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THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TOUR – VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS – PART 7

THE REGENCY TOWN HOUSE, HOVE

Upon leaving the Royal Pavilion, we’ll be traveling to nearby Hove for a tour of the Regency Town House. I visited a few years ago when the project’s originator, Nick Tyson, was still at the beginning of a scheme to restore the Town House to it’s original state. Nick led our tour group through the rooms which were being stripped of years of paint and wallpaper, with each layer being analysed for decorative research. The restoration process is still ongoing and you can read an interview with Nick in which he discusses present and future plans for the Town House here.

From the Regency Town House website:

The objectives of the Regency Town House are threefold:

Raise the profile of Brighton and Hove as a historic location.
Encourage the better preservation of the city’s built heritage.
Foster a wider appreciation of Regency architectural and social history.

To these ends we are working to provide visitors with a traditionally refurbished historic home, to offer a programme of events about the history and architectural heritage of Brighton and Hove, and to develop digital resources relating to life in the Regency period.

Each year we run a variety of courses aimed at providing building professionals and the occupants of historic buildings with a better understanding of the issues surrounding the conservation and upkeep of Georgian and Victorian property.

Their collections include the Bevan and Dewar family letters:

Provided to us by Patrick Baty, a descendant of the Bevan family, these letters give a fantastic insight into family life in the Regency period, covering topics from the everyday domestic, to war and the death of a child. Here we have reproduced the letters together with transcriptions undertaken by volunteers.

I happen to follow Patrick on Twitter, an historical paint consultant who has worked on many stately homes and historically significant properties, including Apsley House. Patrick also has a fantastic blog where you’ll find many articles of interest.

Our visit to the Regency Town House will provide our tour group with the rare opportunity to look behind the walls of a period home and to learn more about the preservation of historic properties.

You can watch a holiday “At Home” with the volunteers at the Regency Town House here in order to get an idea of the current state of the Town House.

To appreciate the enormity of the task ahead of the Regency Town House group, you can watch this clip from one of my favourtie shows, Grand Designs, featuring the restoration of a Georgian Town House in London. (55 minutes)

YOU’LL FIND FULL ITINERARY AND DETAILS OF

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TOUR HERE

IN THE GARDEN WITH KRISTINE

You may remember a previous post I did about the burrowing owl who had taken up residence on our front porch a few years ago, which you can read here.

This year, a pair of Northern Mockingbirds took up residence and constructed a nest in the shrubbery beside our driveway. Hubby and I kept an eye on the pair, fascinated as they built the nest and, soon after, deposited three, small, blue, speckled eggs within.

Every so often, we’d stand on tiptoe and peer down into the nest to see if any progress had been made. Before long, Hubby reported that two of the eggs had hatched. Did I want to go see the babies? No, I told him. I didn’t want to do anything that might spook the parents away from the nest.

Next day, Hubby reported that he thought one of the babies had died. This did prompt me to peek into the nest. One of the babies – pink and featherless, was moving slightly. The second bird simply lay there in the nest, unmoving.

Hhhhmmm. I told Hubby to leave the nest alone; that maybe something was wrong with the baby bird and that the parents would deal with it as nature dictated, but that we shouldn’t interfere with it.

Two days later, I dared to peek at the nest again and this is what I saw – two healthy baby birds. Now with feathers. And hungry, opened mouths. The bird we’d thought was ill or dead had apparently simply been sleeping. Joy!

We continued to peek at the babies over the next few days, until one day I looked, only to find that there was just one baby bird in the nest. Had the second fallen out? Fallen victim to prey? Panic set in until a movement caught my eye and I realized that the second bird had already left the nest and was sitting on a branch within the shrubbery.

By the time we checked in the next day, the babies were both venturing out of the nest, and out of the shrubbery, ready to greet the big, wide world as their parents watched from the telephone wire above.

Spring has indeed sprung – enjoy!

AND FROM ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB . . . . .

Here’s another round-up of interesting posts we’ve found from elsewhere on the web – enjoy!

Author Susanna Ives – 1819 Play Bills from the Theatre Royal
Ian Visits – The secret tube ticket that only works at one stop.
Shannon Selin – Imagining the Bounds of History – Napoleon’s Mother, Letizia Bonaparte
The Telegraph – Lollipop lady’s garden shed named national treasure
London Small Historic Houses – Bricks: The Building Blocks of London
Historical Hussies – Regency Pistols and Duels
The Week – The Fascinating Linguistic Legacy of the Crimean War

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TOUR – VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS – PART 6

THE ROYAL PAVILION, BRIGHTON

The Brighton Pavilion was built as the Prince Regent’s seaside retreat and with it’s exotic appearance and over-the-top architecture, the fanciful structure has brought many to open-mouthed astonishment, including the Duke of Wellington. Thankfully, Princess Lieven took the time to record the Duke’s reaction to his first visit to the Prince’s pleasure palace:

Brighton, January 26, 1822

I wish you were here to laugh. You cannot imagine how astonished the Duke of Wellington is. He had not been here before, and I thoroughly enjoy noting the kind of remark and the kind of surprise that the whole household evokes in a new-comer. I do not believe that, since the days of Heliogabalus, there have been such magnificence and such luxury. There is something effeminate in it which is disgusting. One spends the evening half-lying on cushions; the lights are dazzling; there are perfumes, music, liquers – “Devil take me, I think I must have got into bad company.” You can guess who said that, and the tone in which it was said. Here is one single detail about the establishment. To light the three rooms, used when the family is alone, costs 150 guineas an evening; when the apartment is fully opened up, it is double that.

What were your impressions of the Pavilion? If you haven’t been to the Pavilion yet, or if you’d like to virtually visit once again,here are a few videos that will be of interest.

You can join Lucy Worsley on a tour of the Pavilion from the series The Regency Brand here.

Take another tour of the Pavilion, complete with historic recipes, with the Royal Upstairs Downstairs team here.

Watch a short video about George IV’s secret tunnel at the Pavilion here.

Did you know that the Pavilion’s kitchens were transformed into an operating theatre during WWI?

You can find more about the Brighton Pavilion on the website is here.

COMPLETE ITINERARY AND DETAILS FOR THE

DUKE OF WELLINGTON TOUR HERE

YEAR OF THE GEORGES AT HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES

Victoria here. 2014 marks several significant historical anniversaries. One hundred years ago, the world became embroiled in the Great War, known nowadays as World War I. Two hundred years ago the Allies triumphed over Napoleon, sent him into exile on Elba, then celebrated their grand victory with a series of London extravaganzas before settling into the Congress of Vienna where they argued over the fate of a non-Napoleonic Europe.

Kensington Palace

Three hundred years ago in 1714, the Hanoverians became Kings of England, when King George I took the throne left vacant by the death of Queen Anne (1665-1714) in August 1714. Anne’s several children had predeceased her and at her death, Great Britain was left without a successor as monarch. A few years earlier, after the death of her one child who lived to the age of eleven (William, Duke of Gloucester, 1689-1700), the English Parliament struggled to find a successor to the Queen, a successor who would not restore Roman Catholicism. The Act of Settlement of 1701 gave the crown, assuming no further children were born to Anne, to Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and her Protestant descendants. She was a granddaughter of James I, and though dozens of Catholic family members had closer ties to Anne, all but Protestants were precluded from the succession. Sophia, the Electress, had died just two months before Queen Anne’s passing; thus, her eldest son was Elector and became British King.

Studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller, George I, c. 1714

Georg Ludwig (1660-1727) was 54, the Elector of Hanover, when he became the King of Great Britain and Ireland. George had married Sophia Dorothea of Celle in 1682. The marriage, though it resulted in two children, was never happy. When he came to London to receive the British crown, Sophia remained behind in Germany, more or less a prisoner. for the rest of her life. When George I was crowned in Westminster Abbey in October, 1714, there was widespread rioting in opposition to his rule.

However, the politically powerful, mainly the Whigs, kept him in power, even though he never learned to speak English. During his reign, Sir Robert Walpole, first real prime minister, truly ran the government. Many historians see George I’s time as big jump in shift of power from the crown to Parliament.

Thomas Hudson: George II, 1744

George II succeeded his father in October, 1727, as the last King of Britain born elsewhere; he also had the distinction of being the last British king to lead his armies in battle during the War of Austrian Succession 1743. He’d had a contentious relationship with his father, and the same could be said of his dealings with his son and heir, Prince Frederick. But Frederick died before his father and thus the third Hanoverian to wear the British crown was George II’s grandson George III, who succeeded in 1760 at the age of 22.

Allan Ramsay, George III, 1762

This year, Historic Royal Palaces celebrate the Hanoverians at three of their popular sites. At Hampton Court, events will center around George I and his reign. You’ll meet the Court of George II at the newly renovated Kensington Palace, soon also to be the home of the latest George, Prince George of Cambridge, and his parents Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Her Grace, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. Kew Palace in Kew Gardens will host events centering on the family of George III, the first of the Hanoverian kings actually to be born in England.

Hampton Court Palace

There will be a large number of events at all three locations, from scholarly meetings to family activities. Learn more here.

Join our blogger pal Madame Guillotine as she learns about the Glorious Georges here.

The Queen’s Gallery

Until October 2014, the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace is presenting an exhibition of treasures from the Royal Collection: The 1st Georgians: Art & Monarchy 1714-1760. Click here for more information.