Rainy Day in the Reading Room and Sculpture in the Wilderness

A rainy day is, in my view, one of the best times to spend in a library. I have not previously mentioned that the Reading Room is temperature and humidity controlled to preserve the exquisite collection. As a result, we (the 4 Fellows) troop up to the Great House with a collection of jackets, sweaters, scarves, blankets, lap rugs, sarongs, and anything else we have brought with us to wrap up while accessing the collection. The room is always 19 degrees C so on a day like today, where it was dull and grey, the room seemed extra cool. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful day looking at a very rare collection of receipt books kept by women in the same family from 1700 to 1830. There was everything in there from a recipe for opium water (calling for a pound of opium!!!) to 'how to bake a cake with no butter' (what I remember my grandmother calling 'Depression Cake'). The paper I was handling was very fragile. Some of it had loose pieces of handwritten paper pinned in with 18th c straight pins (before staples were invented). Seeing those pins gave new meaning to Mrs. Allen's exclamation in Northanger Abbey that there was a pin in her gown. Now that I have seen such a pin close up I know she was referring to a much coarser item than we use today; no wonder she worried about it putting a hole in her muslin.

One of the terms I saw a lot of today was 'hair sieve' to filter or strain mixtures. These were strainers woven with horse tail (hair) in different densities. It caused me to wonder if there might be such an item in the CH kitchen so I took a stroll to look around. What do you know, there were two of them. The mesh has been replaced with nylon and metal but the frames were similar to photos I saw online.

While in the kitchen, I took a few pictures. There is the stove (right) installed during the Victorian era, and the 'copper', the source of hot water in a house like this one before plumbing and hot water heating was available. I did not know about coppers before I came here; these were (this one is) big copper basins (about 3'x2'x2' deep) with a coal brazier below. Water was constantly added so that hot water was always available for the house. That's how our Mr. Darcy could have that lovely bath... 

The copper (left); the black lids lift up to reveal the big basin. You can see the little door in the centre bottom where coal was added.

After the day in the library, we (the Visiting Fellows) were invited to the launch of Sculpture in the Wilderness, an exhibit that will open at Chawton House next week. It was a lovely affair with hors d'oeuvures (with many of the ingredients coming from either the estate or local organic farms) and gorgeous flutes of champagne. The invitees included local estate owners and Chawton House neighbours.

Here is a photo of just one of the gorgeous eats.

Gillian Drummond, OBE DL, CH Trustee and host for the evening's event, was wearing a gorgeous Indian silk embroidered coat. She graciously agreed to my request to take photos.

Gillian (left)

Close up of coat (right); gorgeous, yes? 

You can learn more about Sculpture in the Wilderness at www.chawton.org/news/index.html#Sculpture

I learned today that the Chawton House families (the same Knight family for 1000 years) were connected to the family that owned the Great House at West Dean that I will be visiting in August (after my studies here) (http://www.westdean.org.uk/). My tapestry and dyeing instructor at Capilano U, Anthea Mallinson, has a diploma in Medieval Tapestry from West Dean College and their 'open days' are Wednesdays so to West Dean I shall go the week after I have completed the Fellowship in Chawton. I was excited to learn about that connection as it links what seemed to be disparate parts of my trip. 

Until tomorrow...when I'll have to share a little something about the textile findings.