It will be moved to its appropriate chronological position shortly.
Fine Fish an Excellent Museum and a Church Full of Memorials
But first, Ickworth House
01-Jul-2024
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| Suffolk |
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| Suffolk and its position within England) |
Being third son, Frederick Hervey never expected to inherit the Earldom of Bristol or the Ickworth estate, so he went into the church, as third sons often
did. He was ordained in 1754 and by 1768 he was Bishop of Derry and doing an eccentrically
conscientious job.
His older brothers succeeded to the title and estate, one after another. Both died relatively young and without legitimate
issue, so in 1779 Frederick Hervey became the 4th Earl of Bristol aged 49. He liked to be known as the Earl Bishop but held
some surprisingly progressive views. After dabbling in Irish nationalist politics
in 1783 the authorities decided he should absent himself from Ireland,
Now Ickworth was his he, designed himself an implausible house – two widely separated wings linked by a rotunda.
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| Model of Ickwoth House |
He spent much of his time travelling around Europe indulging his passion for buying art. The Rotunda, intended to display his collection,
was the only part finished in his life time. Unfortunately, he lost his collection,
trying to return home through France during the Napoleonic wars.
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| The Ickworth Rotunda |
The rotunda belongs to the National Trust and is open to visitors. There are bedrooms and drawing rooms, their walls covered with largely
English art…
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| Arty drawing room in the Rotunda, Ickworth House |
… and other rooms stuffed with treasure.
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| Silver room, Ickworth Rotunda |
He continued to travel, dying in Italy in 1803. He tendency to roll into town and put up the very best hotel led to a fashion for hotel
owners renaming their properties ‘Hotel Bristol.’ There are still 50 in Italy, 20
in France and dozens more dotted across Europe and beyond.
His heirs completed the house, the east wing is now a hotel, the west wing a conference centre.
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| Ickworth east wing |
We made use of the café and continued towards Aldeburgh
Arriving at Aldeburgh
We reached Aldeburgh in the late afternoon. The former fisherman’s cottage we had rented was in West Lane which connects the High Street with The Terrace. The lane is 40m long, and as The Terrace is 4m higher than the High Street, ends with a flight steps, the top being steep, narrow and with right-angled turns.
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| West Lane, Aldeburgh |
We found a parking place on The Terrace and wrestled our baggage down to the cottage.
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| Our home for the week, Aldeburgh |
The cottage felt surprisingly spacious for a two-up, two-down, was fully renovated and equipped with many things that would have boggled the minds of the earliest inhabitants, but we
believe we cannot live without.
We cooked dinner, opened a bottle of wine and watched television – living the dream!
Aldeburgh Pronunciation Guide
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| Aldeburgh |
02-Jul-2024
Aldeburgh Morning Stroll
There was no great rush to be up and out and there were some routine matters to deal with before setting out on a tentative
exploration. We encountered some sunshine during our stay, but Tuesday was typical
of the summer of ’24, threatening rain, and occasionally delivering.
With 2,500 inhabitants Aldeburgh has the design and facilities of a small town, rather than a large village. We walked to the High Street, which
is wide and lined with apparently thriving businesses and turned north, away
from the town centre.
We passed sturdy Edwardian homes….
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| Sturdy Edwardian homes, Aldeburgh |
….flower filled gardens…
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| Flower filled gardens, Aldeburgh |
….and after turning right onto Victoria Road, the attractive Mill Inn. Everything in this town is in good repair and well looked-after.
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| the Mill Inn, Aldeburgh |
Between the end of Victoria Road and the expanse of shingle beach is Aldeburgh’s impressive Moot Hall.
Moot Hall
The Moot Hall is a timber framed building with brick nogging (I have learned a new word), a gabled roof and an overhanging upper
floor, supported by intricately carved brackets. It dates from the first half
of the 16th century and could not look more Tudor. The ground floor porch and windows have been
restored, but still reflect this period.
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| Aldeburgh Moot Hall |
Originally, Aldeburgh’s town hall, it has served as a meeting place for the borough council, municipal offices and a jail. It is now
the home of Aldeburgh Museum, which does not open in the mornings, so we will
return in the afternoon.
Snooks
We briefly sheltered from the rain before moving on to the boating lake, overlooked by a statue of Snooks, the dog of popular husband
and wife doctors Robin and Nora Acheson. They came to Aldeburgh 1931 and Snoops
joined the practice in 1943. Snooks and Dr Robin both died in 1959 while Dr
Nora continued practising here until her death in 1981. The statue, unveiled in
1961, is the work of Gwynneth Holt. It commemorates the service of the
two doctors, but also Snooks who sometimes went on house calls and was for many
years an integral part of the team.
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| Snooks |
The statue was stolen in 2003, this is a replica casting. In 2013 the original was found
and now stands in the garden of the Community Hospital the Acheson’s helped
found. Some citizens have been concerned for Snooks welfare and he was wearing
a bonnet on this cool summer’s day. In winter he has various coats and scarves
to ward off the chill.
The Fish Shacks
Aldeburgh’s origins are in fishing. That industry has declined but a few boats still unload their catch
on the shingle beach. From the Moot Hall northwards, the path passes a series
of sheds perched on the edge of the shingle.
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| Fish shacks, Aldeburgh |
This is where to go to buy the finest and freshest of fish….
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| An Aldeburgh fish shack |
…. or, for a change smoked fish.
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| Smoked fish shack |
It might look like a line of shacks; indeed, it is a line shacks, but even when bought in a shack, fish of this quality and freshness can never be cheap. This was the first of our visits to the fish shacks, what we bought and what made of it is covered in a separate post called Eating Aldeburgh.
We returned home with our purchases and one of them became a light lunch.
A More Purposeful Afternoon
Aldeburgh Museum
In the afternoon we returned to the Moot Hall, climbed the stairs and were warmly welcomed by the enthusiast who took our small fee. He would never have believed it when he was young, he told us, but in mature years he felt delighted and privileged to volunteer in such an excellent local museum.
Too much was packed into one room to cover everything, but here are some highlights.
The Roof of the Moot Hall is one of those roofs that Tudor carpenters could throw up without
drawings and with precious little measuring,
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| The roof of the Moot Hall |
The History of the Coastline is told in maps. I have been unable to find the equivalent on-line, but here is a picture of the current coastline.
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| Aldeburgh and Orford Ness (Map from Bing, copyright TomTom) |
The River Alde almost reaches the sea south off Aldeburgh, but longshore drift has created a spit,
known as Orford Ness, which means the river must travel a further 10 miles
to find the sea. It was not always thus, and it will be different in the
future; there are places where the coastline is (literally) set in stone,
but much of England’s east coast it surprisingly mobile.
In Roman times the River Alde emptied straight into the sea and the coast was 3km east of its
present position. When the Normans arrived the North Sea was slightly wider and
longshore drift had started to develop what would become Orford Ness.
By the 16th century Orford harbour was in decline, but a new harbour was developing
at Slaughden between Aldeburgh and Orford (the village is not on modern maps).
Since then, the streets and houses seaward of the Moot Hall have been claimed by the sea, as has
the village of Slaughden, and its harbour
They have a 14th Century
Chest with three locks, so all three keyholders had to be
present to open it. It would probably have held parish documents and other
items of value. Whisper it quietly, but Newton Abbot Museum in Devon has a chest with eight locks!
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| 14th century chest, Aldeburgh Museum |
Matthew Hopkins. 1645 was a difficult year. Taxes were high, disease was rampant, the harvest
had failed and pirates plagued the Suffolk coast. Clearly Aldeburgh was beset
by witches. In December, they called in Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder
General. His investigation led to the arrest of seven, elderly and vulnerable women.
They were imprisoned in the Moot Hall jail, the remains of which can be seen outside
the building.
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| The remains of the prison at the back of the Moot Hall, Aldeburgh |
They were given no food and watched see if their familiar spirits came to feed them and so prove their
guilt. No spirits came, but if you leave people without food in an unheated
prison in the middle of winter, they will do anything to get out. Seven self-confessed
witches were subsequently hanged in February 1646. This did nothing to improve Aldeburgh’s
situation, but it did provide Matthew Hopkins with a fat fee. It was not the
town’s proudest moment.
Newson and Louisa Garrett
and their Offspring. Newson Garrett (1812-93) was a prosperous
businessman providing malted barley to the brewers of Suffolk from his maltings
at Snape near Aldeburgh. He married Louisa Dunnell and they had 11 children, 8 surviving
into adulthood. He was mayor of Aldeburgh 1889-90. Aldeburgh has had mayors
since 1527, but he was the first to have an official mugshot.
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| Newson Garret, top left |
So far, so unremarkable among the Victorian bourgeoisie, and it is no surprise that the photograph also includes the Garrett’s youngest son George (mayor 1898-1901 and 1906).
The next photo (almost) includes their son-in-law James Anderson, (1893-4 and 1906), and, right in the centre, their daughter (and by then widow of the son-in-law), Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, not just Aldeburgh’s, but Britain’s first female mayor.
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| Elizabeth Garrett Anderson as mayor of Aldeburgh |
But that was the least of
her achievements, she was also the first woman in Britain to qualify as a doctor.
Her formal education was sketchy and involved no mathematics or science (not girl’s
subjects) and there was no existing route into the medical profession for women.
Her long and ultimately successful battle against the establishment was won because
she was outstandingly able – when permitted to enter examinations, she consistently
achieved the top mark - and phenomenally persistent.
Given the strictures of
the age, she remarkably found time to marry and have a family. Her daughter Louisa
qualified as a doctor and became Britain’s first female surgeon.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was one of the most important women of her generation, incredibly, the same can be said of one of her sisters.
Millicent, eleven years Elizabeth’s junior, is better known by her married name, Millicent Fawcett. From
1897-1919 she led the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and worked for
women’s higher education, as a governor of Bedford College, London and co-founder
of Newnham College, Cambridge. She was instrumental in introducing the 1918 Representation
of the People Act giving votes to women over 30 (subject to some restrictions).
One hundred years later Millicent
Fawcett was the first women to be honoured with a statue in Parliament Square -
now, why did that take so long?
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| Millicent Fawcett, statue by Gillian wearing, Photo; Garry Knight (Public Domain) |
Roman Finds. Downstairs as we left, we passed a case containing a copper alloy head, a sword, some
lamps, a spoon and other local Roman finds.
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| Roman finds, Aldeburgh museum |
The Scallop
From the Moot Hall, we walked up past the fish shacks towards the Scallop.
Apparently growing organically
from the shingle beech, The Scallop was installed in 2003 as a tribute to
composer and long-time Aldeburgh resident Benjamin Britten. Crafted from
stainless steel by Maggi Hambling, the open scallop shell stands some 4 meters high.
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| The Scallop, Aldeburgh |
Walking round the back
allows you to read the inscription and appreciate the weathering of the steel and
the part-abstract nature of the work.
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| The Scallop, rear view. I have turned the camera for the inscription, the sea at Aldeburgh is not really on a slope! |
‘I hear those voices that
will not be drowned’ is from Montagu Slater’s libretto to Peter Grimes, Britten’s
best-known opera. The opera which premiered in 1945 is based on a poem from The
Borough a collection published by local poet George Crabbe in 1810.
Set in an English fishing
village the opera explores themes of judgment, isolation, and human frailty,
set against the backdrop of the sea which Britten's music makes a character in
its own right.
Maggi Hambling’s sculptures
are often controversial and The Scallop is no exception. Some locals love it, some object to the way it alters
the natural landscape of the beach, some just object to it. Whatever your view,
it is undeniable that visitors to Suffolk do come to see it (yes, we did.)
The Church of St Peter and St Paul, Aldeburgh
Walking back into town we detoured to the parish church of St Peter and St Paul. I failed to photograph
the outside where a stumpy tower presides over a low, wide building, originally
14th century but much altered over the centuries. The large windows mean the
interior is well lit.
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| Inside Aldeburgh Parish Church |
The font is an excellent
example of 15th-century Perpendicular Gothic style with the traditional octagonal shape.
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| The font, Aldeburgh Parish Church |
Unwanted attention from the Puritans means that much of the font's carving was damaged in the 17th century.
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| Defaced Angel on the font |
The impressive carved oak pulpit may be late medieval or early post-Reformation.
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| Pupit, Aldeburgh parish church |
There are memorials to Elizabeth
Garret Anderson,….
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| Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Memorial, Aldeburgh Parish Church |
….Benjamin Britten, in the form of a stained-glass window by John Piper (1903-92), best known for the
huge Baptistry Window in Coventry Cathedral. Three sections depict Britten’s
settings of The Prodigal Son (1968), The Curlew River (1964) from
a Japanese Noh play and The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966)
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| John Piper's Benjamin Britten memorial, Aldeburgh |
…and poet George Crabbe, who is now hardly remembered, but whose work inspired Britten.
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| George Crabbe memorial, Aldeburgh Parish Church |
St Peter and St Paul Graveyard
Many of the Garrett family, including Elizabeth, are buried in the churchyard, ….
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| The Garrett family plot, Aldeburgh Parish Church |
…as is Benjamin Britten, the most important British composer of the middle and later 20th century. Born in
Lowestoft, he moved to Snape after retuning from America in 1942 and shortly
afterwards to Aldeburgh where he stayed until his death in 1976. He founded the
Aldeburgh Festival which has been held annually since 1948.
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| Benjamin Britten, Aldeburgh Parish Church |
Peter Pears was a singer and Britten’s professional and personal partner from 1937 until Britten’s
death. Although homosexual activity was illegal until 1968, Britten and Pears relationship was an open secret. Provided
they behaved in public, nobody seemed to mind.
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| Peter Pears |
Imogen Holst was the daughter of composer Gustav Holst, who was more English than his name suggests. She never married and dedicated her life first to her father’s musical legacy and then to assisting Benjamin Britten. She was co-director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1956-77. Since the early 1960s the main auditorium for the festival has been the Snape Maltings, once owned by Newson Garrett.
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| Imogen Holst, Aldeburgh Parish Church |
And so ends the first post from Aldeburgh
Part 1: Strollng Round Town
Eating Aldeburgh
and much more to come
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