Old Broad Street, from John Ward’s Lives of the Professors of Gresham College (1740).



Knebworth House Visit

Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, just north of London, was the home of Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), politician, statesman, and author of dozens of novels. Our tastes in literature have left poor B-L far, far behind.  But his house is often a star in its own right, currently as the home of Logan Mountstuart’s wife, Lottie (Lady Laeticia) and her father, the earl of Edgefield, in the series Any Human Heart on PBS’s Masterpiece.

Any Human Heart is based onWilliam Boyd’s 2002 novel, subtitled The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart. The story goes from Logan’s coming of age through his lifetime. Though the novel is said to be a literary attempt to put political and social events into a personal context, the television version seems more to be an amazingly frequent set of encounters with famous persons, such as Miro, Hemingway, Wallis Simpson, James Joyce, et. al., while Logan has a series of life crises in which he usually turns out to be a cad.
But the point of this post is the house, Knebworth, playing the role of fictional Thorpe Hall. Knebworth has been in many films and tv shows, including The King’s Speech, and Batman, where it purports to be David Wayne’s elegant manor. Kristine and Victoria, with a group of their friends, visited Knebworth on cloudy day a few years ago. The grey skies seemed a perfect background for the ornately gothic pile of yellowish sandstone. Take a look at the Knebworth website here.

A mere thirty miles north of London, Knebworth House raises its ornate turrets, decorative crenellated chimneys and fanciful columns topped with heraldic beasts to the Hertfortshire sky. The Lytton family has occupied the property for more than 500 years.


Although every stately home in England has a fascinating history peopled with interesting inhabitants, Knebworth is particularly well endowed with eccentric, even tragic, characters. The medieval era house, with assorted changes, stood until the early 19th century. Freed from an unhappy marriage by the death of her husband, the redoubtable heiress, Elizabeth Lytton (1773-1843), made the first of extensive architectural changes in the early 19th century.









She and General William Bulwer (1757-1807), had several children, the youngest of whom became Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, (1803-1873), probably the most famous family member, immortalized by Snoopy’s efforts to begin his novel, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Elizabeth had three sides of the sprawling old structure demolished. The remaining side, preserving the ancient Banqueting Hall with its carved screen, was remodeled in the fashionable gothic style, with a medieval style towers and battlements.

Bulwer-Lytton, a budding poet, had a love affair with Lady Caroline Lamb (known particularly for her pursuit of Lord Byron, the poet) in the 1820’s. A copy of her notorious novel Glenarvon (1816) is on display at Knebworth inscribed by Bulwer-Lytton: “Poor Lady Caroline . . . she could not but inspire deep pity that was heightened by admirations for talents and qualities that well trained, might have made her one of the first women of her time.”

Soon after the affair concluded and against the wishes of his mother, Bulwer-Lytton married Rosina Doyle Wheeler in 1827, one of the most disastrous mismatches of the era. Always short of funds, nevertheless they lived extravagantly. Their two children, a daughter, Emily, and a son, Teddy (later first Earl of Lytton), both suffered from the constant battles between their parents.

At times Rosina was banished from her husband’s presence. Once, after she interrupted a political campaign meeting to denounce him, she was placed in a mental institution until public outrage brought her release. Rosina published thirteen novels and many other works on women’s issues. Quoting the guidebook to the house (p. 11), “Ostracised (sic) by the family for a century, Rosina has now been readopted. Her contribution to the struggle for women’s rights has been recognized . . . and the present Lord Cobbold (David Lytton Cobbald) named his daughter after her.”

Bulwer-Lytton, a member of parliament, a journalist and playwright, as well as th
e author of seventy novels, did not live at Knebworth until after his mother’s death in 1843. When he took over the estate, he began further changes to enhance Gothic elements of the house. Separated permanently from Rosina, he entertained frequently, often staging amateur and professional theatricals with his friend and fellow writer, Charles Dickens. In the sober library of the house, some of Bulwer-Lytton’s novels are on display, the most famous of which is probably Last Days of Pompeii (1834).
Additional changes to the house were made by his grandson, Victor, second earl of Lytton, with the help of his brother-in- law, the renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. In addition to the fine ancient banqueting hall, today’s visitors will enjoy the army’s many suits of armor, the High Gothic State Drawing Room, and Elizabeth’s regency-era bedroom, preserved as it was in her day at the request of her son. All the afore-mentioned persons are pictured in the extensive family portrait collection. The house gave me a rather melancholy impression, only partially offset by the handsome Knebworth gardens. Below are views of Knebworth, inside and out.

Entrance Hall

The Amoury

Two pictures above, the adventure playground woods

Like so many stately homes in Britain, Knebworth House must pay its own way, and thus is not only a fascinating historical site and a rich source of settings for films.  There are a variety of attractions for children, frequent corporate events and weddings, charity fetes and shows is all kinds (antiques, cars etc etec.) and many, many concerts, mostly rock music, with audiences upwards of 50,000.  Dark and stormy it was not!

Royal Wedding Weekend Getaway Plans

Not content to settle for an extra Bank Holiday and late openings for pubs on the Royal Wedding Day (RWD), airlines and hoteliers are offering extended getaway specials themed around the Big Day.  British Airways is offering Royal Wedding weekend packages and London hotels have been raising their room rates over the weekend accordingly, but really, anyone can book a BA flight or a room at the Savoy, no matter how inflated the cost. So, we’ve rounded up some unique options for the big RWD, each with its own twist on the festivities and all far away from the madding RWD crowds. Book early!
Why not book yourself into the Celtic Manor Resort, where they’ll be throwing a RWD Street party? Their website invites us to “join (them) to celebrate the Royal Wedding in the most traditional British way, with a spectacular outdoor ‘street party’ with live entertainment and big screens to watch the wedding celebrations, in the glorious surroundings of the Rooftop Garden. Immerse yourself in nostalgia with Union Jack bunting and trestle tables laden with tasty treats including jam sandwiches, homemade pork pies, Scotch eggs and sausage rolls, along with favourites such as Victoria sponge, fondant fancies, trifle and of course, traditional wedding cake.” This Five Star Welsh resort features award winning dining, the Forum Spa and was home to the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Forget the RWD, The Castle Hotel in Taunton, Somerset, is offering a Royal Honeymoon package to die for – it includes penthouse accommodation, a private butler, massage, flowers, wine and . . . a throne. I’ve stayed here and it’s just lovely. Of course, I didn’t have a butler. Or a massage. But it was still lovely.


Personally, the offer from the Ambassador Bed and Breakfast in Brighton sounds like a hoot – book into the gay friendly hotel for a minimum of 3 nights over the Royal Wedding weekend and you’ll be invited – at no extra cost – to join  them at a garden party where you’ll watch the wedding and be treated to a free buffet lunch, afternoon tea and wedding cake.

Even Grand Rapids, Michigan is getting in on the weekend wedding getaway deals, which isn’t as far fetched as it seems once you realize that the exhibit, “Diana – A Celebration” will be in town over that weekend, with items on loan from the Spencer family.

And lastly, if you want to do the Royal Wedding in royal style stateside, The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago has announced the “Trump Royal Wedding Experience” where guests will watch the televised version of the Royal Wedding during an exclusive breakfast at the Michelin three-star restaurant Here’s the description from the official press release: “After a night of ultimate comfort in a newly renovated guest room designed by Ivanka Trump, guests will descend to Jean Georges for an exclusive breakfast in the restaurant’s main dining room starting at 5 a.m. A special tasting menu fit for a prince or princess will include selections like scrambled eggs with caviar, mini-French toast, and pains au chocolat. Guests will toast the royal couple with sparkling mimosas as they watch the Royal Wedding on monitors strategically placed around the dining room. The breakfast event will conclude by 9 a.m., at which time guests may choose to hit the town or return to their rooms for a nap. A 4 p.m. late checkout is guaranteed. As a memento of the occasion, each guest will receive a piece of official Royal Wedding china commissioned by The Royal Collection.”  What, no massage?