A 17TH CENTURY CHRISTMAS AT ASTON HALL...

 A 17th Century Christmas At Aston Hall…

(1984 & 1985...)

BIRMINGHAM POST & MAIL IMAGE OF THE CHILDREN WASSAILING A TREE IN ASTON PARK...

Once I had made the decision to present this role-play experience for Year 6 children at Aston Hall, several courses of action were clearly imperative for the sessions to attain any semblance of success. Firstly I needed a costume, secondly I needed to research possible activities which were compatible with the 17th century and thirdly, the extravaganza had to be advertised. Also, not only were teachers’ notes necessary but also a pre-visit to the Hall was compulsory for all participating teachers.

ANOTHER NEWSPAPER IMAGE OF VISITING PUPILS & ME AS SIR THOMAS HOLTE...

During my own preparations however, I experienced a very odd phenomenon. I was making notes around the Hall one afternoon and found myself sitting on the floor in Dick’s Garret. There was nobody in the house, apart from security duo Pete and Phil, for Aston Hall wasn’t open to the public at that time of year. Quite suddenly, the air around me became rather dank and cold, forcing me to shiver and somehow, the silence which engulfed the attic was quite unpleasant.

I wrote a poem about that winter experience, which is published below for the first time…

Garret Chill, Aston Hall, Birmingham…

Winter. Breath shifts.

I watch it pirouette 

Then dissipate as

Greyness wisps around deep polished brown.

Alone. Gaze drifts.

I peruse the Garret

Then cogitate as

Wry shudders turn to a perturbed frown.

Fear. Assurance lifts.

I succumb to threat

Then vacate, as

Strayed wraiths hover above me, then prowl down…

Pete Ray

Aston Hall…

It was cold. There was a strange and threatening atmosphere in the room too. One of Sir Thomas Holte’s daughters was said to have been locked in a room off the Garret and had died there. I was certainly uncomfortable and left the area rather quickly…

A WALK IN THE PARK...

What the sessions entailed…

The research I spent hours upon offered some really good ideas for activities which the visiting pupils could take part in, both before and after their visit, as well as during the two hours or so they would spend at Aston Hall. 

I thought that we could ask teachers to make a kissing bough and a pomander to present to Sir Thomas Holte, also to learn the words to ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ and one other Christmas carol.

RECEIVING A KISSING BOUGH...

The children would perform a Mummers’ play during their visit and so that would need to be rehearsed at school. One script was sent to each school with the teachers’ notes, although we secretly hoped that individual schools might choose to create a play of their own. The script sent to each school was the traditional ‘St George and the Dragon’ play…

We also suggested that the children might rehearse a short piece of music in the Long Gallery, perhaps using recorders. 

Some ingredients were needed to make a fried pudding mixture in the Hall but although we provided a few of them, some milk, three eggs, currants and a grated white loaf were expected to be provided by each participating class. 

We would provide enough mince pies for the first group to eat but that group would be expected to bring around 36 mince pies with them, which the second class would eat at the Hall. This worked well and each school, was happy to help out with that provision.

The children and their accompanying adults were expected to wear clothing which was loosely connected to Jacobean times and so suggestions were made for girls to wear long skirts and white caps, whilst boys could wear large white collars (a template was sent to each school) and their trousers could simply be tucked into their socks.

YES, IT SNOWED SOMETIMES TOO...

Every school really did enter into the spirit of the event and some of the adults turned up looking rather resplendent in fancy costumes…

And so to the nitty gritty of the  suggested activities…

Carols…

I offered a choice of ‘While Shepherds Watched…’, ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’, ‘I Saw Three Ships’, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘The First Nowell’… Only one of them was needed, along with ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ of course…

The Kissing Bough…

A circle of evergreens was formed with loops of ribbon, baubles and shiny red apples and the centre-piece of the decoration would often be mistletoe. Placing the mistletoe above a candle would cause it to revolve.

The decoration was hung from a hook when it was made but never the hook from which it would be suspended when finished, which was sacred to the finished arrangement. 

Each group provided fine examples of boughs and of course a pomander and these were hung around Aston Hall for the duration of the sessions. 

A pomander, perhaps an orange containing cloves, was once thought to help a person to stay awake during boring church sermons, or maybe could be used as a charm to ward off sickness. If used in a bedroom it was also thought to ward off moths from clothing and to prevent bad dreams…

SMELLING A POMANDER...

The Yule Log…

Decorated with ribbons, the log was usually dragged home in triumph and then pulled into the house by maidens, often ridden by a youth and it was considered good luck to see one being hauled along. Received by a maidservant who had washed her hands, it would be lit on Christmas Eve and the servants would hope it burned slowly, for they were permitted to drink ale and cider with their meals as long as it lasted.

READY TO HAUL IN THE YULE LOG...

The ashes were thought to have magical qualities as a toothache cure and to rid cattle of vermin, as well as to make the ground fertile and protect the house from fire (strangely) and ill luck.

I liked some additional facts associated with the Yule Log, for no squinting person could enter the house while the log was burning, nor barefooted or flat-footed women!

The ashes from the log were often mixed with corn when it was sown in the spring to ensure a good crop… 

Wassailing the fruit trees…

Usually performed on 5th January, the eve of Twelfth Night, a libation of cider was thrown onto the trunk of an old apple tree, then toast soaked in cider was placed amongst the branches and guns were fired through them, which frightened evil spirits away. Clearly we were unable to use guns and so we simply asked the pupils to shout, scream and bellow evil spirits away instead… If the weather was inclement, we wassailed a tree in a pot inside the house…

PREPARING TO WASSAIL...

A chant or prayer was used to encourage a god of trees and fruit to help the tree bear fine apples during the year:

‘Wassaile the trees that they may bear

You many a plum and many a pear:

For more or less fruits they will bring,

And you do give them wassailing.’

POURING A LIBATION ONTO THE TREE...

The children would be taught the chant before visiting Aston Hall, although it was a little weird performing the wassailing of a tree inside a public park where the locals were walking their dogs or even riding their bikes…

PUTTING THE TOAST IN PLACE.
BUT WE DIDN'T MENTION VILLA PARK IN THE BACKGROUND...

The wassail was traditionally a mixture of mulled ale, eggs, curdled cream, roasted apples, nuts and spices…

WASSAILING IN SNOW...

Mince pies…

Once known as ‘shrid' pies or ‘mutton’ pies which contained meat, spices, fruit and suet, they were made into an oval pastry crust which represented Christ’s manger. A pastry star placed on the top was banned during the Commonwealth period and didn’t really catch on again.

LISTENING TO JANE TALKING ABOUT THE WASSAIL...

Eating a mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas was meant to bring twelve happy months ahead and each time “Happy Month!” was meant to be spoken as a toast…

The Boar’s Head…

This would be carried into the Great Halls of mansions on a gold or silver dish to trumpet sounds and at the head of a procession of lords, knights and ladies. An apple, orange or lemon was placed in the boar’s mouth.

“The Boar’s Head in hand bear I,

Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary,

And I pray you my masters be merry.”

I learned those words from the Boar’s Head carol…

Bearing the Boar’s Head, dressed as Sir Thomas Holte brought me one of the most terrifying moments of my life, which will be described later in this article…

CARRYING THE BOAR'S HEAD TO THE LONG GALLERY...

Yawning for a Cheshire cheese…

The final game of the evening, near midnight involved folks sitting round in a circle and whosoever managed the widest, largest, loudest and the greatest number of yawns would be rewarded with a Cheshire cheese. 

PREPARING TO PLAY THE YAWNING GAME...

It was clever to play this game late in the evening, for when folks began to yawn, it could be catching, setting off others and thus ending the revelries soon afterwards as folks gradually retired to bed…

The servants’ Christmas custom at Aston Hall… 

After supper and in the Entrance Hall, a brown loaf decorated with 20 silver threepenny pieces was placed upon the main table alongside pipes, tobacco and a tankard of ale.

The two oldest servants would be the judges and the steward would show into the room another of the servants completely covered by a window sheet, then the hidden person’s right hand would be placed upon the loaf. The judges could have three guesses as to the identity of the servant beneath the sheet and if unsuccessful in their identification, the servant could take a prize of one silver halfpenny, grunting thanks, so as not to give away his or her identity.

WHEN WE TRIED TO USE SHEETS FOR THE SERVANTS' GAME...

A winning contestant could only accept a silver coin if they had slept the previous night at Aston Hall and after all the silver halfpennies had been won, singing, dancing and merriment continued until tiredness curtailed the evening…

The teachers’ meeting…

I was sat next to the Schools Liaison Department Head, Jean Evans at the first briefing in the confines of Aston Hall which was an after school event of course. It was always tough presenting with Jean because she was so strait-laced, although I guess she was trying to make sure that the fledgling Department was taken seriously by the staff members, curators and security staff at all of Birmingham Museum’s sites.

After Jean had begun the briefing and then introduced me, I stood up to run through the teachers’ notes with the guests, who had all turned up (rare for an after-school briefing, I would suggest…) There was then a time for questions from the teachers assembled and one hand was raised immediately, that of a guy from Marlborough Junior School…

He told me that I would have to do without the boar’s head when his classes visited, for the children would be offended by it. He added that his children wouldn’t be able to eat any mince pies either… So, he wondered, what was I going to do about it…

I felt myself become tense with irritation and as I was about to stand and reply, Jean held onto my arm but I shrugged it off and responded. I told the chap that the children were going to experience a 17th century Christmas at Aston Hall, which included the parading of a fibre-glass boar’s head and the presence of mince pies. I would not change history, I assured him and suggested to him that if there were any doubts at his school about the itinerary, then he shouldn’t bring the children…

I then sat down, quite saddened and yet somewhat annoyed…

Other teachers, who had become hushed, suddenly applauded…

The guy approached me at the end of the meeting and said that his kids were certainly going to fulfil the bookings made and incredibly, he became a good acquaintance of mine as the years rolled by…

The irony of it all was that when he arrived at the house with his class, no comment was made by anyone about the boar’s head but when it was time to taste a mince pie in the Servant’s Hall, I remarked: to the children “If thou wouldst like to try a mince pie, thou are most welcome to do so…” Of course, the children hesitated and no-one moved, until that is their teacher instructed them: “Eat them…” before adding, “…and don’t tell your parents…”

I simply stared, agog…

Unusual guests…   

Strangely, a couple of the schools which booked during the two Christmases I produced the sessions, were Marston Green and Bromford. My cousin Steve Heslop and his wife Karen have a daughter called Claire and she turned up with her class, which was great for me and of course my own kids would eventually attend the two Bromford Schools and I knew some of the teachers anyway. 

COUSIN STEVE'S DAUGHTER CLAIRE...

CLAIRE & HER MUM, KAREN...

CLAIRE STIRRING IT...

Bromford and Marston Green performed superbly… 

Then word got round that a 17th century Christmas was being enacted at Aston Hall and Gyn Freeman and Stuart Roper from Radio WM asked if they could come along to record a few snippets for their Christmas Eve morning show. It turned out that the school to be featured was Bromford Junior School… 

LETTER OF THANKS FROM RADIO WM...

I agreed and Jean Evans told me to make sure I kept the humour to a minimum… Now when somebody instructs me thus, I rarely adhere to the rules and so, what was expected to be a five minute slot on the Radio WM programme became a two hour feature, just about every part of the session being broadcast in a series of highlights, interrupted by music.

I had used humour, of course I had and I recall sitting in my house on that Christmas Eve, taping what I thought was going to be just a snippet of the proceedings and then sweating through two hours of hilarious entertainment… I couldn’t remember what responses I had made to the children and I kept my fingers crossed but it appeared that the WM team had been so impressed by the revelries that had they featured the lot…

I don’t think Jean Evans ever listened to the recording, probably because she had been praised for the coverage by the powers that were at the time…

The actual events…

Jane Duffield was originally the maid in the sessions at first and thus featured in the Radio WM programme. She took around half of each class to the kitchen to make wassail for a short time, whilst my group stirred the seasonal pudding in a large bowl and of course made wishes.

COMMENTING ABOUT THE LACK OF STRENGTH IN JANE'S WASSAIL...

If someone stirred left-handed, I mentioned that it was the devil’s hand, then admitted that I too was a left-hander but that of course I hadn’t really murdered my chef when I lived at Duddeston…

AILYSE HANCOCK HAD BECOME THE PERMANENT TEACHER AT ASTON HALL BY THE TIME OF THE SESSIONS IN 1985...

“Do try to leave some of it in the bowl!” I would tease, if one of the kids was a little rough on the wooden spoon and I would usually admit to not having added prunes to the mixture in that year (1641) because I had suffered the aches of the belly in 1640 for the twelve days of Christmas, due to the prunes added…

ANOTHER NEWSPAPER IMAGE...

"METHINKS THOU HAST DONE THIS BEFORE, WENCH..."

"PRUNES DO THIS TO ME..."

A thimble in the mixture was thought to bring holiness to the family, a coin to bring good fortune and a ring for a happy marriage. 

TALKING ABOUT HOLLY...

SHEEPISH BOYS MAKING THEIR WISHES...

I recall addressing WM’s Stuart Roper as Master Roper and telling him that he had ‘no shining of his eyes’, probably because he had been to the pub on the previous evening… 

The Servants’ Hall game…

The game had to be played differently to the original of course because the covering of the children with a sheet was unworkable in a small space and of course the two children guessing would usually know a person by their footwear, as we found out the first time we tried it… So, we simply blindfolded the two children guessing…

I would choose the children to be the oldest servants who would do the guessing by joking they had the greyest hair and the most wrinkled faces…

The Long Gallery activities…

PREPARING FOR A HOBBY HORSE RACE...

Bromford Juniors in particular sang ‘Away In A Manger’ beautifully, as they followed me up the stairs to the Long Gallery, which was great for the radio recording but in fairness, all the groups we worked with were really well prepared.

IN THE LONG GALLERY...

Once in the Long Gallery, a race on hobby horses usually brought rousing cheers to a generally quiet house and the Mummers’ plays were always entertaining. Fair play to the schoolteachers, who had rehearsed the children so well… 

THE HOBBY HORSES ARE UNSTABLED...

WITH THE MUMMERS...

However, the unlikely crowning glory of the session was always the yawning for a Cheshire cheese game but after the very first time I tried it, I nearly left it out altogether.

The first class simply couldn’t yawn, or even pretend to. They were hopeless and the game fizzled out badly, despite the giving of marks out of ten for the yawns. The long dead Sir Thomas Holte would have made more of an effort and was likely yawning in his grave… 

HILARITY IN THE YAWNING GAME...

However, during the afternoon session, one of the boys let out such a sound that it reminded me of Frank Spencer’s voice in TV’s ‘Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em’ and I quickly responded with: “Ah, though soundeth like thou hast met my neighbour Sir Francis Spencer…” And I then yawned like Frank Spencer would have done and everyone fell about laughing. That was it… 

Any sound, maybe reminiscent of Tommy Cooper’s laugh for example resulted in me doing a louder yawn with an impersonation… It was great fun… The kids loved it and I made sure the accompanying adults took part also…

However, something odd happened when Radio WM were recording, for the child who had played the Doctor in their Mummers’ play stood to make a yawn. Now at that time, a popular band, the Thompson Twins had released a single called ‘Doctor! Doctor!’ and one of the lines was ‘Doctor! Doctor! Can’t you see I’m burning, burning…’ 

So I said: “Doctor! Doctor! I can see thee yawning, yawning…” and added that it was a song sung by a neighbour’s children, the twins of the Thompson family… The adults laughed out loud but in a break from the radio revelries on Christmas Eve, Gyn and Stuart played the Thompson Twins’ record immediately after the incident… I couldn’t believe it… Brilliant though…

The kids’ teacher, a Mr Savage, managed a fine yawn but one of the pupils commented that he should be good because he had had enough practice in class… Loved that… 

One character, Phillip, was good fun and I made him my favourite to win the cheese, then as he was about to yawn I told him to warm up with stretching, doing arm exercises and taking deep breaths… I told him to remember the story of my chef at Duddeston, should he not win… Fortunately, he realised that I was jesting… His yawn was dreadful, at which point I chased him down the Long Gallery…

CHEERS FOR THE WINNER...

However, on another occasion, Jane and I had to manage with two classes in one go, which meant that after the Long Gallery activities, to get them all back downstairs was going to be rather tough, especially as they had already begun to descend the main staircase.

I told one of the teachers that I would go down the family’s oak staircase instead and would meet the children by the roaring fire in the Entrance Hall. I nipped quickly onto the landing carrying the boar’s head but near the small cupboard/room which had apparently once been fitted with a loo in case Queen Victoria had needed one during her visit in 1858, I stepped down two of the first few stairs and froze…

And below is the poem I wrote about the incident:

Boar’s Head Spooked…

I hoisted the platter of fibre glass 

Onto my shoulder, the boar’s head glistening its own horror to appal

The eyes of boisterous children.

I was in role as Sir Thomas Holte of Aston Hall,

The crowd was milling around an exit from the Long Gallery,

Onto the cannonball-damaged main staircase,

Causing me to turn and edge along an oak panelled wall.

I hurried and slipped through another door

Onto the alternative family oak stair,

To descend to the roaring Entrance Hall’s fire,

Before toasting the Yule Log, where

The crowd would be gathered around the hearth.

Yet hesitation at once halted my progress, 

Causing me to stop one step down, then stare...

I tingled and shivered and quite ridiculous I felt,

Looking down at my rooted, Jacobean shoes,

Straining to shift one downwards but in vain.

I began to feel pressure, any progress was refused

And pushed back, becoming chilled and motionless…

Panicked and flustered, I somehow twisted my frame,

Hauling the weighty Boar’s Head platter around,

Yet cold and shaking, my own route I was unable to choose…

I scrambled back onto the landing and quickly turned tail,

Hustling across the Long Gallery’s oak floor

To follow the throng’s massed exodus…

White faced and dysfunctional, I appeared at a door,

My heart raced, yet I had seen nothing, nothing at all.

Somehow I carried on regardless like an automaton

And sang carols, drank wassail as the quintessential Lord of the Manor

But quite literally I was spooked, haunted and terrified to the core...

Pete Ray

I had failed to negotiate more than two steps… 

All had gone silent around me. 

I was unable to descend. 

I was forced to turn about and scramble across the superb Long Gallery and follow the children down the main staircase, where two security guards remarked on my ashen face. 

I was truly shaken and in role as Sir Thomas Holte, too…

The carol by the fire…

So, the session would finish with a calming carol by the fire in the Entrance Hall and during the recorded Bromford session, the pupils sang ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, which Stuart Roper and Gyn Freeman thought was lovely, especially when Aston Hall’s telephone rang…

READY TO SING...

IN FULL FLOW...

I reacted as quickly as I could and placed my hand to my ear, saying: “Ah, the church bells are ringing… I wonder why? I will send a servant to find out shortly…”

WITH SOME OF THE PUPILS...

Final thoughts…

Magical days for me but terribly hard work to keep the sessions going, especially when not knowing how prepared each class was going to be…

I was really delighted to receive my mum, her sister-in-law Cal and Beverley, one of the office staff from my father’s insurance office to watch a session and of course, cousin Steve’s wife Karen and daughter Claire were both fabulous visitors for the Marston Green session… 

WITH MY AUNT CAL, BEVERLEY FROM MY DAD'S OFFICE & MY MUM

Next: in costume at The Swan Shopping Mall in Yardley and at Blakesley Hall, once again with Gyn and Stuart from Radio WM…