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Touring Castle Howard & Whitby
Sep. 7th, 2005 10:26 pm9/7 - 8:25pm UT
This morning, after going back and forth for forgotten camera and iPod, we picked up a Renault Modus at the car hire and headed out for Castle Howard. Between our lateness and the bad traffic we didn't arrive until almost 11am. We wandered through the rose gardens and there was a really lovely smelling pink rose called Wenlock English Rose which I should like to check the availability of for my own garden! Russell went back to the car for something and I wandered into the Castle shop. I bought myself a scarf. Yes, the Imelda Marcos of scarves strikes again. It is a red-green taffeta with a contrasting ruffle. It takes the place of an aviator scarf which I haven't had one of in awhile. I love it. So far it has gone with everything I've worn.
By the time we reached the entrance of the house there was a bottleneck of tourists as there were folks in the first two small rooms giving talks that left a bunch of us standing in a long hall with nothing much to look at. (Well, there were some architectural drawings but they didn't hold enough interest for the length of the queue. The castle is really huge -- on a scale bigger than I would like to live in. But they had some really lovely classical statuary. There was a special exhibition on the women of Castle Howard that gave information on various Countess Carlyles and their daughters. Evidently there has been a recent study of the household papers, accounts and diaries such that the women's lives can be better understood. The exhibit also talked a bit about the number of women working belowstairs though only two were actually named. Throughout the house tour there were life size silhoettes of serving women to remind one of their presence. In some periods there were 10 servants for every member of the family in residence.
After eating in the restaurant there we headed off to Whitby about 2pm. The traffic was terrible! We took the A64 to Scarborough and kept getting stuck behind slow trucks. Then we took the A171 up the coast and kept getting stuck behind farm vehicles. We always forget inbetween times how long it takes to get anywhere in England. *laugh* I asked for directions to a museum on Whitby jet at the information center and she said "across the bridge, second left". What this helpful advice concealed was that she was seeing me on foot and I was actually in a car. The two streets in question were both pedestrian areas and so we didn't count them as "streets". We ended up on the headland and the fellow taking tickets for the Abbey set us straight and we went back down the hill and parked and then walked along Church Street which has many jet shops. Each one had a carver who create the work shown! I had several interesting conversation and was steered up the hill to the Whitby Jet Heritage Center which is run by a fellow named Hal Redvers-Jones. Hal is a carver and used to have a shop like the others but about eight years ago a friend of his was doing renovations and found an intact jet studio from the 19th century in a boarded-up attic. Even the jacket of the last worker was still on a peg. Hal and his friend trasported the attic just as it was into a bottom floor and put up many posters with information written by Hal on the jet trade. Hal got a local historian, Alan Whitworth, to write "Whitby Jet: A Brief History" which he then published in 2005. He says his website http://www.whitbyjet.net hasn't been updated from his days as a jet shop and he hopes to do that soon. He still has a jet shop in the front of the premises and he does some of the best work I saw in town. In fact I went back and bought a pair of earrings that cost more than I really could afford but they were just that lovely and unique that I knew I would kick myself if I didn't buy them. When one comes thousands of miles to a place it is false economy not to buy the local product which isn't available at home at all. I'll have to take a picture and post it. :-)
From the wall of the Whitby Jet Heritage Center:
Lycia her jet in medicine commends;
But chiefest, that which distant Britain sends;
Black, light and polished, to itself draws
If warmed by friction near adjacent straws.
Though quenched by oil, its mouldering embers raise
Sprinkled by water; a still fiercer blaze;
It cures the dropsy, shakey teeth are fixed,
Washed with the powder'd stone in water mixed.
The female womb its piercing fumes relieve,
Nor epilepsy can this test deceive;
From its deep hole it lures the viper fell,
And chases away the powers of hell;
It heals the swelling plagues that gnaw the heart,
And baffles speels and magic's noxious art.
This by the wise and surest test is styled
Or virgin purity by lust defiled.
Three days in water steeped, the draught bestows
Ease to pregnant wobe in travail's throes.
Hal found it in C.W. King, Antique Gems London, 1860 quoting the Bishop of Rene (1067-1081) on the virtues of jet.
Russell and I grabbed dinner at a fish & chip shop and then headed back to York. This time we took the A169 over the moors and fairly flew back compared to our earlier pace. It was unclear to me whether it was the road or the hour that caused this. The scenery was certainly lovely. It is the largest area of heather moor in England and there were cumulus clouds piled high in the sunset with "god lights" streaming down. I hope Russell got a good picture!
We were back in York a bit after 8pm and now here we are, charging various phones and flash units and getting packed up for the trip to Dorset tomorrow.
This morning, after going back and forth for forgotten camera and iPod, we picked up a Renault Modus at the car hire and headed out for Castle Howard. Between our lateness and the bad traffic we didn't arrive until almost 11am. We wandered through the rose gardens and there was a really lovely smelling pink rose called Wenlock English Rose which I should like to check the availability of for my own garden! Russell went back to the car for something and I wandered into the Castle shop. I bought myself a scarf. Yes, the Imelda Marcos of scarves strikes again. It is a red-green taffeta with a contrasting ruffle. It takes the place of an aviator scarf which I haven't had one of in awhile. I love it. So far it has gone with everything I've worn.
By the time we reached the entrance of the house there was a bottleneck of tourists as there were folks in the first two small rooms giving talks that left a bunch of us standing in a long hall with nothing much to look at. (Well, there were some architectural drawings but they didn't hold enough interest for the length of the queue. The castle is really huge -- on a scale bigger than I would like to live in. But they had some really lovely classical statuary. There was a special exhibition on the women of Castle Howard that gave information on various Countess Carlyles and their daughters. Evidently there has been a recent study of the household papers, accounts and diaries such that the women's lives can be better understood. The exhibit also talked a bit about the number of women working belowstairs though only two were actually named. Throughout the house tour there were life size silhoettes of serving women to remind one of their presence. In some periods there were 10 servants for every member of the family in residence.
After eating in the restaurant there we headed off to Whitby about 2pm. The traffic was terrible! We took the A64 to Scarborough and kept getting stuck behind slow trucks. Then we took the A171 up the coast and kept getting stuck behind farm vehicles. We always forget inbetween times how long it takes to get anywhere in England. *laugh* I asked for directions to a museum on Whitby jet at the information center and she said "across the bridge, second left". What this helpful advice concealed was that she was seeing me on foot and I was actually in a car. The two streets in question were both pedestrian areas and so we didn't count them as "streets". We ended up on the headland and the fellow taking tickets for the Abbey set us straight and we went back down the hill and parked and then walked along Church Street which has many jet shops. Each one had a carver who create the work shown! I had several interesting conversation and was steered up the hill to the Whitby Jet Heritage Center which is run by a fellow named Hal Redvers-Jones. Hal is a carver and used to have a shop like the others but about eight years ago a friend of his was doing renovations and found an intact jet studio from the 19th century in a boarded-up attic. Even the jacket of the last worker was still on a peg. Hal and his friend trasported the attic just as it was into a bottom floor and put up many posters with information written by Hal on the jet trade. Hal got a local historian, Alan Whitworth, to write "Whitby Jet: A Brief History" which he then published in 2005. He says his website http://www.whitbyjet.net hasn't been updated from his days as a jet shop and he hopes to do that soon. He still has a jet shop in the front of the premises and he does some of the best work I saw in town. In fact I went back and bought a pair of earrings that cost more than I really could afford but they were just that lovely and unique that I knew I would kick myself if I didn't buy them. When one comes thousands of miles to a place it is false economy not to buy the local product which isn't available at home at all. I'll have to take a picture and post it. :-)
From the wall of the Whitby Jet Heritage Center:
Lycia her jet in medicine commends;
But chiefest, that which distant Britain sends;
Black, light and polished, to itself draws
If warmed by friction near adjacent straws.
Though quenched by oil, its mouldering embers raise
Sprinkled by water; a still fiercer blaze;
It cures the dropsy, shakey teeth are fixed,
Washed with the powder'd stone in water mixed.
The female womb its piercing fumes relieve,
Nor epilepsy can this test deceive;
From its deep hole it lures the viper fell,
And chases away the powers of hell;
It heals the swelling plagues that gnaw the heart,
And baffles speels and magic's noxious art.
This by the wise and surest test is styled
Or virgin purity by lust defiled.
Three days in water steeped, the draught bestows
Ease to pregnant wobe in travail's throes.
Hal found it in C.W. King, Antique Gems London, 1860 quoting the Bishop of Rene (1067-1081) on the virtues of jet.
Russell and I grabbed dinner at a fish & chip shop and then headed back to York. This time we took the A169 over the moors and fairly flew back compared to our earlier pace. It was unclear to me whether it was the road or the hour that caused this. The scenery was certainly lovely. It is the largest area of heather moor in England and there were cumulus clouds piled high in the sunset with "god lights" streaming down. I hope Russell got a good picture!
We were back in York a bit after 8pm and now here we are, charging various phones and flash units and getting packed up for the trip to Dorset tomorrow.
