“Unearthed” at Blackwell

I’d booked myself a short break in the Lakes starting the Wednesday after Easter. After a good few days during the Bank Holiday weekend I was hoping for some good weather to do some walking but, unfortunately, the forecast for the first couple of days wasn’t so good. I decided against what promised to be a drowning on my first day and so, instead of going for a walk, I headed over to Windermere to pick up some supplies and then drove the short distance to Blackwell. It’s always a good bet on a rainy day and I wanted to have a look at their latest exhibition.

Unearthed by Kendal-based artist Amy Williams, celebrates the contribution of women in Cumbria who have often been overlooked by history, representing them with large scale paper-cut wildflowers. It’s not a large exhibition, only occupying one room upstairs in the Arts and Crafts style house, but I found it quite fascinating and educational.

For each of the ten women featured in the exhibition Amy selected a wild flower that she felt represented their character and created a large scale version from paper. Looking closely at these paper sculptures I could see that she had incorporated features and symbols that represented their life and contribution to society.

“For me it feels important to be able to shine a light on these extraordinary women and to commemorate their lives through this visual medium. I’m pleased we’ve been able to coordinate the exhibition to run across Women’s History Month, especially given this year’s theme of ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.’ I love the setting of Blackwell and am looking forward to transforming the space into a delightful wonderland. I’m grateful to Naomi Gariff, the curator, for giving me so much creative freedom to fulfil this vision. It’s a special thing as an artist to be given this opportunity.”

Amy Williams

The three flowers in the foreground, from left to right, are a Globe Flower representing Winifred Langton a Communist campaigner and activist, who fought for social justice; a Ground Thistle, representing Sal Madge a female Collier from Whitehaven; The spear shaped Mullein representing Theodora Wilson Wilson, a Quaker and pacifist who wrote The Last Weapon, an anti-war novel published in 1916 and banned a year later for promoting peace!

A detail from the Globe Flower representing Winifred Langton 

A Rambling Rose representing Mary Fair – A historian, archaeologist, photographer, motorist and specialist in X-Rays and radium science.

A Dandelion representing Margaret Fell from Ulverston. A founder of the Religious Society of Friends and known popularly as the ‘mother of Quakerism’.

A Thistle representing Ann Macbeth  A designer and educator, renowned for her Art Nouveau style of embroidery who was also an active suffragette.

Bindweed climbing over one of the windows, representing Muriel Sauer, a pioneering female climber in the 1940s, and founding member of the Keswick Mountain Rescue team.

Feverfew representing May Bowness, a working class woman from the Langdale valley, who helped the local community with their medical needs.

Mallow representing Annie Garnett  an Arts and Crafts designer and fabric expert who employed over 100 craftspeople in ‘The Spinnery’ from 1891 to 1914.

On the right Hayratte representing Betty Kirkland who joined the Women’s Land Army in 1940 doing work on behalf of the Forestry Commission. On the left Greater Knapweed representing all the women who’s stories have been lost

In an adjacent room there was a Community Garden – a display of wildflower paper cuts created by women from local community groups over a six-month period

Each of the women had written a short note about a woman who had influenced them and made a mark on their lives.

Snowshill Manor Garden

When Charles Wade bought Snowshill Manor the area around the house was a “muddy farmyard” but he was determined that it should become “a garden of interest”. The original design was by Hugh Baillie Scott, modified by Wade who’d originally trained as an architect, and, with the assistance of a local builder, William Hodge, he then set about its transformation.

Like Hidcote the garden at Snowshill Manor was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement style as an extension of the house, based around a series of “garden rooms” with terraces, stone walls, buildings and features such as a sunken pool, a well, an obelisk and a model village. Although it is much small than that at Hidcote.

Armillary Court. The pillar was made from a gate post found in the farmyard!

Looking over the lawn to the sunken pool with its model village

A close up of the model village – “Wolf’s Cove”. Originally meant to resemble a Cotswold settlement, the later addition of the harbour means it looks more like a Cornish fishing village

The Well Court with its 24-hour garden clock

another view of the Well Court

Quote from For Katrina’s Sun-Dial by Henry Van Dyke

A close up of the 24 hour garden clock. The inscriptions are from the teachings of St Bernard of Clairvaux. The metalwork was made locally by George Hart, a silversmith from Chipping Camden

Another view of the Well Court

Looking over the orchard to the village church

The orchard

The orchard – photo taken on first approaching the house

Hidcote Garden

Checking out what we might do while we were on holiday in Warwickshire, we found that there were several National Trust properties within 30 minutes drive. One that particularly took our fancy was Hidcote, only about 20 minutes away in the north Cotswolds. It’s famous for its “Arts and Crafts” style gardens and being interest in the movement we decided that a visit was a must. We drove over on the Bank Holiday Monday, but the traffic was light and, although busy, the gardens weren’t crowded.

The gardens were created by the American horticulturist, Major Lawrence Johnston who’d moved to Britain with his mother at the turn of the 20th Century. He became a British citizen and fought in the British army during the Boer war. His mother remarried and bought Hidcote Manor in the north of the Cotswolds and he set about turning the surrounding fields into gardens.

I mainly associate the Arts and Crafts movement with architecture, furniture and the decorative arts, but its principles also influenced garden design. Notable garden designers associated with the style include Gertrude Jekyll who designed the garden at Lindisfarne Castle we’d seen a few years ago at the end of our walk on the St Cuthbert’s Way, and the Lancastrian, Thomas Mawson whose works included Rydal Hall gardens and the Rivington terraced gardens. Mawson wrote an influential book – ‘The Art and Craft of Garden Making’.

Curious about what comprised an “Arts and Crafts” style garden I did (as I often do) a little research! I discovered that that moving away from the grand, large scale sweeping landscapes normally associated with grand country houses, the garden is seen as an extension of the house and a space for outdoor living and leisure. They were more intimate, with smaller scale “garden rooms” topiary and colourful plantings. They frequently have water features and structures such as terraces, pergolas, summer houses and dry stone walls and local materials and craftsmanship are utilised. All of this was certainly true at Hidcote.

There was a lot to see – you could wander around for hours – we certainly did.

Some References:

House and Garden “An introduction to the gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement“

Homes and Garden website – Arts and crafts garden design – 5 key elements for a backyard

Great British Gardens website – Arts and Crafts Gardens

Arts and Crafts Houses in Llanfairfechan

Something I hadn’t expected to find in Llanfairfechan were some rather attractive Arts and Crafts style houses. I’d spotted three distinctive white rendered houses on the sea front during my walk along the coast on the Tuesday, all with some interesting architectural features. It turned out that they were all designed by Herbert Luck North, an architect who had lived in the village in the early 20th Century.

I though that this house was particularly attractive.

Whitefriars built in 1933. Designed by Herbert Luck North for a retired seaman

Another view of Whitefriars

and next door were a pair of semi detached houses, also designed by North, built almost 30 years earlier.

A pair of semi-detached houses from around 1906. Designed by Herbert Luck North.

Herbert Luck North was born in Leicester on 9 November 1871. He studied at at Jesus College, Cambridge, after which he worked as an assistant to William Alfred Pite and Edwin Landseer Lutyens. After qualifying as an architect he worked in London before moving to Llanfairfechan in 1901, where his parents lived, establishing an architectural practice there.

Higher up the hill, in the old village, there’s a street of 25 houses, the Close, 24 of which were designed by North. The first of these, built in 1898, was, apparently, the first house he’d designed. The others were built quite a few years later, between 1922 and1940.

House in The Close

Houses in the Close

The Arts and Crafts movement emerged in Britain in the 1880’s and was heavily influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin, William Morris and others who felt that the mass manufacture of goods during the second half of the 19th century had led to a design in standards and poor quality products and that mass production had led to workers being alienated from the products of their labour. The movement’s vision was for a return to craftsmanship. The use of machinery wasn’t dismissed entirely, but should be used to produce well designed, good quality products. The movement’s ethos is probably well summarised by a quote from William Morris

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

The movement’s principles were applied to architecture as well as furniture, fabrics, tiles, ceramics, and metalwork. Many of the buildings designed by the well known practitioners of the style, such as Charles Voysey, Hugh Baillie Scott and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, built homes for wealthier clients but the homes designed by Herbert Luck North were for more modest, albeit Middle Class, clients.

There isn’t one uniform “style” of Arts and Crafts architecture. However, the general approach involved the application of traditional building techniques, good quality craftsmanship, the use of local materials, asymmetry and avoiding excessive ornamentation. Many early Arts and Crafts style buildings were inspired by Medieval and Tudor design but as the movement evolved plainer, more simple styles become more dominant, with “form following function” at least to some extent. These buildings influencing the simpler Modernist architecture of the 20th Century. This was certainly true of Herbert Luck North’s houses that I saw in Llanfairfechan. They were relatively plain at first glance but had distinctive features including white rendered walls, steep gables, slate rooves (probably with slate from the many local quarries), arched doors and  “eyebrow” windows.

Further along the coast towards Bangor,  I’d spotted a rather nice house by the entrance to Traeth Lafan Nature Reserve, close to the level crossing over the railway line. It was similar in style to the houses I’d seen in Llanfairfechan. I wondered whether it was another building designed by North, but my research has drawn a blank.

There are certainly some other buildings by North in Llanfairfechan featured on the History Points website. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to seek them all out during my short break. Another time, perhaps.

A winter afternoon at Blackwell

After looking round the Scottish Colourists exhibition at Abbot Hall, and picking up some shopping in Kendal town centre, we decided to drive over to Blackwell as we’d not been for a while. It had been a beautiful, sunny, winter’s day and, although some cloud had come in, I caught some rather nice shots of the house and Lakeland fells illuminated by the winter light.

View towards the Kentmere Fells from the window in the White Drawing Room

A close up of Yoke and Ill Bell

Christmas installation in the main hall

The White Drawing Room

Birmingham Cathedral Stained Glass

A couple of weeks ago I had to go down to the centre of Birmingham with work. I’d bought an Advance ticket on the train and as I wasn’t sure how long my meeting and site visit would last, I’d booked on a train in the late afternoon. As it happened I was done by 1 o’clock so I had just over a couple of hours to kill. I could have gone to a café to do some work, but that wouldn’t be much fun and the work could wait until I was back at base, so I decided to have a bit of a mooch.

My first stop was Birmingham Cathedral as I wanted to have a look at the stained glass windows designed by Birmingham born pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones and manufactured by the firm of William Morris & Co.

There are four windows in total, three at the east end of the building with the fourth immediately opposite at the west end. They’re quite magnificent works of Pre-Raphaelite art, and my photos, taken with my mobile phone, really can’t do them justice.

The left east window, the Nativity

The central east window, the Ascension

The right east window, the Crucifixion

The west window, the Last Judgment

The Ascension was installed in 1885 and the Nativity and the Crucifixion two years later. The Last Judgement was installed in 1897.

The Cathedral website tells us

They are considered characteristic of Burne-Jones’ later style – elongated bodies with small heads in relation to body length and designs which divide in two equal halves, horizontally. This technique separates heaven from earth in each of the windows.

and that

They demonstrate Burne-Jones’ immense skill and the fine craftsmanship of William Morris & Co. They are known for their vibrancy, the life-likeness of the figures, their ability to tell a story and their inspiring and dramatic qualities.

Well worth a visit to  take a look, particularly on a sunny day with the light streaming through the windows emphasising their vibrant colours..

Two East End Buildings

One of my main objectives during my mooch around Spitalfields last week was to have a look at a couple of Arts and Crafts / Art Nouveau buildings  in the area, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend. He was a Scouser – well, almost, he was born in Birkenhead – who moved to London in 1880.

The first of the two buildings was the Whitechapel gallery, a short distance down Whitechapel from Aldgate where I’d been working. I’d been there a few times before to visit exhibitions and always admired the building with it’s twin towers and massive, off-centre round arch above the front door.

It’s creamy stone stands out in a street of dark brick buildings. In a number of ways, with it’s solid stone construction and relatively but curved surfaces, it rather reminds me of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, particularly the Glasgow School of Art.

Originally, it was intended that the upper part of the facade would be filled with mosaics by the renowned Arts and Crafts designer Walter Crane, but these were never completed. However, today there’s a lovely metallic frieze of leaves and branches by Rachael Whiteread that was installed just a few years ago.

The gallery was founded  1901, intended to bring art to the working classes of East London, and was one of the first publicly funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in the Capital.

The second building was on Bishopgate at the far side of Spitalsfields and close to Liverpool Street Station – The Bishopgate Institute.

Like the Whitechapel Gallery, it has a broad semi-circular arched entrance and twin towers, in this case topped by ornate, multifacetted turrets. It has a different look, though – a little more traditional, more ornate and influenced by Romanesque and Byzantine architecture.

There are beautiful friezes above the entrance and towards the top of the towers, representing the Tree of Life. It was difficult to get a photo of them – the street was busy with commuters at rush hour, but I’ve done my best to enlarge sections of my pictures of the building

According to the Institute’s website

The original aims of the Institute were to provide a public library, public hall and meeting rooms for people living and working in the City of London. The Great Hall in particular was ‘erected for the benefit of the public to promote lectures, exhibitions and otherwise the advancement of literature, science and the fine arts’.

So both buildings reflect the Art and Crafts Movement’s dedication to the cause of social progress (and, in may cases, Socialism) by providing facilities for the education and enlightenment of the working class. It’s good to see that both buildings are still being used for the purposes originally intended.

Charles Harrison Townsend designed another Arts and Crafts / Art Nouveau building, the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, South London. I’ve had a look at some pictures of the Museum on the web and it’s now on the bucket list. It’s not so far from the Dulwich Picture Gallery so perhaps I can arrange to combine a visit to both of them.

The Honan Chapel

The Honan Chapel stands just outside the official boundary of the UCC campus, but is effectively, part of the site. So I couldn’t help but notice it. I almost passed it by, but as I wasn’t in a particular hurry to get back to the train station I decided I might as well take a closer look. I’m glad I did. It was a little gem.

It was only built in the early 20th Century,being consecrated on 5 November 1916. At first glance I could see it was a neo-Romanesque building, this doorway being very typical of the style

but a closer look revealed Celtic features, such as these capitals

The chapel is, in fact, a product of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and is Hiberno-Romanesque, reflecting the style of early Christian churches in Ireland. It’s a product of the Celtic Twilight of Irish artists influenced by Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts and the Celtic traditions of their native land.

Inside there is a magnificent mosaic floor depicting the “River of Life”, (the colours haven’t come out on my photos, unfortunately)

All the “furniture and fittings” were beautifully crafted and full of detail

But I was particularly taken by the superb stained glass. There are nineteen windows in the Honan Chapel. Eight of the windows were designed by An Túr Gloine (The Tower of Glass), the stained glass studio of the Irish artist Sarah Purser. The other eleven were designed by Harry Clarke, the artist responsible for the Eve of St Agnes window that’s displayed in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin  The Honan Chapel was his first major commission.

Clarke’s work is exquisite. Very much influenced by the Art Nouveau, Symbolist and Arts and Crafts movement with finely drawn figures, minutely detailed images and luminous colours. Thee photos really can’t do them justice;they need to be seen “in the flesh” to be really appreciated.

Ruskin’s Memorial

John Ruskin died at Brantwood from influenza on 20 January 1900 at the age of 80. He was buried five days later in Coniston churchyard rather than in Westminster Abbey, which might have been expected. But he’d asked to be laid to rest in the Lakeland village near where he spent the last years of his life.

It was easy enough to find his gave as there was a sign on the side of the church pointing the way. I was quite surprised at the simplicity of the design of the monument. I’d noticed a grand, Gothic style monument at the back of the church from the road as we passed a few days earlier and, given that Ruskin was probably the main driving force behind  the Victorian Gothic Revival, I assumed that was his. But I later discovered that monument, which was actually quite close to Ruskin’s grave, marked those of a family of local big wigs.

Ruskin’s monument, although heavily decorated with carvings, is more elegant and less vulgar, more in the Arts and Crafts tradition. It was designed by his Secretary and friend, W G Collingwood and was carved by a mason from Ulverston, H T Miles . I found this out while reading Collingwood’s “The Book of Coniston”, which I discovered while conducting some research on him after our holiday. It’s available via Project Gutenberg. In it, he writes

In Coniston Churchyard the centre of general interest is Ruskin’s grave, marked by the tall sculptured cross of gray Tilberthwaite stone, which stands under the fir trees near the wall separating the churchyard from the schoolyard. Near it are the white crosses of the Beevers, and the railed-in space is reserved for the family of Brantwood. The sculptures on the east face are intended to suggest Ruskin’s earlier writings—the lower panel his juvenile poems; above, the young artist with a hint of sunrise over Mont Blanc in the background, for “Modern Painters;” the Lion of St. Mark, for “Stones of Venice,” and the candlestick of the Tabernacle for “Seven Lamps.”

There’s also a swastika separating the years of Ruskin’s birth and death. Quite innocent as it was carved before the symbol was appropriated by the Nazis. But I’m sure it’s use would have been deliberate and have some meaning.

On the west face below is the parable of the labourers in the vineyard—”Unto this Last,” then “Sesame and Lilies,” the Angel of Fate with club, key and nail for “Fors Clavigera,” the “Crown of Wild Olive,” and St. George, symbolizing his later work. On the south edge are the Squirrel, the Robin and the Kingfisher in a scroll of wild rose to suggest Ruskin’s favourite studies in natural history. On the north edge is a simple interlaced plait. The cross was carved by the late H. T. Miles of Ulverston from designs by W. G. Collingwood.

Collingwood also designed a number of war memorials for towns in the region, including Hawkshead, Ulverston and St Bees. He also designed the one standing at the front of the church in Coniston.

Collingwood, his wife and some of his children are buried nearby Ruskin’s grave. Their headstones are simple with distinctive Arts and Crafts / Art Nouveau style lettering

Mount Grace Priory

We’ve whizzed up the A19 many a time visiting family in the North East, and never noticed the brown sign for Mount Grace Priory, a property managed by English Heritage. We checked out what we might visit when we were heading north up to Sunderland after out short stay in York,  and thought it would be worth a short stop.

It’s the site of a former Carthusian priory, with substantial ruins of the monastery (dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII) and a 17th-century manor house which had been extended and remodelled as a holiday home for a wealthy industrialist, Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, at the beginning of the 20th Century. There’s also a relatively small (by Stately home standards, anyway) at the front of the house.

The brown sign was hard to spot and we then had to make a right turn pretty soon after, crossing over the south bound carriageway of the busy A19 to turn into the narrow driveway that led up to the property. A bonus when we arrived – National Trust members are allowed free entry. as the property, although managed by EH is actually owned by the Trust.

First of all we had a look round the house. A couple of the rooms on the ground floor have been done up in Arts and Crafts style, including William Morris and Co. wallpaper, recreating the look from when the house was owned by Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell.

This is the Drawing Room

with an attractive fireplace, which reminded me of those at Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House in the Lake District.

And this is the entrance hall

A room at the back of the house has been simply furnished

and has a particularly attractive stone fireplace – very Arts and Craft in style.

On the first floor there was an exhibition about the history of the house and the attic space, which was used for the bedrooms for Isaac Bell’s children, has recently been opened to visitors. One interesting feature was the marks on the wall indicating the changing heights of the three children.

Once we’d finished looking round the house we went out the back door outside to where the remains of the monastery are found.

It had belonged to the Carthusian order (the same as that to which the monks in France who produce the Chartreuse liqueur). Unlike other orders the monks live a solitary lives, praying and meditating, working and taking their meals in their own “cells” and only congregating for short periods during the day. So the church was relatively small and the site is dominated by two large cloisters surrounded by the remains of the cells where the monks lived.

English Heritage have recreated one of the cells so it’s possible to gain an impression of how the monks lived

The word “cell” conjures up an image of a dingy space with bars on the windows, but this was far from the case at the Priory. The cell was a reasonably large house

with a kitchen and living room,

space for prayer and study

and bedroom on the ground floor

and a workshop where weaving and the like was done on the first floor (accessed by a steep ladder)

with it’s own kitchen garden.

The cells had toilets at the end of the garden, provided with running water

and accessed by a covered passage

Very sophisticated for its time!

To maintain the seclusion, the cells were separated by a high wall.

The standard of living of the monks, and the standard of hygiene, would have been much better than that experienced by the majority of the population. But I don’t know how many people would be able to put up with a life of work and prayer where there was very little contact with other human beings.

The gardens at the front of the house, although not particularly extensive, were very pleasant.

 

Even today, the site is very secluded. It’s miles from anywhere and surrounded by woodland. The traffic on the A19 rushes past, mainly oblivious to the fact that the Priory is there. It would be perfectly peaceful, but traffic noise from the busy road does intrude a little. Nevertheless, it was a good way to break our journey.