Stately Homes – Page 11 – Number One London

Mycroft Holmes to the Rescue!

Little did Arthur Conan Doyle realize when he wrote his Sherlock Holmes novels that some time in the future, say in the early 21st century, it would be Sherlock’s brother Mycroft who would step into the role of hero. Actually, two heroic roles, as there are two Mycroft Holmes coming to the rescue of the now derelict Undershaw, the Surrey home of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle – Stephen Fry (above top), who plays Mycroft in the Robert Downey, Jr. big screen version of that story, and Mark Gatiss (above lower) who plays Mycroft in the BBC series Sherlock.

Undershaw, above in its heydey and as it stands today, is where Conan Doyle lived with his wife, Louise, from 1897 to 1907. Conan Doyle commissioned his house specially to take into account the prognosis for his wife Louise, who was suffering from TB and only expected to live a few months. In order to infuse the interiors with lots of healing natural light, Doyle instructed the architect to include oversized windows in his design.

It was whilst living at Undershaw that Conan Doyle became a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey, and joined the local Chiddingfield Hunt and the golf club and from there that he entered the Boer War as a volunteer army surgeon. It was also at Undershaw that Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1902. Literary visitors to the house during Conan Doyle’s residency included Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, who came to interview Conan Doyle, and Virginia Woolf. After 1907, when Conan Doyle sold the property, Undershaw fell into various hands until, from 1924 until 2004, the house was used as a hotel. Since then, the house has stood empty and remains boarded up in a half hearted attempted to save it from further vandalism.

Last year the local authority, Waverley Borough Council, stepped in to prevent the house being turned into 13 different “dwellings.” At the time, it was owned by a company called Fossway. Christopher Atkins, from RDA Architects, speaking on their behalf, says: “It might have been his [Conan Doyle’s] house once, but it has been through a number of different versions since. If it’s left alone, it’ll fall to pieces. The developer’s intention is to provide a number of houses within the existing building and that will then provide the funding to enable it to be restored to its original position.”

Oppostion against the scheme has been great and those working to turn the property into a Sherlock Holmes Museum include local MP and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Sir Christopher Frayling, Stephen Fry and UPT patron Mark Gatiss, who co-created the BBC series Sherlock and who plays Sherlock’s brother Mycroft in that series. Together, they have formed the Undershaw Preservation Trust.

Stephen Fry has been vocal in his beliefs – the actor, writer, television presenter and film director, who has contributed to three documentaries on Conan Doyle and his character Sherlock Holmes, is a patron of the Conan Doyle library and was once the youngest member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.

“There has never been a time when Conan Doyle has gone out of fashion, or interest in him, his ideas and his creations has dropped off the radar,” said Fry. “But there has certainly never been a time when he has been more keenly appreciated and valued than now. . . . As an admirer of Doyle and his achievements, I urge Waverley Borough Council to reconsider what future ages will adjudge [to be] a foolish, short-sighted and wanton act of vandalism. . . . There is real value in Undershaw. If it is thought about, it can attract new generations of tourists to the area, it can be an enormous source of local pride. Please, please, have another think.”

As well, the Victorian Society, which has long been pushing for the Grade II-listed house to be given greater protective status from English Heritage, is also fighting to preserve Undershaw. “We are pushing for Grade I-listing,” says spokeswoman Heloise Brown. “English Heritage originally turned it down on the grounds that Conan Doyle wasn’t on quite the same level as other authors such as Jane Austen or Elizabeth Gaskell. Our argument is that Sherlock Holmes has such immense and universal appeal – there are 400 appreciation societies around the world – that the house really deserves extra protection.”

Visit the Save Undershaw website for further information. You can also visit the Help to Save Undershaw blog here.

Obituary of the Duchess of Devonshire

Georgiana by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1775-6

Huntington Art Gallery

Obituary of the Duchess of Devonshire

The Universal Magazine of April 1806

Died at Devonshire house, Piccadilly, aged 49, on the 30^th of March, after a short but severe illness, her grace, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. She was eldest daughter of the late Earl Spencer, and Georgiana, his countess, daughter of Stephen Poyntz, Esq. was born June 7, 1757, and married to the present Duke of Devonshire, June 6, 1774. She was educated under the immediate inspection of her venerable mother, the present Countess Dowager Spencer, and indicated even from her infancy the most flattering promises of worth and loveliness, and on her presentation at court, like a comet above the horizon, all inquiries centered in who was to be the happy man destined to receive the fair hand of so much grace and beauty.

Gainsborough’s Georgiana, on display at Chatsworth

The young Duke of Devonshire was reserved for the honour and soon after the union of this noble pair, her grace not only became the head, but actually gave, the fashion to every article of female dress, not an apron, gown, cap or bonnet but were Devonshire. So high a station did the duchess retain among the fashionable world, that when the contest with America brought our military into camps, then was her grace found dressed in the uniform of the Derby militia of which the Duke of Devonshire was colonel, and from that time every lady, young or old, became dressed a la militaire. At the first drawing room which the duchess attended after her marriage, she was accompanied by all the distinguished females of the two great families from which she was descended, and to which she was allied. It is asserted that she was literally loaded with jewels, even to produce inconvenience. In the course of the summer of 1792, the Duchess of Devonshire visited the continent, in company with her mother, the Countess Spencer, and her sister Lady Duncannon, both of whom were in declining states of health. During this excursion her grace mixed with the company of several foreign literati, among whom we may enumerate Sausure, Tissot, Lavater, Necker, and the English historian Gibbon; on this occasion public fame attributed to her a short descriptive poem, not void of taste, entitled, the Passage of the Mountain of St Gothard. During the latter part of her life the duchess did not appear in the gay world so much as she had formerly done, yet at the institution of the Pic Nic society in 1801, she stood forward as one of its principal promoters; but the formidable opposition which was organized against these theatrical dilettanti, soon became more than a match for the subscribers to this favourite dramatic project. In the cause of one of the greatest statesmen of the age, (we allude to Mr. Fox) she interested herself frequently and essentially; and in the Westminster election of 1784, her grace took so active a part in favour of that gentleman as subjected her in some degree to the censure of public opinion. The disorder which terminated the life of this distinguished personage, is said to have been an abscess of the liver, the attack of which was first perceived about four months ago, while she sat at table at the Marquis of Stafford’s, and which from that period so increased its feverish progress, as eventually resisted all the efforts of the first medical skill. Her mind was richly stored with useful as well as ornamental endowments; she was well read in history, but the Belles Lettres had principally attracted her attention. Though forced into female supremacy by that general admiration which a felicitious combination of charms had excited, she yet found leisure for the systematic exercise of a natural benevolence, which yielding irresistibly and perhaps too indiscriminately, to the supplications of distress, subjected her to embarrassments that the world erroneously imputed to causes less amiable and meritorious. Her grace has left issue, 1. Lady Georgiana Cavendish, born July 12, 1783, married March 21, 1801 to Viscount Morpeth. 2. Lady Henrietta, born August 12, 1785. 3. William George, Marquis of Hartington, born May 21, 1790.

Hart, later the 6th Duke of Devonshire, on display at Chatsworth

Preserved Kitchens from the Past

A few months ago, the Daily Mail reported on the discovery of a Victorian kitchen in the basement of a large home in Wales. The room, closed off for decades, will be preserved as an excellent example of how the servants once lived and worked.

Cefn Park, Wales

The entire article is here. Imagine discovering such relics right down in the basement!

Which got us thinking about other historic kitchens we’ve visited in Britain. There are many — send us your favorites!

The Hampton Court Palace kitchens are among the most popular parts of the oft-visited palace. On many days, costumed works demonstrate Tudor cookery and prepare treats for the sightseers. We remember imbibing chocolate drinks, far different than what we enjoy at Starbucks, but still delicious (when you get used to it!).

Above, the larder where the butcher received game and began to prepare the meat for feeding the hundreds of royal guests, court functionaries and palace staff. Imagine keeping 600 people fed — 24/7.

The kitchen complex includes bakeries, breweries, larders, boiling and roasting rooms, pantries, confectories, spicery, and many more. Not to mention sculleries I suppose. For more on Henry VIII’s kitchens, click here.

Another wonderful kitchen that prepared royal meals is in the Brighton Pavilion, home of the Prince Regent, later George IV. For a panoramic Tour, click here. For more on the Brighton Pavilion, try this.

When it was constructed in the early 1800’s, it was the epitome of innovation with its high ceilings. Our friend Ian Kelly wrote a book about Careme, the most famous chef who worked here, among other places. For details, click here.

Below, the kitchens at Burghley House, home of Queen Elizabeth I’s trusted advisor William Cecil.

The kitchens at Burghley House are filled with copper pans (Kristine and Victoria and their companions almost swooned at the thought of keeping all of them so shiny!) On the right above, are the collected skulls of turtles, who were no doubt privileged to sacrifice their lives to the soup pot. To see more on Burghley House, click here.

As a matter of fact, displays of gleaming copper pots are typical of the kitchens in stately homes. Petworth has a wonderful collection. Details on Petworth here.

Petworth, National Trust

Harewood House, above, in Yorkshire also boasts shelf after shelf of bright copper utensils. This kitchen, too, is often the site of special events which include tasty treats. Harewood’s excellent website is here.

Uppark, NT

There’s a special twist to the downstairs facilities displayed at the National Trust’s Uppark House. The mother of the brilliant author H. G.Well
s (1866-1946) worked here as housekeeper in the 1880’s and the young Wells grew up in the servants quarters. More on Uppark is here.

The tunnels at Uppark were constructed to shield the delicate sensibilities of the owners from viewing the servants bustling about between the kitchens and the stables. But imagine how much fun it would be to play hide-and-seek here. Or chase the toads that often invade. Nevertheless, we should not try to romanticize the lives beneath the stairs — it was never easy and often brutal.

However, if you insist upon romanticizing the life of a servant, you can always try your hand at various below stairs tasks at the very interactive Lanhydrock House (above) in Cornwall, where they urge visitors to “have a go at napkin folding, laying a place setting and hat brushing on our touch and discover tables around the house.”

For an authentic look at the life of the country house staff, the National Trust has this and other volumes available at their bookstore, here.

So what are you having for dinner? I’m thinking carry-out!

In Residence at Ickworth, Suffolk

Yes, dear readers, I have indeed lived at Ickworth — that is, I’ve stayed at the hotel in one wing of the estate — for a few days. Victoria here, with a few words about this amazing National Trust property which houses a family hotel as well as the handsomely maintained State Rooms in the Rotunda and a fine park. And there are some fascinating characters and family stories (even scandals) to go along with your tour.

The National Trust has a lovely slide show of Ickworth here. They are in the process of developing more insights into the individuals both above and below stairs who occupied this unique spot for several centuries.

I admit that while I think I can appreciate life long ago, I do enjoy the mod cons of our contemporary lives.

This east wing of Ickworth houses the hotel, which has a website here. I wish we could have stayed longer because the amenities were excellent, the food delicious, and for ambiance, it excelled! I should point out that my photo was taken from behind the buildings. The other wing, the West Wing, has been developed for conferences, weddings and other events. The east wing was first used as the Hervey family residence. The west wing was empty, built only for the symmetry of the architecture. For a time, it was used as a conservatory.

This is the entrance to the rotunda, the galleries and rooms housing the NT collections. The Hervey family lived at the Ickworth estate for centuries, though this building was not completed until the 19th century.

Not far from this lonely sheep there is a walled garden, now a vineyard. Here is more information on their output. It is very tasty.

Ickworth as it stands today was the creation of an eccentric and passionate collector, the Earl Bishop, as he is popularly known. Frederick Augustus Hervey (1739-1803) was a younger son but succeeded to the title of 4th Earl of Bristol, following two of his brothers. Though he had originally chosen a legal career, he took orders and was eventually named Bishop of Cloyne (1767) and of Derry (1768) in Ireland. He grew rich on the proceeds of this and other offices and built a great house in Ballyscullion, which he had designed by Mario Aspucci, an Italian architect, for throughout his life the Earl Bishop traveled and collected in Italy, hoping to furnish his magnificent houses with the finest art and furnishings. He was partial to the rotunda style of building in the great Roman tradition.

Above is a drawing of the house at Ballyscullion. It did not last long, for it was demolished in the early 19th century, never completely finished and already deteriorating. However, the handsome portico was saved and can be seen today as part of St.George’s Church, Belfast. Notice how it resembles the portico of the rotunda, above.

The Bishop succeeded his brother in 1779 as 4th Earl of Bristol and became known as the Earl-Bishop. He also inherited the properties at Ickworth, an old manor which had a relatively small lodge to house the family. The Earl Bishop used something very similar to the plans for his Ballyscullion house to build Ickworth. The project began in 1795.

Ickworth from the Park

However, his extraordinary life ran into some bad karma. In 1798, the invading Napoleonic troops in Italy overran and confiscated his collection, destined for the new house at Ickworth. He himself died in 1803 and was succeeded by the youngest of his sons, another Frederick (1769-1859), who spend his lifetime trying to complete the great mansion at Ickworth. It was finished in 1841, though the Pompeiian Room was not decorated until 1879. In the Rotunda, operated as a museum by the NT, the Earl Bishop’s surviving collections are exhibited, including a few pieces purchased much later from the stolen cache.

Bess Foster by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun

The Earl Bishop’s most famous, perhaps notorious, child was his daughter Elizabeth Christiana Hervey (1758-1824) who married John Thomas Foster in 1776 and left her husband and two sons a few years later. Though she was probably mistreated, she had no recourse. She met Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and they became bosom buds, in an infamous menage a trois with the Duke. During the period 1782 to Georgiana’s death in 1806, she bore the duke two children, a son and a daughter, who were raised with his legitimate offspring at Devonshire House and Chatsworth. Bess married the Duke of Devonshire in 1809, only two years before his death.

A Lounge at the Ickworth Hotel

Above, two views of our lovely bedchamber in the hotel.

Although it was October, the roses were still in bloom.

St. Mary’s Ickworth

When we visited, this historic church, the burial place for Hervey Family members, was still in disrepair and unopen to visitors. I hope they restore it soon.

As eccentric as it appears, a little slice of ancient Italy in Suffolk, it is a beautiful place to visit. It has everything for family entertainment plus the great museum, the park and nearby is the picturesque town of Bury St. Edmunds, not to mention the Newmarket racetrack. All are highly recommended!!!

Byron's Birthday, January 22, 1788

Byron by Richard Westall

To celebrate the birthday of George Gordon, Lord Byron, the renowned poet, we present an account of him by Captain Gronow, from his Reminiscences, published in 1862, written long after the events he describes. Rees Howell Gronow (1794-1865) was a captain in the Welsh Grenadier Guards.

From Gronow’s Reminiscences:

I knew very little of Lord Byron personally, but lived much with two of his intimate friends, Scrope Davis and Wedderburn Webster; from whom I frequently heard many anecdotes of him. I regret that I remember so few; and wish that I had written down those told me by poor Scrope Davis, one of the most agreeable men I ever met.

When Byron was at Cambridge, he was introduced to Scrope Davis by their mutual friend, Matthews, who was afterwards drowned in the river Cam. After Matthews’s death, Davis became Byron’s particular friend, and was admitted to his rooms at all hours. Upon one occasion he found the poet in bed with his hair en papillote, upon which Scrope cried, “Ha, ha! Byron, I have at last caught you acting the part of the Sleeping Beauty.”

Byron by Thomas Philipps (1770-1845)

Byron, in a rage, exclaimed, “No, Scrope; the part of a d—-d fool, you should have said.”

“Well, then, anything you please; but you have succeeded admirably in deceiving your friends, for it was my conviction that your hair curled naturally.”

“Yes, naturally, every night,” returned the poet; “but do not, my dear Scrope, let the cat out of the bag, for I am as vain of my curls as a girl of sixteen.”

When in London, Byron used to go to Manton’s shooting-gallery, in Davis street, to try his hand, as he said, at a wafer. Wedderburn Webster was present when the poet, intensely delighted with his own skill, boasted to Joe Manton that he considered himself the best shot in London. “No, my lord,” replied Manton, “not the best; but your shooting, to-day, was respectable;” upon which Byron waxed wroth, and left the shop in a violent passion.

Newstead Abbey, Byron’s estate, 12 miles north of Nottingham

Lords Byron, Yarmouth, Pollington, Mountjoy, Walliscourt, Blandford, Captain Burges, Jack Bouverie, and myself, were in 1814, and for several years afterwards, amongst the chief and most constant frequenters of this well-known shooting-gallery, and frequently shot at the wafer for considerable sums of money. Manton was allowed to enter the betting list, and he generally backed me. On one occasion, I hit the wafer nineteen times out of twenty.

Byron lived a great deal at Brighton, his house being opposite the Pavilion. He was fond of boating, and was generally accompanied by a lad, who was said to be a girl in boy’s clothes. This report was confirmed to me by Webster, who was then living at Brighton. The vivid description of the page in Lara, no doubt, gave some plausibility to this often-told tale. I myself witnessed the dexterous manner in which Byron used to get into his boat; for, while standing on the beach, I once saw him vault into it with the agility of a harlequin, in spite of his lame foot.

On one occasion, whilst his lordship was dining with a few of his friends in Charles Street, Pall Mall, a letter was delivered to Scrope Davis, which required an immediate answer. Scrope, after reading its contents, handed it to Lord Byron. It was thus worded:–

“MY DEAR SCROPE,–Lend me 500L. for a few days; the funds are shut for the dividends, or I would not have made this request. “G. BRUMMELL.”

The reply was:–

“My DEAR BRUMMELL,–All my money is locked up in the funds. “SCROPE DAVIS.”

This was just before Brummell’s escape to the Continent.

Dining Room Fireplace, Newstead Abbey

I have frequently asked Scrope Davis his private opinion of Lord Byron, and invariably received the same answer–that he considered Lord Byron very agreeable and clever, but vain, overbearing, conceited, suspicious, and jealous. Byron hated Palmerston, but liked Peel, and thought that the whole world ought to be constantly employed in admiring his poetry and himself: he never could write a poem or a drama without making himself its hero, and he was always the subject of his own conversation.

Bust of Byron, Newstead Abbey

During one of Henry Hobhouse’s visits to Byron, at his villa near Genoa, and whilst they were walking in the garden, his lordship suddenly turned upon his guest, and, apropos of nothing, exclaimed, “Now, I know, Hobhouse, you are looking at my foot.” Upon which Hobhouse kindly replied, “My dear Byron, nobody thinks of or looks at anything but your head.”