"Oh my goodness, Baron Muncaster!" I exclaimed - perhaps rather too loudly, as everyone in the room turned to look at me!
"Baron Muncaster? asked my youngest.
"Yes, you know, Baron Muncaster!"
"Errr, no! I've heard of lots of other Barons, and Lords, and Counts, and Earls ... but not Baron Muncaster!"
"If I have then you must have!" I replied. "I was hoping you'd be able to help me, because although it rings loud bells in my head, I can't remember why!"
We were standing in the middle of an exhibition at Blenheim Palace featuring the life, work and words of Sir Winston Churchill, and as is my habit I was avidly reading the detailed information boards, when I came across mention of this baronetcy, which made me squeal. The name sounded so familiar, but wasn't one that cropped up often. Other exhibition visitors were, of course, quietly looking around, absorbing the astonishing history that was being presented, and I'd invoked their displeasure, somewhat, with my obvious excitement.
The youngest seems to have an appetite for, and an understanding of the ranks of the nobility, and regularly has his nose in Debrett's Peerage. He's also done the family tree and established his distant relationship with Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer (very distant - 4th cousin 1x removed of husband of 5th cousin 3x removed!) so when I mention specifically named persons in the ranks of the peerage, he can usually tell me exactly who they are and how they got their rank. But not this time!
It took me a while, and a lot of wracking of my brain, but I finally got there, and realised why the name meant something to me, but not to my youngest - there was a Loughborough connection, and I was kicking myself for not getting there sooner! Here's an extract from "Secret Loughborough" which mentions Baron Muncaster:
"...in 1902 ...Burleigh Hall became the home of the Honourable Alan Joseph Pennington, son of the 3rd Baron Muncaster."
So, my memory was right - it just took rather a long time to get there!!
There were quite a number of other things I saw that reminded me of Loughborough. One of which was the statue honouring the 1st Earl of Marlborough, called the Column of Victory, which took me to Nelson's Column in London, designed by the architect William Railton, which then reminded me of the many Leicestershire buildings that Railton designed - like St Paul's Church in Woodhouse Eaves, and the lodges on the Garendon Estate.
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| Column of Victory |
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| Column of Victory |
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| Column of Victory |
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| Column of Victory |
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| Nelson's Column by William Railton |
In the library having oooohed and ahhhed over the books, I then found myself peering at the tiny black radiators! Of course, the chances of them being made by Messengers was low, and indeed, I didn't manage to find any indication of the makers.
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| A short, low radiator |
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| A long, low radiator (showing scale!) |
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| A long, low radiator |
Also in the library was rather a shocker!!! An organ!! Maybe not the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a library? It was absolutely beautiful, and it was great to hear that it was in regular use. This wasn't the only organ, however, and as one would expect, the other one being in the Chapel. What was surprising though, was how tiny the chapel organ was!! These organs reminded me of our All Saints with Holy Trinity church, and in particular the series of organ concerts they hold every Sunday in August.
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| The organ in the library |
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| The organ in the library |
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| The organ in the library |
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| The organ in the library |
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| The organ in the chapel |
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| The organ in the chapel (showing scale!) |
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| The organ in the chapel |
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| Introducing the organist at All Saints |
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| The organist in action at All Saints |
And, finally, Ladybird Books - well, an offshoot, at least - appeared, taking me right back to my childhood and the exhibition currently on at New Walk Museum, Leicester.
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| Ladybird products |
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Lynne
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