So I packed my bag with my Red Queen doll, my camera and the printed guide to Oakwell hall. The rain was so heavy this morning that Monza dog had to do an extreme speed constitution before we set off in the Fonz car. We both needed to help towel dry Monza. Very undignified for a big proud sheperd dog.
we are now sitting in front of the wood burner with monza dog watching old repeats of last of the summer wine on the telly box. Three old men wandering around the Yorkshire views encountering other Yorkshire characters. The weather this night is especially weird....even by our standards as freezing fog is creeping around the terrace and any viability is now nil as the dark comes down as well. Looking at these pictures and writing this now I can very well see why the Bronte sisters wrote such powerful words about this area.
Any way! Oakwell Hall. I have just finished the photos on my new computer and here they are.
Welcome to the old world of Oakwell hall which was built in 1583 for John Batt. Mr Batt was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant and yeoman farmer from Halifax.. the hall was owned by the Batt family until 1707 and then by an "eccentric" lawyer called Fairfax Feanley who died in 1791.
Every piece of character and echoes from the past hangs in the air here. All of them are still here. Why!? what do they wait for?
An appeal was launched to save the hall and two benefactors were found. Two wealthy benefactors who bought the hall for £2500. Sir Henry Norman Rae and John Earl Sharman. It has been a museum since 1929 as it was then presented to Kirklees council.
John Batt 11 was a royalist who was on the winning side of the battle of Adwalton Moor in 1643. Oakwell was very close to the battle field and hundreds of Parliamentary soldiers fled past the hall down "bloody lane"...some badly injured or dying too.
John Batt was very likely a captain in Sir William Saville's Regiment. He originally supported the Royalists during the civil war. He would therefore have fought in the battle of Aldalton Moor on the 30th of June 1643 which was roughly one mile from Oakwell..
The fine was still heavy and caused financial hardship to the family and land was sold and mortgaged to raise money. This is very likely why John Batt took part on the American trading venture......
Meals would end with a banquet course of fashionable puddings and sweetmeats. honey was the sweetener until . .... Sugar became the status symbol to have as it was grown in the new world and only available to the rich.
There were "ember days" four times a year. this would be Wednesday, Friday and Saturday when eating meat was forbidden. Cheese and eggs were allowed and "ember tart" which was like a sweet quiche. The pastry for this contained onions eggs spices and eggs.
Christmas was a huge celebration which was twelve days of feasting, and the only work allowed was feeding of the livestock. Mince pies were eaten for luck every day. These contained thirteen ingredients representing Jesus and his disciples. The oblong shape represented the cradle and the lamb and sheperds and the spices were the three kings.
The Batts had a lot of servants such as personal servants, kitchen maids and house maids. most worked in the house for about a year and received a small wage and board and lodging. Young people moved from one yearly hiring to another until they got married.
. On the left here are the dog gates which were to stop the house dogs going upstairs....
As it turned out I was not alone in bringing a doll along to photograph. One of the other guests had a Sindy doll which they put onto the fire place to photograph stating that
"there is a method in my madness..." whilst his mobile phone rang......" you probably think I'm bonkers!"
So I produced my red queen from my handbag. This caused a stir amongst his party of wife and friends....as they thought they were unique in this practice. He told me the story of his doll. At great length......
The Sindy doll was something that he had borrowed from a hotel in Leeds. He intended to return the doll and a photo album of her trips around the world Sindy doll had been up the Eiffle tower as part of this story.
Anyway....the man turned into an irritation on his mobile phone bellowing on about some family party we escaped to the upstairs where we lost him......could still hear his big mouth though. A great example of why I do not like people and modern phones!!!! ruined the atmosphere alot !!
The Luddite attack in the novel is based on Cartwright's mill at Rawfolds at Liversidge. Patrick Bronte lived in the area for a while and Charlotte knew the area well.
THE PLOT OF THE NOVEL SHIRLEY
"Robert Moore is a mill owner noted for apparent ruthlessness towards his employees – more than any other mill owner in town. He has laid off many of them, apparently indifferent to their consequent impoverishment. In fact he had no choice, since the mill is deeply in debt. The mill was inefficiently run by his late father and is already mortgaged. His elder brother became a private tutor, leaving Robert to return the mill to profitability. He is determined to restore his family's honour and fortune.
As the novel opens, Robert awaits delivery of new labour-saving machinery for the mill which will enable him to lay off additional employees. Together with some friends he watches all night, but the machinery is destroyed on the way to the mill by angry millworkers. Robert's business difficulties continue, due in part to continuing labour unrest, but even more so to the Napoleonic Wars and the accompanying Orders in Council which forbid British merchants from trading in American markets.
Robert is very close to Caroline Helstone, who come"s to his house to be taught French by his sister, Hortense. Caroline worships Robert and he likes her. Caroline's father is dead and her mother had abandoned her, leaving her to be brought up by her uncle, the local parson, Rev. Helstone. Caroline is penniless, and so to keep himself from falling in love with her, Robert keeps his distance since he cannot afford to marry for pleasure or for love. He has to marry for money if he is to restore his mill to profitability.
Caroline realises that Robert is growing increasingly distant and withdraws into herself. Her uncle does not sympathise with her 'fancies', and she has no money of her own, so she cannot leave, which is what she longs to do. She suggests taking up the job of a governess but her uncle dismisses it and assures her that she need not work for a living.
Caroline cheers up a great deal, however, when she meets Shirley. Shirley is a landowner, an independent heiress whose parents are dead and who lives with Mrs. Pryor, an old governess. Shirley is lively, cheerful, full of ideas about how to use her money and how to help people, and very interested in business concerns. Caroline and Shirley soon become close friends. They dislike social hypocrisy and wish they could do something significant with their lives. As Caroline gets closer to Shirley, she notices that Shirley and Robert are becoming good friends too, which makes her think that they will end up marrying. Shirley likes Robert, is very interested in his work, and is concerned about him and the threats he receives from laid-off millworkers. Both good and bad former employees are depicted. Some passages show the real suffering of those who were honest workers and can no longer find good employment; other passages show how some people use losing their jobs as an excuse to get drunk, fight with their previous employers, and incite other people to violence. Shirley uses her money to help the poorest but she is also motivated by the desire to prevent any attack on Robert, a motive that makes Caroline both happy and unhappy.
One night, Mr. Helstone convinces Shirley to stay with Caroline while he spends the night with an old friend who has recently come to town. Caroline and Shirley realise that an attack on the mill is imminent. They hear Mr. Helstone's dog barking and realise that a group of rioters has come to a halt outside the rectory. They overhear the rioters talking about entering the house, but are relieved when they decide to go on. The women go the mill together to warn Robert but they are too late and have to hide nearby. Robert is already prepared however and he mounts a counter-attack. He defeats the attackers, the encounter being witnessed by Shirley and Caroline from their hiding place.
Hortense invites Caroline over one evening to keep her company while Robert is away. Hortense argues with the maid, Sarah, about some jelly, and Caroline decides to leave. She goes upstairs to get her things, and hears Robert's overseer Joe Scott announce a Mr. Moore into the house. Hortense drags Caroline into the parlour and Caroline is confused by her formality. A moment later, Robert enters the room, and Caroline realises that the first Mr. Moore is Louis Moore, Robert's brother, and tutor to Henry, Shirley's cousin.
After this incident, the whole neighbourhood is convinced that Robert and Shirley shall wed. The anticipation of this causes Caroline to fall sick. Mrs. Pryor comes to look after her, and realises that Caroline is pining. Every Tuesday, Caroline sits by the window, no matter how weak or tired, to try to glimpse of Robert on his way to the market. Mrs. Pryor learns the cause of Caroline's sorrow but is helpless; she continues her vigil in the sick room even as Caroline worsens daily.
Caroline hears from Hortense that Robert has left for London for no apparent reason. Caroline has lost even her weekly glimpse of him, and she feels that she has 'nothing left to live for' since there is no-one who cares whether she lives or dies. Mrs. Pryor then reveals to Caroline that she is Caroline's mother. She had abandoned her because Caroline looked exactly like her father – the husband who tortured Mrs. Pryor and made her life miserable. She had little money; when her brother-in-law offered to bring up the child, she accepted it, took up a family name of Pryor and went off to become a governess. Caroline now has a reason to live – her 'mamma'. She begins to recover slowly, since she knows that she can go and live with her mother.
Shirley's uncle and aunt come to visit her. The uncle joins Shirley in her office work (administering her land and investments). They bring with them their daughters, their son, and their son's tutor. He is Louis Moore, Robert's younger brother, who had taught Shirley when she was younger. Caroline is puzzled by Shirley's behaviour towards Louis – the friendly girl who treats her servants as her own family is always haughty and formal with Louis and never seems to forget that he is a lowly tutor with no money of his own. Two men fall in love with Shirley and woo her, but she refuses both because she does not love them. Her uncle is surprised by this behaviour and wants her to marry someone respectable soon. A baronet, the most prominent nobleman of the district, falls in love with Shirley. She likes him too, though she does not respect him and does not want to marry him. The neighbourhood, however, is certain that she will not refuse so favourable a match. The relationship between Shirley and Louis, meanwhile, remains ambivalent. There are days when Louis can, with the authority of an old teacher, ask Shirley to come to the schoolroom and recite the French pieces that she learnt earlier. On other days, Shirley ignores Louis, not speaking to him although they have breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same table. However, when Shirley is upset, the only one she can confide in is Louis. When a supposed 'mad dog' bites Shirley and makes her think that she is to die early, no one except Louis can make her reveal what it is that makes her so sad. Shirley makes him promise that if she is dying of rabies, and to be put to death because of the terrible suffering in the last stages of the disease, it must be his hand that delivers that final injection.
Robert returns one dark night, first stopping at the market and then returning to his home with a friend. The friend tells him that it is widely speculated that Shirley is to marry a rich man and asks him why he left when it seemed so sure that Shirley loved him and would have married him. Robert replies that he had assumed the same, and that he had proposed to Shirley before he left. But Shirley had at first laughed, thinking that he was not serious, and cried when she discovered that he was. She had told him that she knew that he did not love her, that he asked for her hand not for her but for her money and this decreased her respect for him. When Robert had argued that Shirley had shown concern for him, been open with him from the very beginning and discussed his business matters at length with him, she had said that she had esteem and affection for him, but not love and now even that esteem and affection were in danger. Robert walked away from that room filled with a sense of humiliation, even as he knew that she was right – that he had ignored his affection for Caroline and sought out Shirley primarily for her money. This self-disgust drove Robert away to London and he realised there that restoring the family name was not as important as self-respect and he had returned home, determined to close the mill if he had to, and go away to Canada and work hard and make his fortune. Just as Robert finishes his narration, his friend hears a gunshot and Robert falls from his horse – the laid-off workers are finally avenged.
The friend takes Robert to his own home and looks after him, and after a turn for the worse, Robert slowly gets better. A visit from Caroline revives him but she has to come secretly, hiding from her uncle and his friend and his family. Robert soon moves back to his house and persuades his sister that the very thing the house needs to cheer it up is a visit from Caroline. Robert asks for Caroline's forgiveness and tries to tell her what had happened with Shirley, but she stops him and tells him that she has forgiven him and does not need to know any more. She also predicts that Shirley is in love too, and that she is not 'master of her own heart'.
When Shirley refuses the baronet's offer of marriage, her uncle is enraged and argues with her. He then decides to leave Stillborough. This means that Louis will have to leave too, which emboldens him enough to make his declaration – he proposes to Shirley, despite the difference in their relative situations. Shirley agrees to marry him, though she has moments of indecision and panic at the thought of giving up her independence.
At first, Caroline is to be the bridesmaid for Shirley, but Robert proposes and she accepts him.
The novel ends with Caroline marrying Robert and Shirley marrying his brother, Louis."
in this display room is this carved and scratched wall. It relates to Emily Bronte's Wuthering heights novel as Oakwell Hall was used as the interior for the farmhouse for a film ......
The Batts had financial difficulties after the civil war and so John Batt set up a business venture with Sir Thomas Danby to take settlers to the New World and so sailed to Virginia in the 1640's with three of his sons.
This family set up a large tobacco plantation of several thousand acres and kept many slaves.
There is a pipe on this table. just a little one! I also looked up the Batt family in Virginia. They got up to all sorts of activities. Not just tobacco either.
According to some folks, Batts arrived and settled along the southwest side of the Pasquotank River, having purchased land from the Yeopim Indians living there. Some claim he arrived and settled at this location in 1650. Some say it was 1653, while others claim it was 1657. Most accept that Batts perhaps "bought" his tract of land as early as 1650 - perhaps a little later - but, he did not settle on it immediately, more likely he was a part-time "trader" with the Indians and his permanent home was in Nansemond County, Virginia. But as of 1657, Batts was pretty much living at his Pasquotank River home."
In 1655, Yeardley sent Robert Bodnam, a carpenter, to the south to build a house 20 ft square (containing two rooms and a chimney) for Batts to live in while he traded with the Indians. The house was erected beside Salmon Creek (then Fletts Creek) at the western end of the Albemarle (then Roanoke) Sound. This trading post appears on the Nicholas Comberford map of 1657, entitled "The South Part of Virginia," with the legend 'Batts House' indicated on the map."
The embroidered curtains and bed cover were produced by them. It is crewel work. And looks really fabulous with the carved bed in this room.
It was a dark and stormy December night in 1684. William Batt was in London and his mother Mistress Batt was sitting in the Great Hall.
around about here I noticed a rest room toilet area. So yes I went through the old door. I hoped to discover something older. Disappointingly it was a modern toilet with slightly wonky characterful plumbing, but none the less a modernish facility.... Lee commented the same. A relief to find it but a slight disappointment too...( well ! what was I expecting!? a long drop!!??).....so across the mezzanine I went past the study. I took this picture of the great hall and window from above........very very familiar even though I had never been here before.
It reminds me of Bolling hall. Same type of house and similar history too. This house has brooding watchers. a lot of bad echoes here. I do not believe in ghosts.....this one might be an exception to my rules!!!
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Paperwork such as accounts and inventories would have taken place here. .......The office. small isn't it? all inventories would have been written here too....a complete list of all house contents room by room. records kept as the old place was rented out for alot of it's history.
John Batt's grandson, also John, probably removed the 'hall chamber' and created the magnificent hall window in the mid 17th century, making improvements appropriate to his status before the hardship of Civil War ended such extravagance. The original hearth at the east end of the hall was replaced by a fireplace in the north wall. The early 17th Century may have been when the north-west wing was built to provide additional service rooms. The hall wall and stair tower may also be modifications. The chimney stack was built in the mid-17th Century.
Later alterations included some sliding sash windows, fireplaces and changes when a 19th Century school. From the late 18th to early 20th Centuries, Oakwell was occupied by tenants with no incentive to make substantial changes, so it retains much of its original character and many original fittings."
We left the way we came and headed back to the Fonz car and the waiting Monza dog.
Really really surreal.
1 comment:
another amazing trip with over the top photos!!!!! I am going to print this out so I absorb all of the history.... the crewel embroidered curtains and bedspread makes my pulse quicken.... so super!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the perfect house for creepy inspiration!
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