Hatfield House

We finally visited the inside of Hatfield House (above) last weekend. It was built in 1611 by the First Earl of Salisbury using bricks from the Royal Palace at Hatfield. One wing of the old palace (left) remains. It was built in 1497 by Cardinal Morton. I do not know where he got his bricks. Henry VIII took the palace along with other booty when he was separated England from the Roman Catholics. All of his children lived in the old palace at some point: Edward in his childhood, Mary in her teens when she was made to serve as Elizabeth's lady after being declared illegitimate, and Elizabeth most of her life prior to her ascension. She was living there when she learned she was Queen and held first Council of State in the palace's Great Hall in 1558.

The house is the current residence of the 7th Marquess of Salisbury and contains an almost absurd amount of impressive artifacts and portraits from early modern through contemporary England including the Rainbow and Ermine Portraits of Elizabeth I. The contributions of the Cecil family to the history of England are also too numerous to recount here, but I feel obliged to mention one in particular: Lord Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. He served as Prime Minister for 13 years under Victoria and Edward VII. He not only inspired the huge statue at the entrance to the great park on which Hatfield House is situated, but he is thought by some to be the inspiration for the phrase 'Bob's your uncle' from when he appointed his nephew to Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887.

Thursday last, we saw Thelma Holt's and the Oxford University Dramatic Society's production of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors in the Banqueting Hall of the old palace. Our recent viewing of the family photos in the house helped us to recognise that Lord and Lady Salisbury were in attendance. The performance was a clever contemporary interpretation the merged live music, recorded sound and music, meta-reference, immersion, and slow-motion acting elements into it. These elements brought a freshness into the production while still respecting the language and essence of the original. Artemas Froushan and Samuel Plumb as Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse managed to distinguish themselves despite the magnificently strong ensemble. What a treat!



Photo Credits

Hatfield House: Wikimedia Commons

Old Palace: Trish and Craig Hammond

Gate Statue: Wikimedia Commons

Comedy of Errors: getSURREY

Banqueting Hall Ceiling: Victor Naumenko

St Etheldreda

Moving to a new area means searching for a church with an 8 o'clock service. Luckily, a very conspicuous church at the top of the hill in Old Hatfield obliged. St Etheldreda was a 7th-century Saxon princess who founded an abbey in Ely. The bishops of Ely apparently owned the land when a church was established here in the 13th century, so it seems fitting that the church would share the abbey's patron saint.

The porch shown is the one we enter through to attend the service. Although the tractor, has since been removed, the interior shown in the 1960 photograph marking the harvest festival captures the essence of the nave, even today.

Although not visible from the nave, one distinctive feature of the church is the tomb of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury. Cecil was given Hatfield House (more about that in another blog) by James I. The tomb has a remarkable full-sized memento mori parallel to and beneath the effigy above. The tomb was originally outside the church, but Cecil's son had the side chapel built around the tomb to bring it indoors. The chapel is much more ornate than the rest of the building.

Another distinctive feature, St Eltheldreda's bells regularly infuse themselves into our lives and into the lives of our neighbours. In addition to ringing in joyous celebration at weddings and at Sunday masses (10, not 8 …apparently we 8-o-clockers are a less joyous lot), the ringers practice their various peals most Thursday nights at 8. It is a wonderful vast timbre that blankets the hill and beyond.

Photo Credits

Tower from the yard: Wikimedia Commons
Porch: Vicky's Vibes
Tractor: Diomedia
Tomb: Svetlana and Olaf Lange

Top of St Pauls

Yesterday we got to walk onto the dome of St Pauls.

The Gherkin & Financial District                   The Globe & Millennium Bridge

The Eye                                                       Fleet Street

Temple Bar Gate                                          Paternoster Square

The Visitors 2013

Our July 2013 lives were dominated by the promise and the realisation of the arrival of certain visitors.  I was tasked with collecting photographic evidence of their presence.  Neither the taking pictures nor the remembering to take pictures is a strong suit for me.  However, I managed this meagre collection of almost in focus images.  We are both grateful beyond expression for the series of miracles that lead to these people being in this place at this time.

 On Westminster Bridge

 At Covent Garden

On a train

At Graduation

On a bus

On Southbank

In a flat

At High Tea

In a Hotel Lounge

Heading to the Radley Shop