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The History of Greys Court by Jo Manning

GREYS COURT, AN UNUSUALLY BEAUTIFUL NATIONAL TRUST SITE NEAR HENLEY-UPON-THAMES

On my latest visit to London this past spring, my daughter suggested that we go to Greys Court, a National Trust house she’d been curious about but had never visited. The original buildings on the site dated from before the 12^th-century and there was a famous garden; it was in the foothills of the Chilterns, outside of Henley-on-Thames (where I’d never been) and we could explore that town as well. We’d picnic on the extensive grassy grounds overlooking the house and have tea later in the Tea Room located in the Cromwellian Stables.

(Yes, I know, looking at the photo above – that is certainly not a medieval building! – but the rest of the surrounding buildings – erected over at least 600 years — are decidedly from the early medieval period and these very well evoke for the visitor those days of yore.)

This site is mentioned in the 11^th century Domesday Book as Redrefield (Rotherfield). The owners were the de Grey family, barons who fought with their kings at Crecy, Bosworth, in the Scottish wars, and in the Hundred Years War with France. The most famous of the de Greys was John de Grey, a professional soldier who became one of the original Knights of the Garter. After the Battle of Crecy 1346 he was given a license to crenellate Rotherfield, i.e., fortifying it by providing the walls with battlements.

Upon the death of his grand-daughter, Alice, in 1455, the lands passed to the crown. Henry VII awarded it first to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, then, in 1514, Robert Knollys received the property “for the annual rent of a Red Rose at Midsummer”. Robert Knollys’ son, Francis Knollys, a good friend of King Henry VIII, became the next owner of these lands. (His wife was first cousin to Queen Elizabeth I through her mother’s family, the Boleyns.)

A view from the Knot Garden up to the Great Tower

Francis Knollys was a firm and committed Protestant and a lifelong confidante to his queen. He was treasurer of the royal household for almost 25 years and also oversaw Mary, Queen of Scots, in her captivity. He died in 1596.The tombs of the Knollys family are alongside those of the de Greys in Rotherfield Greys Church.

Greys Court c1600 copyright National Trust

Francis Knollys was responsible for the original structure that is the present house, which is basically a handsome Jacobean structure; some additions to the house were carried on by his son, William, who became Earl of Banbury in 1626. (One of the delightful Tudor additions is a donkey wheelhouse with a 200 foot well! Odds are that this is something few visitors – and I include myself – have never seen the likes of before J It’s amazing.)
After being passed on to several other members of the Knollys family, it was sold to William Paul, whose daughter married the Baronet William Stapleton in 1724. Greys Court remained in the Stapleton family for over 200 years before being sold in 1935.
Under the ownership of the Stapletons, the property was made up of some 8,000 acres of woodland, parkland, and farmland. They incorporated stone from the several medieval buildings on site to further enlarge the house, but today the entire estate comprises only 300 acres, a far cry from the original expansive holdings.

Those marvelous wisteria trellises, with bluebells beneath

What sets Greys Court apart from other stately homes is that it is not a very large house. It strikes one as a house in which one could live an almost-normal family life. It is homey, and the gardens add much to its charm, set as they are amongst medieval ruins such as the Great Tower and the picturesque crumbling walls.

The gardens are rife with rambling, oh-so-fragrant old-fashioned roses and those old walls are draped with wisteria. (The wisteria is also trained over a stunning number of trellises, making quite a beautiful sight.) There’s a clean, clear pond nestled near the Great Tower in which all sorts of tiny swimming wildlife like newts and tadpoles can be seen and enjoyed. Children particularly enjoy the tower and the pond and threading their way through a modern garden maze (commissioned in 1981 in honor of Archbishop Runcie), and under the wisteria trellises. There’s a 19^th century icehouse and the faint foundations of medieval gatehouses and other long-gone walls can be seen traced on the earth.

Part Two tomorrow!

The Royal Wedding – Another View

Check out the Boy Meets Fashion blog to see “on the ground” photos of the Royal Wedding Day – up close and personal views of how Londoner’s celebrated the day.

Travels with Victoria: Trooping the Colour 2011

Trooping the Colour is held each June in celebration of the Queen’s birthday (her actual birthday is April 21) and is a well-loved pageant. On Saturday, June 11, 2011, I could not resist going to the Mall to watch the procession of troops, bands, cavalry and royal carriages from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards and back.

First to patrol the processional route were the police who stood every few yards with their automatic machine guns near the red-coated guards. The difference is that the soldiers, in their bearskin hats, had to remain at attention, or parade rest, while the police were far more casual.

Inspection

Keeping an eye out for trouble

Today’s ceremony Trooping the Colour has evolved from the ancient practice of assembling the soldiers before the battle and displaying the flag around which they are to rally in the midst of noise, confusion, smoke, flying shot and cannonballs in the battlefield. Each Trooping of the Colour displays for the Queen and assembled guests, as well as the massed military, a particular flag. On June 11, 2011, the colour trooped was the battle flag of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards.

Leading the march down the Mall were the Irish Guards, here with their Irish Wolfhound mascot ahead of the troops.

First of many bands.

The Irish Guards can be identified by the blue plumes on their hats and by the arrangement of buttons on their tunics.

Band of the Irish Guards

The Coldstream Guards

Band of the Scots Guards

In this carriage: the Duchess of Cornwall in the big white hat, almost blocking the view of the
Duchess of Cambridge; across from them are Prince Harry, on the left and the Duke of York.

Above, a photo of the Duchess of Cambridge from the British Royals website.

In addition to Foot Guards, the Household Cavalry was well represented; Above, members of the Life Guards.

I love the drummers in the mounted bands; the horse’s reins are attached to the stirrups so the rider can beat the time. See also the photo below.

The mounted band of the Household Cavalry.

The Queen and Prince Philip, in his uniform as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, ride in the carriage.

Behind the Queen’s Carriage are, l-r, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, in the uniform of Colonel of the Irish Guards; Prince Charles, Colonel of the Welsh guards; the Duke of Kent, Colonel of the Scots Guards; and Anne, Princess Royal, Colonel of the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals.

Here’s a closer shot of the Queen’s escort from the Daily Mail.

Finally, the Blues and Royals, in their blue tunics with red plumes, part of the Household Cavalry.

It was a magnificent parade; All the military and the Royals, along with hundreds of invited guests, were massed at Horse Guards Parade where the ceremony went on for just over an hour. While they were going through their paces, I left the crowd lining the Mall, most of whom were waiting for the return parade back to Buckingham Palace. But — not having a lot of Saturdays to spend in London — I decided not to wait but to explore further. Next, Marlborough House.

Trembleuse Cups and Saucers

Recently, I was watching the British version of Antiques Roadshow and saw an example of a Trembleuse cup and saucer being appraised. I had never heard of these items and it fascinated me. Which prompted me to think that they would, perhaps, fascinate you, too, so I decided to share a few of these gorgeous pieces.
Trembleuse cups and saucers were specifically designed for a person who suffered from the trembles and were virtually “spillproof.” The example above was made by Royal Worcester and is marked with a date symbol for the year 1882. It is printed under the glaze in a beautiful rich blue and decorated with gold trim. The cup has a molded handle. Note both the deep inset of the saucer in which the cup firmly rests and the saucer’s very wide border, all of which was designed to avoid spilling of the hot liquid by a trembling hand.

In the 1700s, this double-handled cup pictured above would probably have been used to serve coffee or hot chocolate. Following the Chinese and Japanese custom, Europeans in the 1700s usually drank tea from small handless bowls.

Cups made at the Du Paquier porcelain manufactory were tall, higher than they were wide, and could be unstable. For this reason, the factory developed a trembleuse (literally “trembling”) form, in which a raised ring or basket on the saucer held the cup in place and prevented spillage caused by a shaky hand.

Porcelain painters often imitated engravings with black enamel decoration known as schwarzlot; this decoration was typical of the Du Paquier factory.

Circa 1775 Copyright The Lessing Photo Archive

Royal Worcester 1878 – Copyright Trocadero.com

19th century cranberry glass copyright Miller’s Antiques

It seems to me that a Trembleuse is exactly what poor Liz needed whenever she went for coffee at her neighbor, Hyacinth Bucket’s house! (That’s Bouquet) By the bye, the pair of cups and saucers on Antiques Roadshow were valued at five thousand pounds.

Travels with Victoria: A Visit to Strawberry Hill

Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was the epitome of the 18th century man: author, collector, designer and architect, politician, diarist, raconteur — you know, the best of those “sees all, knows all, tells all” fellows. His Strawberry Hill gothic fantasy in Twickenham (website here) has received a major renovation and is open to the public; from central London, it’s a short train ride and brief walk.

One of Walpole’s accomplishments was the “invention” of the neo-Gothic movement, or Gothic Revival, in architecture, interior design, and literature. As the youngest son of Prime Minister Robert Walpole, he enjoyed a typical upper class childhood, attended Eton and Cambridge, took a Grand Tour, and entered Parliament while still in his 20’s. Horace Walpole collected old glass, books, art and almost any sort of object from early England, and he was fascinated with Gothic architecture.

Walpole acquired the house on this property in the 1740’s and set about remodeling and adapting it for the next several decades. He continued his collecting of artifacts to adorn the rooms and it became the object of many visitors to tour the premises, so many that he complained about their invasion of his privacy. But before the intrusions got so bad, he had another “invention” up his sleeve. In 1765 he published The Castle of Otrano, first in a continuing tradition of “Gothick” literature, popular even today in various forms.

Having no direct heirs, and being the last of the Earls of Orford, he left the house to his friend, sculptress and society leader Anne Damer. Later it fell into disrepair, was sold and the collections dispersed. For the last decades, it has been a part of St. Mary’s University College. The Strawberry Hill Trust secured £9 million for the restoration project, which opened in October, 2010.

Above, a window, showing how Walpole incorporated his collection of Renaissance and older glass into his modern 18th century windows. Last year, in 2010, I was fortunate enough to visit the wonderful exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London: Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill. The exhibition, also shown at the Yale Center for British Art, reassembled many of the objects Walpole have collected but which were dispersed in a multi-day sale in 1842. Below, a cabinet of miniatures and enamels made for Walpole and now owned by the V&A. Inside, it was full of his treasures.

Most of these objects and much of the interior furnishings remain in other collections, both private and in museums, but gradually the Trust hopes to secure some loans and gifts of the originals. For the time being, while the renovations continue, the rooms are empty.

Above, the library in 2011; below, the library as Walpole enjoyed it.

There are, however, some amenities: the gift shop and the restaurant, both of which enjoyed our custom. Due to the nature of the building, it is necessary to book visits in advance or risk a long wait. In 1784,Walpole wrote a guide to Strawberry Hill. A reproduction of this guide is given to each visitor. Walpole wrote: “In truth, I did not mean to make my house so Gothic as to exclude convenience, and modern refinements in luxury…It was built to please my own taste, and in sole degree to realize my own vision.”

The staircase from below and from above. From Walpole’s 1784 guide: “In the well of the staircase, by a cord of black and yellow, hangs a Gothic lantern of tin japanned, designed by Mr. Bentley and filled with painted glass…”

Below, I have arranged my photos in groups of architectural features. If you’d rather see each room, one by one, click here. More of the windows, incorporating Walpole’s colorful collections of glass:

Also of note are the various designs for fireplaces.

The Great Parlor

The Blue Bed Chamber

The Holbein Chamber

The Gallery

The ceilings were brilliantly executed – and restored.

The Library

The Gallery, with a fan-vault ceiling inspired by Westminster Abbey’s King Henry VII chapel, is brilliant; in the restoration, the papier mache forms were refreshed and regilded.

Finally, a few shots of the exterior. The garden is being re-developed, and it has a way to go. The white canvas at the lower right was part of a tent used for a party the previous evening and in the process of removal.

The roof.

We searched for a while before a kind St. Mary’s faculty member directed us to the chapel, now hidden beyond a car park. The design is based on the tomb of Edmund Audley, bishop of Salisbury in the Cathedral there.