Bells, fountains and courtyards

Before I was reminded about my 3rd blogging anniversary I was telling you about some of the connections I made with Loughborough whilst I was on holiday: I know I didn't get very far, and the moment has now passed, but last week we visited Chatsworth House. I admit I was a little disappointed that I saw no more of the artefacts and the building than I did the last time I visited, which was one Christmas when the Alice in Wonderland display was on. 

I hadn't realised that Chatsworth also hosts a regular exhibition for most of the year, and this year it was called House Style. The exhibition covered five centuries of fashion focussed on events and visitors to Chatsworth. It was all quite imaginative, but I found it very dark and hard to see the displays properly, and read the associated information.

That said, we had a great time, and spent about six hours there altogether. There were a number of things that struck me on this visit: 

The last time we came there was a very poignant exhibition about WW1 in a couple of rooms on the side: in those rooms this year, to chime with the fashion exhibition, there was an opportunity for children and adults alike to try on a variety of different hats, and take photos to post on social media under the #hatsworth hook!

As we walked around I couldn't help noticing the courtyard. This reminded me so much of a recent visit I made to the Ramada Loughborough, on High Street, when I discovered the beautiful little courtyard area, which was open to the public for afternoon tea. I was so enchanted at the book launch I went to, that I took the other half there for a chillaxed drink and an attempt at doing the crossword! There was a very helpful guide at Chatsworth who told us about the annual sculpture auctions they have and he pointed out the one in the courtyard which will be leaving soon. It was a bell in a stone fountain with a hare leaping over the top!

The courtyard and fountain at Chatsworth

The courtyard at Chatsworth

The courtyard and fountain at the Ramada Loughborough

The courtyard at the Ramada Loughborough

I also spotted some lace -albeit Venetian - in one of the display cabinets, and this reminded me of Heathcoat and Boden's lace factory on what was Mill Street, and is now Market Street.

Another thing that reminded me of Loughborough was the huge fountain in the huge pond!!! Rather like the ones in Queen's Park, although ours are naturally somewhat smaller! At Chatsworth the sun was shining, and we were lucky enough to spot a rainbow around the fountain. If you see me in Queen's Park one day, just sitting staring at the sky and the fountain, you'll know I'm waiting to see a rainbow!

One of the main features of the exhibition were the costumes worn to the fancy dress ball of the century in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Guests included Col. and Mrs Arthur Paget: not our Arthur Paget, engineer, inventor and maker of hosiery, who lived with his wife Rose, their eight children and five servants, in Radmoor House! Of course, the Duchess of Devonshire attended her own ball, and she was dressed in an elaborate costume representing Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, which reminded me of the Loughborough perfume!

Radmoor House, the home of Loughborough's Arthur Paget and family

Duchess of Devonshire's Zenobia costume

Artefacts at the Old Rectory Museum

Then there was the helmet for the Derbyshire Yeomanry, which reminded me of the Leicestershire Yeomanry museum in the Carillon Tower.

And finally the conservatory, probably built by Messengers, but any large conservatory could have been built by them!

Well, that's all for today! See you next week.
  

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Bells, fountains and courtyards. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/08/bells-fountains-and-courtyards.html [Accessed 13 August 2017]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Bradgate Park

Last week I mentioned Lady Jane Grey, so this week I thought I'd tell you about the recent meeting of the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society (let's call it LAHS, for short!).

It was the first meeting of the Winter season, and the talk was delivered by Peter Liddle, former County Archaeologist, who over the last two years has been helping out on the dig at Bradgate Park. If you've been to Bradgate recently, you may well have seen the dig in action. Peter explained that permission to investigate, via an archaeological dig, has been granted for five years. This may seem like a long time, but Bradgate is big so they will be making carefully considered choices over where to concentrate their efforts, in order to find the most evidence!

One of the parts of the dig had proved extremely fruitful, yielding flint tools, the likes of which are found only in a few places in the UK (called Cheddar and Creswellian flint). There are some better pictures over on the Creswell Crags website. These finds are likely to be from the Palaeolithic era (about 12,000 years ago). 

Selection of flint tools in the Visitor's Centre

Another dig has taken place next to the house, where more flint has been found. Other important revelations during this dig has been the discovery of the foundations of a building, perhaps a park lodge. A quantity of slate, and some ridge tiling has also been found.

Suggestions that the area behind the house was previously a tilt yard, an enclosed courtyard used for jousting, have been disproved, and the area was almost certainly a traditional, formal garden.   

There's a fuller account of the digs than I can give on this blog over on the Leicester Mercury website.

Some more information about this year's dig and the flint that was found.

Information from ITV news on the dig

The project also has a presence on facebook.

If you want to know more about the history of Bradgate, pop along to the Visitor Centre in the middle of the park, where there also a cafe in the Old Deer Barn. The history of the park, and this one of the earliest Tudor houses in the county and the sole remaining enclosed deer park in the East Midlands, is laid out on information boards, some of which have been summarised in a small booklet which is available to purchase. The ruins of the house is also open to the public at specified times. Alongside this is the chapel which, as well as several information boards, also houses the alabaster effigies of Henry and Anne Grey.

I took a visit to Bradgate the other day, so here are some photos of my trip:

The approach to the house

The site of the formal gardens

A view of the Leicestershire Yeomanry Memorial

  

Enjoy your visit to Bradgate!

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2016). Bradgate Park. [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/bradgate-park.html [Accessed 9 October 2016]

  

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse ...

“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse …”

And so said Richard III in Shakepeare’s play, after he is unhorsed and reaching the climax of the Battle of Bosworth. We all know what happened next, but this is not the subject of this blog post. Let’s turn instead to the topic of horses!

Horses have been in the local news a lot recently, when campaigners signed an online petition to have about 20 horses that were being kept in a field near Fosse Park, moved to somewhere more suitable.

Horses were also in the news back in 2011 when a film called “War Horse” was released. This film showed what life was like for horses during the first World War, and to be honest I hadn’t really given it much thought before that. I studied WW1 for my O level history, but I’ve got so used to thinking of war using tanks, guns, and bombs that I’d forgotten that horses would have played a huge part in WW1.

However, it wasn’t until about a year ago that I learned, courtesy of one of my guiding colleagues, that Loughborough had its very own warhorse, and that there was information on him in the Carillon Museum. Now, since that time I haven’t managed to make it into the Carillon, so I’ve been digging around in my local history books, and on the internet and managed to find the following interesting stuff about Songster. [Editor's note: I have, of course, since worked at the Carillon Tower and War Memorial!]

Songster appears to have been born in about 1900 and he was chestnut horse, which could mean he was anything from a very light brown colour to an almost black colour. Apparently, chestnut horses don’t have any black hairs, but their skin is black, and their eyes dark brown.

Despite originally not being accepted for war service because he was too old, in 1914, Songster was mobilised along with other horses, and assembled in the Market Place, along with members of the Leicestershire Yeomanry. From the look of the pictures I’ve seen, the event filled the Market Place with soldiers and horses, although it’s not possible to identify Songster specifically.

Luckily, he survived the war and came back to live at West Beacon Farm at Woodhouse Eaves, having been purchased at auction by Bert Main, the man who rode him during the war, thus narrowly missing being sold to a butcher, or as a beast of burden to the Middle East. Along with Songster, Bert Main also bought another war horse from the Leicestershire Yeomanry, Fenian, and the two horses lived together, until Fenian died. 

One of the stories about Songster that appeals to me most, is the one about him showing off and walking up the stairs in the Old Boot Hotel, parading round the room, and then walking back downstairs again. Apparently, his hoof marks were visible on the brass stair rods! What a pity the Old Boot  is no longer there. If I’ve got it right, it was next to Town Hall Passage, and is where Santander is, and where Jessops was (or Baker’s Oven if we’re going back a bit!).

Songster himself died in 1940 and was buried on the farm, along with his medals, and there is a small memorial to him. There is an obituary in The Times (you may have to prompt this link a little bit - didn’t seem to want to open properly on my pc, but it is definitely there).

Since then, in May 2013, the TA named one of their Land Rovers after Songster, and there’s a bit more explanation on the Leicester Mercury website.

For a bit more background on the use of horses during times of war there’s a good resource available.

Replica Songster in Loughborough Carillon

For a more detailed account of Songster’s life, have a look at the Carillon Museum’s facebook page, especially the article on Songster. Also, why not visit the museum and see what Songster may have looked like and what he would have faced during the war. The museum is situated in Queen’s Park, Loughborough, and is usually open from Good Friday, but is closed during the winter season.  

A full account of Songster’s life, with copious pictures, appears on the Leicestershire Yeomanry website.

There’s an article in the Leicester Mercury following the release of the film War Horse (the video isn’t showing on my pc, but there is some information further down the page).



PS Can you imagine my surprise yesterday, having written this blog post in advance, knowing that I wouldn’t have much time today, when I went to Southampton, to see "War Horse" on those AA signs! It seems that there was a touring National theatre production of War Horse taking place in the Mayflower Theatre! Rather coincidental since this was the topic of my blog post, and the touring play was only going to about half-a-dozen places!!

Anyway, it may also surprise you to learn that there is a local connection to a very famous horse called Fox Hunter, and that there is another local horse who is also famous. But, I must leave you now and hope to tell you about this in a later post!