Wonderful Winter Lights

Today is the last day of Anglesey Abbey’s wonderful Winter Lights presentation. The event has sold out, and has received a huge amount of praise for its creative reinterpretation of the gardens and outdoors areas of this important Cambridgeshire house.

I volunteered there this weekend, and was lucky enough to be posted to the grove of silver birches at the end of the Winter Walk. These are definitely a highlight for many, with the normally brilliant white bark of the slender trees illuminated by a psychedelic array of luminous colours.

Beyond the silver birches was the Paddock, where guests could enjoy refreshments and a shadow puppet show. Further beyond, the mill was dramatically lit, and a jazz band entertained visitors outside the house. Day-glo dancers performed on the route, creating amazing light effects as they did so.

All in all, it’s a great example of creative thinking. A really simple idea, helping visitors to see Anglesey Abbey in a whole new light (literally) while also offering a Christmas experience with a difference.

Wimpole, the other side of Cambridge, has also been creative this year with its Wimpole Wrapped show – where parts of the house and estate are wrapped up with ribbon, in part necessitated by the conservation work underway there. Elsewhere, other places in the East are offering all sorts of Christmas treats, including a 1940s weekend at Felbrigg and festive shows at Blickling, Peckover and Oxburgh. More details can be found on the East of England National Trust webpages.

Uncovered at Sheringham

The National Trust’s Uncovered festival takes place over successive weekends in September and October, and explores the hidden secrets of Britain’s landscapes.

The festival offers visitors the chance to hear from experts about the work involved in managing landscapes of all kinds, from country house estates to woodlands to farms, coasts and mountains.

The East of England region of the National Trust is hosting three of the seven weekends –testament to the complexity and beauty of the landscapes of this part of the country. On 5/6 October, visitors will be able to hear about how the Trust manages its land at Wimpole, one of the very few National Trust farms that is managed in hand. The following weekend offers a rare chance to take an in-depth look at Northey Island in Essex, a tidal island off the coast near Maldon which was among the earliest places where coastal realignment policies have started to be pursued in the face of rising sea levels.

The point of these events is that they speak to the many different facets of landscape. Landscape is simultaneously natural and human-made. All landscapes speak to the history and development of society, communities and economies, and carry different sorts of cultural significance as a consequence.

The 1812 Repton exhibition at Sheringham

This point was emphasised most emphatically at the Sheringham uncovered weekend last weekend. Here, the focus was on trees and woods in the landscape, but it was impossible to ignore the huge cultural resonance that woodlands have. Humphry Repton, who laid out a plan for the creation of Sheringham Park in his Red Book of 1812, was very aware of this. He contrasted fast-growing pines with the ancient oaks of England, as a commentary on the way new money was crowding out the landed aristocracy in the early decades of the 19^th century.

Repton’s plan for Sheringham incorporated many of the older features of the woody landscape there. At the same time, he was making a landscape for the future, for the young couple (the Upchers) whose patronage he had secured and in whom he vested his hopes for the future of the landscape and of society more generally.

Steve Daniels and Lucy Veale at Uncovered, Sheringham September 2013

Appropriately, therefore, our Uncovered weekend featured both a presentation on Repton’s designs (from Stephen Daniels and Lucy Veale of the University of Nottingham), as well as bringing the story up to date with nature conservationists from today’s Trust, talking about the challenges and threats facing our woodlands.

It was a very entertaining mix of talks, walks and activities, and all who came saw Sheringham in a new light. It was the perfect complement therefore to the exhibition about Repton’s design at Sheringham, now enjoying its second year and still looking great. (Thanks to the AHRC for their support.)

Although we walked the estate with a copy of the Red Book, this was of course a facsimile. The original, usually held at the V&A, is currently on show at the Sainsbury Centre, UEA, as part of the Masterpieces of East Anglian Art exhibition. It’s reminder of just how culturally significant Sheringham continues to be.

Meetings with remarkable trees

I visited Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire for the first time last weekend, and was delighted to find both a beautiful area of woodland and a connection with the early commons preservation movement.

Burnham Beeches comprises 220 hectares of woods in South Buckinghamshire, 25 miles or so from London.  Its many miles of walks take visitors through areas of ancient woodlands, wood pasture, open spaces and heaths. The woods get their name from the many veteran beech pollards that provide such an amazing backdrop to an afternoon’s stroll, as well as habitats for wildlife (such as the red ants we saw in nests all over the place).

Curiously, perhaps, the place is owned and managed by the Corporation of the City of London. Why should the City of London concern itself with some woods so far from the City? One of the drives – Sir Henry Peek’s Drive – gives a clue as to what happened.

In 1879 the woods were put up for purchase, as ‘land suitable for the erection of superior residences’. The Commons Preservation Society and the Kyrle Society, which at the time were vocal defenders of open spaces, decided something needed to be done.

Since part of the wood was common land, the Corporation was invited to make use of the Open Spaces Act of 1878, which gave them the power to purchase such lands for the benefit of the public within a radius of 25 miles of London. The Corporation had no powers to purchase the remaining, enclosed areas, and were saved when the local MP Sir Henry Peek stepped in. He offered to buy the residual, non-commonable areas of Burnham Beeches, in order to donate them to the Corporation and re-unite the whole.

Sir Henry Peek was a well-known figure in the open spaces movement, and had been a big influence in the battle for Wimbledon Common in 1864, which had been the starting point for the Commons Preservation movement. One of the contributors to an essay competition sponsored by Sir Henry, on the theme of the protection of commons in metropolitan areas, was a young London lawyer called Robert Hunter. His essay was awarded a highly commended prize, and Hunter went on to be one of the country’s leading experts on the law of common land as well as one of the founders of the National Trust.

Sir Henry Peek, MP

Hunter was closely involved in the struggle to save Epping Forest from enclosure, another woodland saved by the Corporation at around the same time as it acquired Burnham Beeches.  Meanwhile, Octavia Hill, Treasurer of the Kyrle Society, viewed the Corporation’s acquisition of Burnham Beeches as a great success for the early open spaces movement.

 No mention is made of the Kyrle Society, or the Commons Preservation Society, in the visitor centre at Burnham Beeches. Nonetheless, the woods clearly have an important place in the story of the commons preservation movement, and indeed a strong connection to the founders of the National Trust.

Incidentally, the connection with Sir Henry Peek, son of one of the founders of Peek Freans, also provides the missing link between the commons preservation movement and the garibaldi biscuit....

 

The other remarkable tree I made a fond return visit to last weekend was the Ankerwycke Yew. A very special tree indeed, and one with an even older significance, as potentially the site where Magna Carta was sealed. Read more at the Ankerwycke NT blogsite here.

Sandling Holiday

I've just been taking some holiday in Suffolk, and have enjoyed getting to know more about the county's distinctive coastline. The whole area that stretches along the coast from the river Orwell in the south to the river Blyth in the north is known as the Sandlings, because of its distinctive light sandy soils.  One of my holiday reads was 'Sandlands' by Tom Williamson, which explains how the landscape came to look like it does today. Very little, it turns out, is at all 'natural' - most is the result of many centuries of human activity.

The most distinctive feature of the countryside nearest to where we were staying, in Blythburgh, were the saltmarshes and estuarine mudflats alongside the river Blyth. Between Blythburgh and Walberswick stretches land that is now mostly nature reserve, combining woodland, heathy commons, marshes and reed beds. As Tom explains, the saltmarshes that characterise the area are probably its most 'natural' feature, comprising areas of salt-tolerant grasses on silt deposits built up in estuaries or behind sandbanks. 

Much else that we see in the Sandlings today is entirely human in construction, from the grazing marshes created by artificially enclosing salt marshes and excluding the sea, to the vast expanses of heather-covered heaths that resulted from earlier periods of tree clearance and agriculture.

Blythburgh is characterised by its huge parish church, the ceiling of which is lined with twelve wooden angels, wings unfurled. Such a large church was indicative less of the wealth of the area, than of its piety. 

In a region so close to the sea, perhaps the people of the Sandlings had more reason than most to seek divine protection from forces beyond their control.  Certainly the sea has had an overwhelming influence on the landscape. Southward and Aldeburgh are now best known as tourist retreats, but were originally important ports, receiving coals from Newcastle and other goods from the continent and exporting down the coast to London. Smaller places, including Blythburgh, Walberswick and Dunwich were also trading ports. Such was the influence of the estuarine economy that Defoe described the area like this:

   "S'woul and Dunwich and Walberswick

    All go in at one lousy creek"

The creek behind our cottage at Blythburgh, once lively with trading vessels, is now a charming place to while away time, observing the changing water levels, the wildlife, and catching crabs in the shallow waters. We got there by walking down a very pleasant green lane, which turned out to be a disused railway line closed in the 1920s. 

So this delightfully green and tranquil corner of the Sandlands turns out to be a former transport interchange and port - evidence again of the impact of humans on the landscape.

We very much enjoyed spending time at Dunwich Heath. A novel way to explore the Heath is by having a go at Geocaching - a new hobby for us, but one that turns out to be great fun. We managed about seven geocache spots in the end, as well as catching sight of some red deer and the caterpillar of an elephant hawk moth. We also enjoyed a very refreshing cup of tea afterwards, and some delicious National Trust biscuits. 

Consulting the road atlas, it turned out that we had largely managed to confine ourselves to the same square on the map for the whole week - taking in Southwold, Walberswick, Dunwich and Blythburgh (with an excursion to Aldeburgh for the excellent carnival there). Amazing how much there is to see and do, just by exploring the landscape. 

Hunting Mr Hunter

Every second Sunday in August, the Octavia Hill Society pays homage to the memory of the subject of their organisation by taking a coach trip. Often the destination is Crockham in Kent, where Octavia Hill lived and indeed is buried. This year, however, the Society chose to devote their trip to Octavia Hill's colleague and fellow campaigner for open spaces (and co-founder of the National Trust), Sir Robert Hunter. 

The timing was far from accidental. While last year marked the centenary of the death of Octavia Hill in August 1912, this year marks a hundred years since Sir Robert Hunter died in November 1913. Hunter is a less well-known figure than Hill, perhaps in part because of the order in which they died. Had Hunter been the first to pass, one wonders if his role as the first Chairman of the National Trust, and indeed as the person who devised the legal concept of a trust to whole land and buildings for the benefit of the nation, might be better remembered. 

Our coach trip traced a journey from south London out to Haslemere in Surrey, where Hunter spent the last thirty years of his life and where he is buried. As it turns out, though, our journey was more or less entirely confined to the historical boundaries of Surrey. Before London had its modern-day boroughs, the county of Surrey stretched all the way to the Thames. It encompassed all that land south of the river, which is today in the boroughs of Lambeth, Wandsworth and Southwark. It's the reason why The Oval Cricket Ground is still today the home of Surrey Cricket Club. 

Our road trip on the hunt for Hunter began in Addington Square, Camberwell, where we were welcomed by a local historian and a party from the residents association, all keen to share their own knowledge of the Hunter family's time in the Square. Hunter was born here, in a relatively modest house in the corner of the Square. The family moved to a larger home a few doors down after Hunter's father returned from sea (he was a successful mariner).

From Camberwell we struck out to Wimbledon, via the south London commons of Clapham and Wandsworth. Clapham Common remains a popular open space, although its future seems never to have been under threat. The Common has always had its wealthy supporters, living in the large mansions that abut it on each of its sides.  Wandsworth Common, however, faced significant threats in the mid 19th century from those who would rather see it developed into housing and transport routes. The common is now bisected by train lines running in and out of Clapham Junction. 

This was the context in which Hunter himself first came to prominence. As a young lawyer he entered a prize competition for essays on the best protection for metropolitan commons. His essay was highly commended, and brought him to the attention the Commons Preservation Society, founded in 1865 to fight against the enclosure of London's commons. Hunter's intelligence and legal expertise led to him being appointed Solicitor to the CPS. There followed some 15 years of legal battles over some of the most famous open spaces around London: Wimbledon Common, Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest. 

We stopped at Wimbledon to admire the windmill in the middle of the common, and also to view items from the collection of the Wimbledon Society (including an edition of the essay that Hunter wrote in 1866). Already here a link to Octavia Hill emerged. Octavia's mother met her father, James Hill, while she was teaching in Wimbledon. The museum's collection includes reference to Hill being asked to campaign for the preservation of the remains of Wimbledon Park (in fact a private estate, where the lawn tennis club is now located).

Keeping once again to the A3 (which formed the backbone of our route for much of the day), we headed out of London to Hindhead in Surrey. Our journey took us through the Hindhead Tunnel, opened in 2011. A happy consequence of the tunnel's opening has been that the commons above it have been reunited. Trees are being felled in order to return the landscape to the open heath that it formerly resembled. 

Our final stop was at St Bartholomew's church in Haslemere. Hunter moved to the town in 1883 with his young family not long after he had been appointed as Solicitor to the General Post Office, a role he held until just before  his death in 1913. At the church we planted an Octavia Rose in the churchyard, a fitting tribute to Octavia's great colleague and fellow campaigner for open spaces Sir Robert Hunter. 

Life on the Brink

I was lucky enough to spend my weekend at 14 North Brink, Wisbech, the National Trust’s newest holiday cottage in the East of England region.

View from a bedroom, 14 North Brink

Entrance Hall, 14 North Brink

14 North Brink is located directly on one of the most important streets in the centre of Wisbech. It faces onto the river Nene, the town’s main trading channel to the Wash, and is the next door neighbour to Peckover House.

North Brink street view: Peckover House and 14 North Brink (from 19 North Brink)

Known as Wainman House, 14 North Brink was built in the 1720s for a wealthy merchant.  The project to conserve the property has involved extensive research, to ensure that the property reflects the later Georgian period when the house was in its heyday.

Dining Room, 14 North Brink

The dining room and drawing room are exceptionally well presented, making this experience a little like using a National Trust house for real. That, along with all the modern comforts that we expect today, make this a splendid proposition for a holiday cottage.

 

Bedroom, 14 North Brink

Wisbech is also well worth visiting. It happened to be the Rose Fair on the weekend we stayed, which meant that the town was buzzing with visitors to the decorated church.

 

Garden of Peckover House (next door to 14 North Brink)

I enjoyed finding out about the many ‘free thinkers’ and radicals that Wisbech has produced over the years. These include most notably the co-founder of the National Trust Octavia Hill, whose birthplace (now a great museum devoted to her life and work) can be seen from 14 North Brink, over the river.

 

Octavia Hill's Birthplace House, from 14 North Brink

As well as Octavia Hill, other progressive and free-thinking products of Wisbech included Thomas and John Clarkson, brothers who campaigned against slavery and the slave trade; William Godwin, the writer and novelist, who married Mary Wollstonecraft and was Mary Shelley’s father; and William Hazlitt, Unitarian minister and father of the essayist.

 

Statue outside Peckover's School room, 19 North Brink

In its day Wisbech was a thriving port and trading centre, and so many opinions must have flowed in and out with the tides on the Ouse (the Ouse later silted, and the Nene was diverted to provide Wisbech with its current channel to the sea). But why might this market town have produced such a tradition of radical and dissenting thinkers and activists?

 

Garden, Peckover House

Harry Jones, author of ‘Free-Thinkers and Trouble-Makers: Fenland Dissenters’ puts it down to the lack of central authority (being so far from London or any other cities), the independence of approach required in such a physically demanding environment (where floods and harsh winters were a fact of life) and the absence of landed gentry choosing to live in the area.

 

Drawing room, 14 North Brink

Whatever the reason, Wisbech has a fine tradition of free thinking, writing and action, personified in the story of Octavia Hill and her reformist parents James Hill and Caroline Southwood Smith.

 

Detail from newly commissioned carpets, 14 North Brink

The commitment to writing and education can be seen in the fine Library of the town’s museum, itself an expression of mid-19^th century civic pride, identity and confidence. There, I saw the manuscript copy of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, the story of a young boy (Pip) born in fairly bleak agricultural surroundings (the Kent marshes rather than the Fens), who falls into good fortune through the actions of a mysterious benefactor.  The story may well have appealed to many in Wisbech when it was first published!

As a treasured volume, it is surely only rivalled in Wisbech by the book that sits in the Library at Peckover house – a 900 year old copy of the  Parva Catechesis of Theodore Studites (759-826), transcribed in northern Greece in around 1100. This must surely be one of the oldest books in the National Trust’s collection, if not in any collection in the UK; it is a rare surviving fragment of the Library collection of Lord Peckover, sadly now dispersed. 

900 year old book at Peckover House

Conrad Noel at Paycocke's

I have blogged before about Conrad Noel, the ‘Red Vicar’ of Thaxted who was instrumental in establishing the Morris Ring there as part of his unique socialist vision. I was delighted to discover that before going to Thaxted Conrad Noel was also instrumental in the restoration of Paycocke’s in Essex.

Paycocke's, Essex

Paycocke’s is a charming Tudor house, on the main road in to Coggeshall, one of those lovely Essex villages tucked away off the busy A-roads. The house contains elements of earlier Medieval structures, but in its present form reflects three main periods.

First, the elaborate carvings dating from the time of Thomas Paycocke, a prosperous cloth merchant.

Paycocke's from the garden

Second, the period in the nineteenth century by when the house was split into three separate tenemented cottages.

Allotment patch at Paycocke's

And finally, the period from 1904 onwards when the house was restored by Lord Noel Buxton, a distant descendent of the original Paycocke family, who gifted it to the National Trust in 1924.

Conrad Noel at Paycocke's, c1904

What I did not know, until my visit, was that Conrad Noel, and his wife Miriam, lived in the house from 1904 to 1910, and were responsible for undertaking the restoration work for Lord Buxton. Conrad was a cousin of Lord Buxton.

Miriam Noel, in what is now the new coffee shop

Conrad Noel’s autobiography (1945) contains some atmospheric accounts of those early days of restoration:

'It had exciting disadvantages...we lived in an atmosphere of dust and white-wash and broken plaster’

'The cold was so intense that we sometimes sat over the fire in the hall with its wrought-iron basket and logs of wood surrounded by a tent of screens.'

 Curiously, Noel’s biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (you need a public library card to read this) fails to mention this 6-year period, which immediately preceded Conrad and Miriam’s move to Thaxted.

However, I should have guessed that Noel might have shared the same enthusiasms for historic renovation as the founders of the National Trust. Like Octavia Hill and Sir Robert Hunter, Noel was a keen follower of F.D. Maurice, the Christian Socialist. Similarly too, he was a devotee of the romantic vision of William Morris.

Unlike Hill, however, he firmly supported the early Independent Labour Party, and later the Socialist and Communist parties. He courted controversy at Thaxted when he hung the Sinn Féin flag, leading to the famous Battleof the Flags. Noel’s patron was Daisy, Countess of Warwick, the great socialist socialite who lived nearby at Easton Lodge.

Conrad Noel and daughter, Barbara

Conrad and Miriam had a daughter, Barbara, and I was pleased to find this picture of her at Paycocke’s. She married Jack Putterill, who succeeded his father-in-law as Vicar of Thaxted in 1942 until 1973. If anything, Jack was even more radical than Conrad, inviting his parishioners to pray for the recently deceased Stalin at the Sunday service in March 1953.