A Visit to a Manor House

After a rather sleepless night, it was a relief to be doing something which required some walking and listening, but did not require anything more demanding than that.  We were divided in to three activity groups and the students were permitted to select their first, second and third choices.  Fortunately, all of the students were able to participate in the activity they favored.  

Helen’s group did an extensive Hill Climb.  They traveled some 35-40 minutes by minibus to a park allowing them to climb up and down some of the hill country of Wales.  We had some discussion about whether or not these were hills or mountains—there’s a movie about this topic as I recall--The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain.  The students who participated in this group came back thoroughly spent, but also gratified by the beauty of the vistas they encountered, as well as a small herd of semi-wild horses.

A second group worked with Rachel, the director of the Summit, on “Bush Craft”.  From what we gathered at this evening’s de-brief, that entailed building a fire in the wild without matches and making a kind of ersatz bread with blueberries, among other activities.  The students who participated in that activity were also quite pleased by their experience.

Our group consisted of four staff (Paula, Linda, Paul and me) and four students.  We chose to walk through the park to some nearby villages en route to a manor house called  Llanciach Fawr.  The Welsh language is fascinating and baffling.  Pronunciations seem based on a very mysterious system which completely escapes me. I did learn that 'w' and 'y' are considered vowels in the Welsh language.  As a result, the name of the house is pronounced, roughly, Chlancaiach Fau.  Regardless, I have fallen in love with the lilting accent of the Welsh people.  It is a truly musical sound, which makes sense given the Welsh love of choral singing.

We slowly made our way to the manor, stopping by the center we had visited yesterday afternoon,

and taking photos as we walked.   

The Daffodil is one of the symbols of Wales.

We arrived at the manor at about 11:30

and decided to have our lunch before exploring the museum.  This site is apparently popular for local events, and today there was a wedding scheduled.   

The restaurant was closed to the public,

but the coffee shop was open and provided some lunch food. 

After we purchased our entries, we were given “letters of entry” which we were instructed to present to a servant who greeted us at the door.  Before getting to the manor itself, however, there was an exhibit of Civil War information which Linda and I pored over with fairly rapt attention.   The students, however, charged on to the manor itself.   Although the house was built in 1540, the “friends” of the manor have chosen to focus on the Civil War period, as it presents a fascinating glimpse into the past.  

Unfortunately, they did not permit photography in the house itself.  I didn't feel comfortable taking photos in the "museum" section either, but we did take photos of the garden. 

The initial exhibit focused both of the domestic and political dimensions of life in the Civil War period.  They offered some description of the kinds of servants and the functions they served for the house.  There were interactive displays of spices and fabrics which would have been used by members of the household—gentry and servants alike.  The museum presented the kinds of tools used by those who worked the fields, as well as those who worked within the home. The political exhibits outlined how the Civil War came to be, as well as the loyalties of the lord of the manor, Pritchard, as well as some of his servants.   

We spent about a half hour going through the museum before walking through the gardens to the manor house.   We were greeted by a “maid of all work” who informed us that the master was out, but we had a choice as to whether we would like to wander the manor on our own, or participate in a guided group.  We chose to join a group.  

The “servants” were dressed in 17^th century costume, greatly resembling the attire we associate with the pilgrims in the U.S.  No great surprise there.  The master of this manor was a Baptist, and avowed anti-Catholic.  Servants were expected to attend weekly church services and were fined if they failed to do so.  The “servant” guides spoke as servants of the time would have done—“mayhaps” instead of “perhaps” and some unusual syntactical choices.

We started in the great hall, where the lord of the manor entertained fine guests, including King Charles.   We learned that a meal for the king could cost upwards of 70 pounds.  The servants we met said they were paid a pound per year in wages.  

We came in to the group a tad late and missed the explanation about an odd looking contraption on the table.  It resembled a cage with a chain, and Paula later told us that if a man perceived his wife to be a nag, he could take her to court where his complaint could be heard.  If the judge upheld his complaint, the nagging wife could be fitted with this cage-like contraption, fitted with a bit, and locked.  

We visited the family’s private dining chamber where they would dine if no guests were present.   We learned that children under the age of twelve were expect to present themselves to their parents for a blessing, but were not permitted to sit on the furniture until they had grown to age 12.  Once a girl turned 12 she was marriageable.  Boys had to be a bit older, 14 or so.   All noble children, boys and girls, were taught to read and write using a horn book.  Girls also learned to play and read music, and to sew and embroider.

We visited the master’s bedchamber, which was also a study of sorts.  The master’s bed was quite short, even though the master himself was over six feet tall.  The reasoning here was that there was a superstition about sleeping in a fully reclined position.  Should the angel of death catch a person flat on his/her back, the angel could take away that person’s soul, assuming him/her to be dead.  The master, therefore slept sitting up.  We learned that the master was quite parsimonious.  He had carved bedposts, but only to the point not protected by the pillows.  The master’s servant slept on a trundle bed which pulled out from underneath the master’s own bed.  The bed was positioned against the wall on the other side of the chimney.  That fact, together with the curtains, kept his bed quite warm.  The master slept apart from his wife during the civil war period in order to protect her.  Additionally, the master’s bed chamber was also a place where he did business with those who came to call on him for that purpose.  While we saw a ceramic “piss pot” at the foot of the bed, we also learned that the manor house boasted not one, but two privy chambers with a privy chute that went down the height of the house to an appropriate receptacle.

The bed chambers of the children and the lady of the manor were located on the “second” floor, what we would think of as the third floor.  The children’s bed chamber was where the lady of the house was confined during her labor and delivery.  We learned that the doctor was not permitted within her bed chamber and had to stand outside of the room, conveying his instructions to the servants attending her by speaking loudly from the hallway.

The lady’s own bed chamber seemed a pleasant room and was considerably larger than that afforded the lord of the manor.   We learned that it was the master’s responsibility to take care of his lady.  She had come in to the marriage with greater wealth than her husband.  “Taking care” meant keeping her out of harm’s way on this higher level.

We visited the master’s study where he reviewed his accounts and maintained the weaponry used by soldiers who were in his employ.  Although he was initially a royalist, he switched allegiance to the parliamentarians (pejoratively referred to as “roundheads”) as the war waged.   The servant in this part of the house showed us a “Buff” coat made of buffalo hide.  She explained that this hide could become very stiff.  The men who wore such coats would soften them with their own urine.  We saw swords and poles fitted with sharpened arrowheads and a blood catcher.  We saw huge muskets and learned that the process for using such muskets included gunpowder, waddage, and musket balls.  The shooter would load the musket and then light the gun powder with a wick.  Our guide described the meaning of "flash in the pan".  Looking it up online in order to accurately describe what she shared, I learned "Flintlock muskets used to have small pans to hold charges of gunpowder. An attempt to fire the musket in which the gunpowder flared up without a bullet being fired was a 'flash in the pan'."

We ended the tour in the kitchen below stairs.  We saw where the servants ate.  We saw their trenches and the salt hole within the trench.  We learned that salt was very precious—"a man worth his salt" implied that he was of sufficient value for the master to "spend" salt on him. 

We learned that cider for the gentry was made from rotting apples and meat.  Cider for the servants was made with rotting apples and skinned rats. Yum!

We learned that children as young as five were employed within the kitchen for tasks such as turning the spit.

Once the tour was over we caught up with the students who had finished an hour earlier.  We released them to do their own thing and went in search of a shop which sold coffee in the next village.  We’d heard of it yesterday and were all in need of some buck-you-uppo.  We walked along the main drag of Nelson (named for Lord Admiral Nelson) until we spied the “Creativa-tea”

Gallery Tea Shop where we ordered a cream tea. 

It was delightful.  

We met the proprietress, Jo, who shared with us that her shop had only just recently opened and that she had intended it as both a tea shop and gallery.  She herself is an artist, but she also shows the work of local artists from the area.  It was a charming spot.  

As we shared our lovely treats, Linda decided I should open a tea shop when I return.  She talked about developing a business plan, working with the Center for Economic Development, as well as some classes within the Business School.  Paula says I have the personality to pull it off, which fits with my husband's reference to my penchant for "house in a teacup" television and film.  It was all great fun.

We had a delicious pizza dinner prepared by Linda’s team, and then had our debriefing meeting.  We reviewed our norms and expectations.  We talked about what we were proudest of in ourselves, as well as members of the group. 

Our room is frigid, so I took what I hoped it would be a hot shower.  Alas, it was merely warm.  Ahh well, it was worth it to try and get a better night's sleep.