Synopsis: A trip out to Montacute House (NT) for Mum, sister-in-law Christine and myself. We arrived in time for lunch in the café at Montacute House. A fascinating house that contains much of interest.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album)So, what do the Roaring Twenties, silent movies, and It girls have to do with Montacute House? As it’s an Elizabethan manor house one might easily suppose very little, but there is a connection, which if you haven’t fathomed it, you’ll find the answer revealed later in this post.
The plan was to arrive at Montacute House (NT) at around midday and have lunch in the café at the property, and this is what we did. We approached along the streets of the incredibly attractive village of Montacute. After passing through reception we immediately sought out the café which we found to be almost over brimming with people. It isn’t very large and there were no takers for the picnic tables in the courtyard on this cool damp lunchtime. We did find a table and the food served we found to be first rate. By 13:00 we were primed and ready to begin our tour of the house.
Great Hall - husband gets the Skimmington Ride
The visit started in the great hall of the house. This oak panelled room has an upper frieze on which is hung numerous portraits of members of the Phelips family who built and owned the house for about 300 years. On one of the side walls is a huge plaster frieze which purports to be the story of a husband having a drink whilst he should have been minding the baby. His wife has him demanded be be given the Skimmington Ride which is a treatment designed to humiliate him by having him paraded around the the village sat rather uncomfortably on a pole.
The Parlour - chest made out of Cyrpess, 1570-1600
In the next room we visited there is a carved chest that was crafted out of Cypress 1570 - 1600. Hands have worn smooth the carvings on the lid of the chest, testimony to its use through the years. On the front of the chest however the carvings remain very distinct, appearing much as when originally carved.
Tapestry: Gobelins tapestry "The Hunter" by Neilson, dated 1788
In this same room is this sumptuous tapestry. The subject matter and the colours are quite different to what is typical for tapestries. It’s an ethereal composition created in vivid colours.
The Library (or previously "The Great Chamber")
The next room we visited was the library. As is so often the case with libraries, this is a room of quietness suggestive of relaxed repose over a good book. A number of the windowpanes (centre of photo) have been engraved with poetry.
The fireplace in the library amused me. It has two nooks on either side which I was fairly sure would have held sculptures at one time, and lo and behold there is a picture that confirmed my suspicions. The picture, to be found on the left of the fireplace, shows two nudes in the niches which obviously were too explicit for Victorian tastes, and unfortunately have been removed. I determined to put them back. Well, at least in my photo, with the aid of a little help from Photoshop Elements. Below you’ll find to the left the original photo showing how the fireplace looks today, and to the right how it would appear if the ‘offending’ sculptures were placed back in their place as originally intended. I leave it for you to decide which of these you find most satisfying.
Bath concealed in a Jacobean-style cupboard in Lord Curzon's bedroom
I just loved this. An early take on the concept of en-suite. In Lord Curzon’s bedroom we came across this bath that has been inserted into a ‘Jacobean-style’ cupboard. Obviously a man who liked his creature comforts. We came upon no other bathroom, so how guests managed I leave to your imagination.
Bedroom - Portrait: Elinor Glyn (author, interior decorator, and mistress)
In one of the bedrooms is a painting of a lady by the name of Elinor Glyn. She was apparently the mistress of Lord Curzon, one time tenant at Montacute House. She assisted with some aspects of the interior design of the house which Lord Curzon was modernising with a view to making the house a more comfortable place to live. Elinor Glyn was an author of ‘racy’ novels and worked in Hollywood as a ‘scriptwriter for silent movies’. I know, that takes some figuring. If you’re interested in exploring the novels of Elinor Glyn, follow the links on the novel list attached to this photo of her books at Montacute House. A brief history of Montacute’s Tigress is available on the BBC web site.
I had previously come across mention of Elinor Glyn the authoress in a series of television programmes about the 20s and 30s entitled the Glamour’s Golden Age. Glyn authored a book called ‘It’ in 1927. From that novel: “To have ‘It’, the fortunate possessor must have that strange magnetism which attracts both sexes… In the animal world ‘It’ demonstrates in tigers and cats — both animals being fascinating and mysterious, and quite unbiddable.” I do think the phrase It Girl has been rather misappropriated in our time as today it seems to be an appellation for anyone that evokes a modicum of media attention by their wayward antics. I suppose that’s the problem with ‘mass media’. A biography of Elinor Glyn, The Woman Who Wore Her Cat as a Collar: The Adventures of Elinor Glyn, has been written by Marleen Hacquoil. There is a lovely story of a wild party at Hillersdon House, Devon, attended by Elinor Glyn, where young men who’d swum in the lake, were subsequently bathed down in tubs of champagne.
The film It staring Clara Bow, a production by Elinor Glyn & Clarence Badger
In 1927 Glyn helped to make a star of Hollywood actress Clara Bow for whom she coined the sobriquet “the It girl”. This was the beginnings of the phrase It Girl that we use today. She effectively popularised the concept of It. I first came across the origins of the It Girl whilst watching the excellent “Glamour’s Golden Age” documentary series from the BBC. The programmes explore how the concept of glamour, as something other than beauty, entered the public consciousness during the 20s and 30s.
So, there you have it: Montacute House’s connection with the Roaring Twenties.
The Long Gallery
After the bedrooms on the first floor there was one more floor to climb whereupon we found ourselves in the Long Gallery. This gallery, that runs the full width of the house, and is the longest of its kind in England, was apparently the place to come to exercise on days when the weather was inclement. At one time large oak beams spanned the breadth of the gallery but those were removed by Lord Curzon during his modernising programme, and are now replaced with slim metal poles painted white. The walls do bow slightly outward from the force of the roof, but hopefully this has been stabilised.
The gallery space is used to display painting in a collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and the National Trust. It’s a splendid partnership, since the paintings are very well displayed and made accessible to so many more people than might otherwise see them. There are numerous important people from history portrayed in the paintings, for example Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh.
We descended the stone staircase and made our way to the dining room. There on the table an item caught my attention, sitting right at its centre. I asked the steward about it, and she happily explained that the 18th century silver epergne, which was the correct name for it, was one of the few items in the house that although once lost, happened to be recovered from an auction by someone who recognised it as representing the ‘hearth’ of the Phelips family crest. Their family motto being: Pro Aris et Focis (Hearth and Home). And indeed, the silver epergne displays the flame arising from the hearth as can be seen in the family crest above the fireplace. I do like such connections.
One of two summer houses
From the dining room we exited the house via the rear door into the formal gardens at the back of the house. The weather had picked up and the sun was shining brightly, which was perfect timing for our stroll around the garden. We headed first for the summer houses at the two furthest corners of the formal garden. Apparently the gentlemen would congregate here after dinner to smoke cigars and drink port.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Montacute House. It’s both a wonderful Elizabethan manor without, and a wide ranging collection of rooms and furnishings within. The display of portraits from the National Portrait Gallery collection added considerable interest to our visit. A highly recommended place to visit.
For further information on this property I recommend the Montacute House Blog which contains various little snippets that expand upon the scant information about the house provided on the main National Trust web site.
We rounded off the day with Tesco ready meals and wine at Mum’s. And then we watched the new Great Expectations film streamed on Mum’s television. The wonders of technology.
If you’re sat there pondering whether you’ve got that all important and ephemeral ‘It’, perhaps you should take a closer look at the film It.
To the right is the Paramount film poster for the film It released in 1927. Note the accreditation to Elinor Glyn.
A YouTube video named "Clara Bow - She's Got It" that shows excerpts from the film can be found below. The whole film is available in 7-parts on YouTube, and I do feel it has a very worthy quality. What I find particularly amusing is that Elinor Glyn makes a cameo appearance in the film (part 3/7) as herself, explaining what ‘It’ is.
And if you still can’t get enough of It, perhaps you’d like to watch “Hollywood’s Lost Screen Goddess Clara Bow”, from the BBC, 2012, available from YouTube. About 2 minutes into this documentary It pops up in the guise of Elinor Glyn, once again.
And one final word to add reality to the subject: thought by some to have been a real life It Girl of her time, this is a picture of Margot Asquith, wife of Herbert Henry Asquith, Home Secretary at the time of their marriage in 1894, later to become prime minister. Margot was described as a celebrity by at least one contemporary magazine, she has been compared to our present day Pippa Middleton, maid of honour at her sister's wedding to Prince William.
I have to say, looking at her rather dour countenance in this picture, she hardly conjures to mind the fun loving exuberance of the party girl. But I suspect this was a pose, perhaps put on to douse the vilifications of her critics who questioned her morality. A case of the public and private images not quite being in alignment, and with public opinion often so fickle, who would deign find fault with that?
I have a feeling the private Margot might have been rather an amusing and interesting person to meet. The public Margot, I might have chosen to give a wide berth.
Drive Statistics (Exeter to Montacute House):
Total Distance: 43 miles
Moving Time: 58min
Dear Robert,
ReplyDeleteI was wandering around Bridport a week or so ago. We came across 'Pam's', an interesting shop selling antique, retro, 'junk' items and I was looking through the hundreds of photo frames she has on display. Completely by chance I came across a copy of this picture of Elinor Glynn! I did not know who she was or anything about her but I liked the picture and it was in a nice frame! On the back was a reference to the National Portrait Gallery and some details of the print. I paid £1.50 for the picture and we came home to Weymouth.
I became fascinated in finding out about Elinor Glyn, I have bought and am reading some of her books and biographies. What a fascinating story and then to find out she had lived at Montacute House and been jilted in such a cruel way by her lover. It is some years since we have visited Montacute House, I shall re-visit with fresh eyes in the Spring. Many thanks for your fascinating account of your visit to Montacute and the pictures your have posted.
All very best,
David Moth.
Dear David,
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing. I think you made an excellent purchase in that photo of Elinor Glyn you've acquired. I've just done a quick search, following upon what you said was printed on the reverse of your photo, for Elinor Glyn at the National Portrait Gallery, and discovered, yes indeed, the cat photo is one of five images they hold of this lady. Interestingly I note that one of the images is a cigarette card, from which I suppose one can deduce she herself was quite a celebrity in her day.
I'm pleased you found things of interest in my blog post that told of our visit to Montacute House. I remember my surprise and amusement at discovering a little bit of the Roaring Twenties on a visit to a National Trust property, something one is hardly expecting to find. The tale of Elinor and Lord Curzon certainly added a little spice to our visit. I believe some think Lord Curzon, who thought he might be made prime minister, needed to clean up his image, hence his second marriage. But, as it transpires, he was passed over for this position anyway. The National Trust describes the episode of his liaison with Elinor Glyn as, "Montacute's Sleazy literary connection - Elinor Glyn".
I rechecked my blog posts links and noted one had failed. I've relinked "Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess Clara Bow" (YouTube), from which, two minutes into this video, there is a brief interview with Elinor Glyn. I did find in our local library the novel Visits of Elizabeth and gave it a try, but it wasn't to my taste. Perhaps you will find her novels more appealing than I did. But whatever one's opinion of her writing, one can't deny Elinor Glyn was a plucky woman of some substance.
Do enjoy your visit to Montacute House next Spring.
Regards,
Robert
Dear Robert,
DeleteThanks for your reply.
I do agree with you that Elinor Glyn was a most plucky woman who went through looking for something she never really found, love.
I have bought '3 weeks' but have not yet started to read it. At present I am reading 'The Lady Who Wore Her Cat As A Collar' by Marleen Hacquoil. It is a biography and it is a very readable and entertaining account of the Lady's life. I can thoughourly recommend it.
I still marvel at Victorian Society, the book describes attitudes and the fevered luxury of the times wonderfully well.
Thank you once again for your fascinating blog,
David.