THE RAY/HEDGES FAMILY HISTORY BLOG...

Friday, June 17, 2022

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…

Thursday, June 9, 2022

TEACHING AT ASTON HALL IN THE MID-1980s: part one, THE TOURS WITH PERRY COMMON SCHOOL...

Aston Hall & Teaching There…

One of the initial requests I received whilst working in the Schools Liaison Department of Birmingham Museums was to prepare myself for a few teaching sessions at Aston Hall. The Jacobean mansion which sits in Aston Park, sandwiched between my old secondary school and Aston Villa’s football ground, had been built between 1618 & 1635 for Sir Thomas Holte, who had enclosed parkland in Aston whist living at nearby Duddeston Manor.

1656...

Despite having attended King Edward’s Grammar School at the top end of Aston Park and later possessing a season ticket at Villa Park at the lower end of the grounds, incredibly I had never once set foot in Aston Hall. I had done cross-country runs around it, thrown snowballs near the house and had used the slopes leading from it for sledging upon during a couple of snowy winters until an idiot broke his arm. My father parked his car outside the school when attending Villa matches too and we had walked right past the entrance of the house on many occasions…

1744...

Originally, where Villa’s football ground is now sited was the Holte family’s cess pit, for all waste would run down the parkland slopes and collect in a boggy area well away from the Hall…

Now if you’ve ever wondered why Villa have sometimes played like shit at home, that could possibly be one of the reasons…

However, my brief was to prepare a tour of the house for some difficult groups of secondary pupils from Perry Common Comprehensive School, Year 9 or 10 I believe and so I drove to Aston Hall and met its superintendent, John Heylings, ‘Mr Aston Hall’.

Luckily he and I gelled and he was kind enough to give me the sort of tour which he used for booked groups of adults at weekends or during some evenings. Added to his anecdotes, I took information from the accepted histories of the house but most of all from my own observations, thinking of what might interest some awkward, possibly unruly teenagers.

The groups were each of about a dozen pupils and the ‘tours’ would last for about 75 minutes, after the kids had made their own way to the Hall by bus. They would meet the teacher at the main entrance and she was a mild lady who one could only guess had ‘drawn the short straw’…

After John Heyling’s retirement and when Oliver Fairclough left his curatorial post for pastures new, I remained as the only person who really knew stuff about Aston Hall, which was a trifle odd. However, that first session with Perry Common began in a dreadful manner because of one unpleasant teenager who was clearly a real troublemaker.

The teacher had already met several of the pupils and I watched them being herded towards the Hall’s entrance but she was apparently enquiring of the others where three missing girls might have got to. I met the group at the door and the teacher asked me to hang onto them while she went in search of the stragglers. I took the kids inside the Entrance Hall and I kept an eye on the teacher through the windows as she hurried away but the missing girls came into sight almost immediately.

However, I had introduced myself to the pupils inside the Entrance Hall and had added that I would try to make sure that I didn’t bore them, at which point one lad spat out the words, “I’m bored already…”

THE ENTRANCE HALL...

Now I should remark here that I have a lot of patience with other folks and possess barely any kind of bad temper but I knew I would be judged on my next move by the lad, his classmates and also the security guards Pete and Phil who were hovering, waiting for the teacher to sign in with her name and how many kids she had in tow.

My turn on that kid was fast and I moved to within centimetres of him, bellowing into his rather shocked and terrified face: “I haven’t even started yet… How dare you speak at me like that…” He was thus forced to retreat towards the windows and I covered his movements, staying close to him and glaring into his eyes… His peers became silent, Pete and Phil exited the room with some haste and they told me afterwards that they thought I was going to beat the lad up…

I didn’t need to be physical though because he feared me and of course when the teacher and her three mardy stragglers arrived, she commented on how well the others were behaving, casting a surprised glance at the silent, sullen boy I had castigated. I had to deal with the signing-in book though, for the two security guards hadn’t returned to the entrance from hiding in their mess-room. And then I began my tour…

The session went really well and the pupils experienced a real mixture of humour, conversation and relevant anecdotes, without any need for more than a few dates and little of the typical historical jargon often blurted out by guides in other mansions and properties, none of which would have meant anything to youngsters like those. They were terrified too, by one or two ‘haunted house’ references…

The kids were great to work with, even the lad I had clashed with earlier and as the group was about to leave the teacher expressed her gratitude to me. The kid who had cheeked me when the group had arrived hung back however and duly apologised for what he had said, which surprised me and he also told me that he had enjoyed a great time. “You weren’t bored, then?” I asked. He shook his head with a smile and we shook hands…

I would teach a few more Perry Common groups at Aston but there was never a problem because I think that word might have got round that the pupils would enjoy their afternoon out of mainstream teaching…

I would later teach the same Perry Common groups about ancient Egypt in the Museum & Art Gallery and they loved those sessions too, which I will discuss in a future article…

THE SERVANTS' BELLS, WHICH ALWAYS CREATED CONVERSATION...

So, the Aston Hall tour was a delicate balance between fact, legend and observation and conversation, which worked well with the Perry Common youngsters. We chatted about changes made to areas such as the Great Parlour, which was originally used for family dining but had then been converted into a chapel in 1700, its floor being lowered by about a metre. It then reverted to being a parlour in 1870 and the floor was raised again. Legend has it that human remains were found at that time… The pupils were already using their imaginations…

GREAT PARLOUR...

At the foot of the Great Stairs there was a wooden chair but when I asked the class: “When is a chair not a chair?” the kids looked quizzically at me and I would then ask one of them to take hold of the right armrest and pull… To everyone’s surprise it began to reveal a space behind and I then continued: “When it’s a door…” Gosh, they loved that and conversations began about whether it was a hiding place for priests, or perhaps the entrance to a secret passage. I would then chip in with: “Or simply a cupboard…”

GREAT STAIRS...

THE CHAIR/DOOR...

Having seen the less decorated Oak Staircase later during the tour, we would discuss why the Great Staircase was so lavishly carved. A clue was that guests would be taken up those stairs to the Great Dining Room and of course the kids would quickly suggest that the route was meant to impress the diners, whilst the other stairs were for the use of servants and staff, offering a glimpse of the hierarchy in Aston Hall in the class conscious society of the 17th century.

OAK STAIRS...

It was said that the housekeeper would show guests some damage to the upper section of the staircase, telling them that it was Civil War cannonball damage from when the Hall came under attack from Parliamentarians on 18th December 1643. In truth however, it is tough to confirm that legend because of the lack of visible damage elsewhere, even to the outside walls. The cannons were apparently also fired from a position which would make the chances of striking the main staircase inside the Hall rather slim. But who knows?

THE LEGENDARY DAMAGE...

We looked for two animal representations in the decoration of the house too: the Holte family’s squirrels and the younger James Watt’s elephants. Watt lived at Aston Hall in the 19th century. The animals could be spotted carved from wood and also of course in the plaster work on and close to ceilings. Discussing furniture, pottery and paintings were not options during those tours because it was imperative not to ‘bore’ the listeners with endless names of artists and dates of items which weren’t even displayed in Aston Hall during its heyday. We did discuss the size of family portrait paintings though, by me asking if the pupils had photos of themselves or their families on the walls of their homes. They would of course usually admit that yes, they did but they soon realised that with no photography in the distant past, artists had to paint portraits to fit the heights of walls in mansions… Obviously we would then chat about sittings for artists and the time taken to complete family portraits, during which time one or more of the subjects could conceivably have died before the paintings had been completed…

ONE OF THE HOLTE SQUIRRELS...

One carved profile upon the fine fireplace in the Great Dining Room always looked remarkably like Queen Victoria to me, who, along with husband Prince Albert visited Aston Hall in 1878. A toilet had to be installed for her use too but she didn’t use it… The kids liked that story, especially as I would open the door of the said closet which at that time contained the controls for lights and alarms, etc.

QUEEN VICTORIA AT ASTON HALL ON 15TH JUNE, 1858...

QUEEN & CONSORT IN THE KING CHARLES BEDCHAMBER...

QUEEN AND CONSORT IN THE GREAT DINING ROOM, WHICH WAS LATER JAMES WATT'S LIBRARY...

King Charles I slept one night at Aston Hall, on 18th October 1642, en route from Shrewsbury to London and of course the room where he slept has become ‘King Charles I’s Bedchamber’. A copy of a fine and recognisable painting of the King actually covered a complete window in that room when I taught at Aston. Strangely, due to the fact that Sir Thomas’ son Edward had married against his father’s wishes, Sir Thomas disinherited Edward, even though the son actually held a privileged position as groom of the King’s bedchamber, until he died of fever at the Royalists’ headquarters in Oxford. Edward had been injured at the battle of Edgehill on 23rd October 1643 but then died just five days later.

THE KING CHARLES BEDCHAMBER...

EDWARD HOLTE...

The pupils were shocked that in one Drawing Room, there was flock wallpaper, made to replicate a small piece of the original decoration found in the room in the early 1980s. After the copied wallpaper was completed, each roll cost Birmingham Museums £200 and there were thirteen of them used…

A discussion would always be lively at this point because of the idea of a ‘withdrawing room’, to where male guests would retire after dinner, to smoke, drink and converse, whilst women would likely remain in the dining room. The opinions of girls in particular would often become feisty and I would always agree with them…

The Long Gallery was always liked by visitors because of its brightness and its remarkable wooden floor. Just looking at it, gazing along it and regarding its typically splendid ceiling and general decoration needed no words or urgings like ‘look at this’ or ‘look at that’… Learning that the gallery was used for leisure, such as walking and exercising when the weather was inclement, always seemed to surprise visitors. Clearly the gallery was positioned so that as much sunlight would be shining on it during the day as possible. However, the coat of arms on the window became a talking point, for it contained a bloody hand…

THE FINE LONG GALLERY...

Thomas Holte was knighted when he was one of a number of influential fellows who travelled north to welcome Scotland’s James VI into England to become James I here, following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. That title apparently cost Thomas £100 but he was later well off enough to buy the title of Baronet too, which gentlemen were invited to do, so that the King would be able to fund soldiers to suppress uprisings in Ireland. This time, Sir Thomas dished out £1095… He was the 97th of 200 Baronetcies handed out by the King on 25th November 1611. The bloody hand was thus painted onto the coats of arms of contributors to the blood shed by the Irish in fatal skirmishes…

THE BLOODY HAND APPEARS...

The kids were always shocked by that but then I would tell them about Sir Thomas’ cook at his previous home in Duddeston…

The story has some truth in it certainly, for Sir Thomas was accused of cleaving his chef’s skull into two pieces, each section dropping onto his shoulders beneath…

It appears that Sir Thomas had been out hunting with a group of friends and he was boasting that his chef was excellent and a fine timekeeper. He told his peers that he knew exactly what his chef would be doing when the party returned to his home, which was at that time at Duddeston Hall and of course Sir Thomas expected his forecast to be correct.

However, the chef wasn’t where Sir Thomas had bet his friends that he would be and due to the embarrassment and humiliation caused in front of the company, he eventually lost his temper and cleaved the chef’s head. Or so the tale went…

However, Sir Thomas took William Ascrick (spelt in many ways) to court on 13th July 1608 for his slanderous accusations about the assault and although damages of £1000 were asked for when the accused was found to be guilty, Sir Thomas only won £30. Ascrick soon appealed to the Court of King’s Bench however, which because no accusation of actual murder had been brought by the defendant against Sir Thomas, the judgement went in favour of Ascrick. It was a loophole, for no mention of a dead body had been made and indeed, the cook might well have been alive, so the appeal succeeded…

Maybe Sir Thomas got away with one there, for incredibly he later acquired a pardon from King Charles I for previous misdemeanours and even suspicions of the same! It seemed that being a landowner and quite rich, not to mention being a Knight and a Baronet served him well…

The Nursery in Aston Hall contained some toys which would always trigger conversations about comparisons with today and how playing has changed so much since those days.

Dick’s Garret, a loft, or attic at the top of the house was very popular with visitors, partly because of the armour on display and I guess that the forty Royalist musketeers sent from Dudley Castle, who manned the house when it was attacked in 1643 would have spent time there…

DICK'S GARRET...

However, there is a legend that Sir Thomas locked one of his daughters inside a small room off the Garret because she had refused to marry the fellow chosen for her. The story goes that she was obstinate and continued to refuse the marriage, not eating and eventually passing away. It is her ghost which has been reported walking though the Hall, dressed in green…

It is worth remembering though that Sir Thomas wanted to disinherit his son Edward for making a marriage of his own choice, to the irritation of the King himself…

Descending the less ornate oak staircase, the pupils would be shown the Servants’ Hall and the Kitchen, as well as the servants’ own staircase, which of course would have been used whilst food was being carried to dinner guests, despite the spiral nature and narrowness of the steps. Questions about the probability of food remaining hot were often asked…

THE SERVANTS' HALL, ONCE THE KITCHEN...

The Servants’ Hall housed a brilliant box mangle, a huge thing which would have needed some muscle in order to turn the handles of and squeeze excess water from washed laundry. Despite ignoring most dates or even discussing the ages of various items of furniture and paintings, I would always point out the oldest item in the house which was situated in the Servants’ Hall, a 14th century wooden chest.

On into the Kitchen we would walk together and the conversation would really take off into a comparison between what was in that room to what the students were used to at home. Items regularly discussed included the meat safe, the spit, the pestles and mortars, the predominance of meat eating and of course yet another huge fireplace, the smoke from which would be added to by the other fireplaces already seen in the Hall, doubtless causing woodsmoke to billow across Aston’s lower grounds…

THE KITCHEN & TURTLE SHELL...

A giant turtle shell on one wall was always commented upon, even though it had no relevance to Aston Hall at all, it not being a squirrel or an elephant. It had once been on display in Birmingham’s Museum…

The kids were also surprised to learn that the ends of the two arms of Aston Hall which jutted out from the front of the house were lived in at that time by security staff and their families…

THE LODGES PROTRUDE AT THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE...

Aston Church was clearly visible at the bottom of the hill and as everyone was expected to attend Sunday services in the 17th century, it became clear to the students that the servants would walk down to the church, then uphill back to the house, whilst family members would likely be transported each way by horse-drawn carriage.

The tour ended with mentions of the Entrance Hall and the Gatehouses, from anecdotes relayed to me by John Heylings. First, he had told me that once he was about to begin a tour of the house with an adult group and he was standing near the arch in the Entrance Hall welcoming the visitors. Quite suddenly, he felt himself being lifted from his body towards the windows opposite and for several moments he watched himself speaking to the guests. His spiel continued as he watched, until he felt himself lifted over the heads of the visitors again and back into his suited torso…

THE GATEHOUSES...

Maybe sometime in the period from the 1920s to the 1950s, it was said that a nightwatchman who had been posted in the gatehouse (sadly demolished in 1959) was disturbed during the dark hours of one night by a light shining from inside the windows of the locked Hall at the top of the incline, which appeared to slowly shift between areas.

The legend was that the fellow took his lantern and went to investigate but was found dead on the grassy area outside the main entrance early the following morning. He had an expression of fear on his face and the main door of the house was as wide open as his eyes…

Many years later when the house was fully alarmed, security was alerted one night when several alarms went off, one after the other. First the Entrance Hall, then the Oak Stairs and then the Long Gallery, as if someone or something had intruded… After being reset, the alarms soon went off again but in reverse order, which apparently confounded the staff. No sign of an intrusion by humans or other animals was ever discovered…

So, in the autumn of 1984 I decided to try to put together a 17th century Christmas session for Key Stage Two pupils and it became one of the best decisions I ever made in my working life.