Back and Forth
March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb but this year, it has crept in under a blanket of fog. The birds are singing heartily though and don't seem to mind. The seasons have shifted from the depths of winter to late spring in a matter of days. Then back again to freezing fog. On the plus side, snow makes the world bright even when the sky is dark and, when the weather was at its most wild and inhospitable, I had a visit from a redwing. I can't say I miss the minus eleven horizontal gale though. Over the last week hundreds of frogs have appeared in the pond on the moor. Also the curlews and lapwings have returned. It really feels like spring is properly sprung and I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for lambs.
I find February a pretty grim month at the best of times. It's good to feel the days getting longer but it always feels as though winter has gone on a little bit too long. There are a few things that have cheered me up though. The Lawyer who appeared on a Zoom call as a talking kitten and the journalist who was called for vaccination because the NHS thought he was 6.2cm tall with a body mass of 28,000. You've probably seen both, but this little tableau on my sideboard made me smile too. A nervous looking lion being stared down by giant birds. He is one of my medieval manuscript inspired pieces. Lion drawings from the Middle Ages are usually a bit odd. I think it’s the same with any non-european species. Probably if all you’ve got to go on is a verbal description, or someone else’s crazy drawing, it’s difficult. But the more I tried to translate a little 2D drawing into a 3D object, the less bad it seemed. Anyway I liked his expression. He has not come in like a lion either.
In my alternative time travelling life, we are leaving London and going west, towards Wales. The first villages we come to outside London are Hackney and Bromley. Hackney, once a loose collection of twelve hamlets is greatly increased in population. There are maybe a hundred coaches kept here which is a sure sign it has become a retreat for the wealthy. Further north at High Gate and Hampstead we start to see large country houses that have a grand view across the city. On a clear day, we can see Windsor Castle. Here and at Islington we find people visiting to take the waters. Even on the very top of the heath, houses are being built now. Daniel doesn't think this is a good idea because the heath is so high and the air so thin that really, only mountaineers could live there.
It isn't all gentrification and health-giving waters though. There is a blot on the landscape here and it is called Bellsize House. A property developer named James Howell has opened it as a resort. It went well to begin with. Even the Prince and Princess of Wales visited. But now it has a reputation for illegal gaming and promiscuity. The only specific complaint I could find was mud-wrestling. London is not happy with him.
Things are going much better at Edgware. There is a brand new house built by the Duke of Chandos called Cannons. It is all tall windows and Palladian columns. There is a huge double staircase made from slabs of marble twenty-two feet wide. There are paintings by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio. Handel has been a resident composer here. Daniel is full of praise. As a time traveller though, I am blessed with foresight. It is all smoke and mirrors. The Duke has lost money in the South Sea Bubble. In twenty-five years, the whole lot will be sold piecemeal to pay off his debts. Not just the contents but the fabric of the building. That staircase will go to a grand house in Mayfair. The columns, they're probably the ones outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. And inside (when you were allowed inside again) you will find Caravaggio's 'Boy Bitten By a Lizard' also from Cannons.
A little north of here is St Albans and we are visiting the cathedral. Here, in 1703, some workmen uncovered a flight of stairs leading down to a forgotten vault. Inside was a seven foot long coffin containing the body of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester who died in 1447. He was son to Henry IV, brother to Henry V and uncle to Henry VI. It’s difficult to be all those things without upsetting someone. Those who felt threatened by Humphrey decided to get at him through his wife, Eleanor Cobham. She was convicted of witchcraft and swept away to a distant castle. A second woman, Margery Jourdemayne, was also implicated. She was burned as a heretic and remembered by history as the Witch of Eye. Sadly it is all too easy for women to be hauled into the centre of someone else’s problem and then blamed for it. Back in St Albans, somewhere in the intervening 256 years the Duke himself had become entirely lost.
We are heading towards Oxford now, where we will meet up with him again and find him discarded a second time. First though, we are visiting Tring. Once the home of a wealthy man named Henry Guy. Mr Guy, like Mr Howell of Bellsize House, has upset his neighbours but in a different way. He wanted a beautiful park for his new house. His neighbours wanted to keep their common grazing land. They tore down his earth banks and took away his wooden pales and burned them. They did this several times. Daniel says he doesn't really know how it all worked out. I am very much on the side of the commoners and my research tells me that the disputed land won't be enclosed until 1854. After that, a Rothschild will probably use it for driving around in his cart pulled by zebras.
Oxford is dominated by the university and we are particularly impressed by the Bodleian Library. It is a substantial and ever growing collection. But the origins of the library date from long before the life of Thomas Bodley. The old library was considerably enlarged by a gift of 281 manuscripts translated from Greek and Latin texts bequeathed by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. An important addition as the library previously held only twenty books. Daniel says the collection was embezzled during the reign of Henry VIII. From here, it seems like all but three of Sir Humphrey’s gifts were removed and probably burned at some point during the Reformation.
Further west again we come to Woodstock. Another splendid house is being built here. I'm told it is a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation. But the Duke has died and his heir is abroad. There has been a lot of disagreement over exactly how grateful the nation is. The Duke’s widow has fallen out with the architect, he has been dismissed and house is still unfurnished. Daniel doesn't know what will happen to it. This house is called Blenheim Palace. As I can skip backwards and forwards in time from here, I can tell you that Nicholas Hawksmoor will do a lot of the remaining work, the heir will also die and the Duke's daughter will inherit the palace. As March is Women’s History Month, I’d also like to tell you that in 1871, halfway between here and now, a distant cousin of mine will appear on the census at Blenheim as a servant. Her name is Hannah Whimp from Lilling in Yorkshire. We've visited a lot of grand houses this week and met a lot of people whose stories can be easily found. But servants don't often get remembered do they?
