The Stars and Stripes Club Plaque - 3rd July 2008
The Stars and Stripes Club Plaque - click to enlarge |
This memorial to 112 American soldiers who died and were buried at Manchester during the Great War (1914 –1918) was recently found in our collection. The Stars and Stripes Club contributed to the refurbishing of the Manor and, from the inscription on the memorial, it seems that they had money left over which they used to honour their dead.
The memorial has been hidden in a cupboard for many years but now it rests proudly on the wall of the entrance to the Manor.
We are seeking further information about the Manchester Stars and Stripes Club during the First World War – and would appreciate any details from anyone who knows about it.
Click the image to the right to enlarge or click here for a list of the names of all 112 American soldiers so that any family historian can access them.
By coincidence, just as we were preparing to remount it, an article about the lack of memorials to veterans of this war found in the US appeared in the Washington Post.
Sulgrave
Manor is a Big Draw - 4th November
2007
A Big Thank You to all who took part in the Big
Draw, an annual event sponsored by the Campaign
for Drawing - a national organisation to encourage
everyone to get drawing.
Sulgrave Manor took part for the first time this
year. "I was thrilled by the number of people
of all ages who got drawing and joined in the
fun!" said Thea Young, Visitor Manager. "I',
already working on next year's event!" she
added.
The theme was "Family" and visitors to
the manor were encouraged to take an apple shape
and draw themselves or something to do with family
and add it to the "family tree" in the
gift shop.
The Big Draw "family tree". |
Lost to History : Samuel
Argall, saviour of Virginia? -
16th February 2007
2007 is the 400th anniversary of the founding
of the first permanent English settlement in America
and is being celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic
under the signature, Jamestown 2007. There are
a range of events being held in the UK, most of
them in London and in the East and Southeast of
England.
The great great grandson of Lawrence the builder,
John Washington is the man who is normally credited
with being the first Washington to be involved
in American history, settling in Virginia in 1657
and beginning the American line with the birth
of his son Lawrence in 1659. But John was not
the first man associated with the Washington family
who took the challenging opportunities offered
by the new colony.
Samuel Argall was the step-grandson of Lawrence
the builder and he played a key role in the early
years of Virginia:
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Discovering the short route
to Virginia via Bermuda, |
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Arriving in 1609 and 1610 with
provisions in the nick of time, |
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Negotiating treaties with the
Native Americans, |
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Charting the coast, |
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Discouraging the French from
encroaching on Virginian territory, |
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Kidnapping Pocohantas, |
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Being involved with the arrival
of the first black indentured servants. |
Was there a man who had more fingers in more early
colonial pies? Known, from biased sources, as a
tyrannical governor but exonerated in official enquiries,
Samuel Argall's role in helping the colony to survive
the difficult first decade from 1609 to 1619 is
little appreciated.
Sulgrave Manor will be trying to redress the balance
with an display on Samuel's life, 'Lost to History
: Samuel Argall, saviour of the Colony?'. The display
will be on show from April to October during Sulgrave
Manor's normal opening hours.
Tuesday
and Wednesday School Holiday Specials -
11th January 2007
A special offer!
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for charities, performing groups,
interest and social groups |
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to hold fundraising events,
meetings, performances, socials |
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on any Tuesday or Wednesday
afternoon or evening (3pm - 10pm) |
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in half-terms and school holiday
periods only |
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in the Brewhouse for £50
only (normal tariff £250) |
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in the Courtyard Hall for £100
only (normal tariff £500) |
Facility fee includes only use of the space and
a number of tables and chairs to be agreed. Additional
services, e.g. hire of crockery, tour of the house,
can be added to the package for an additional fee.
Book by phone or email. First come, first served!
Availability very limited.
2007: The Children's Year-
11th January 2007
Come and join in this special year
for children at the Manor. We are celebrating the
eleven children of Lawrence Washington who built
the Manor and, to honour them, we will be creating
special attractions throughout the year.
From April, there will be fun activities available,
a Young Visitors' Guide Book, things to do and look
for in the Garden with a special Children's Garden
and Play area.
Something extra special on Saturdays (April to October)
when once a day, at 1.45pm, the Tudor world in which
the eleven Washington children lived and played
will be recreated by a friendly guide on the Children's
Tour. Adults must be accompanied by children for
this tour and children by adults. £3 per head.
And on the Bank Holidays in May and August and the
American holidays in February (Presidents Day) and
September (Labor Day) an emphasis on gentle family
fun and house tours.
AND - a special offer for children's charities and
PTAs: Use of the Brewhouse or Courtyard Hall or
the outside Paddock on Saturday or Sunday afternoons
(2pm - 5pm) from April to October inclusive for
only £25 (including the use of 8 trestles
and 20 chairs if required; additional seating available
for reasonable sum). The space could be used for
a fund-raising event, a children's performance or
what you will. Arrangements for entry on the day
to be negotiated but funds from tickets sold in
advance to supporters to be retained by the organisation.
First Come, First Served basis. Book by phone or
email.
Textile Gift From New Zealand
- 20th October 2006
A five year project reached fruition in September
2006 when representatives of the Embroiderers
Guild of New Zealand presented Sulgrave Manor
with embroideries which will re-dress the window
in the Chintz Bedroom.
This joint initiative was launched in 2001 following
a visit to Sulgrave by Guild Members. Over the
five year period 547 pairs of hands contributed
to the work as it toured Guild branches in both
the North and South Island. And you can't see
the join!
The embroidery design replicates the pattern on
the Indian bed hangings in the Chintz room. These
eighteenth century hangings are now faded and
worn but their pattern will endure in this re-incarnation.
The original work was achieved using a tambour
hook technique; the new work is hand stitched
on a fine gauge cotton in chain stitch using a
single ply of stranded cotton trailing stems and
two threads for flowers and leaves. The new curtains
will be on permanent display for the 2007 season.
The presentation ceremony
took place in the Buttery. |
Much Ado at Sulgrave
- 24th July 2006
Shakespeare meets the Washingtons at Sulgrave
this week through an imaginative blend of Much
Ado About Nothing and the lives of the children
of Sulgrave's builder, Lawrence Washington, in
a specially written script devised by Cate Sweeney
and the company of young people at a week's workshop.
This is part of the arts activities programme
run by South Northamptonshire Council during the
summer school holidays. 14 young people between
9 and 14 years old are working daily at the Manor
with the Electric Cabaret Theatre Company to prepare
and perform this new play for their parents and
friends on Friday.
Featuring Cavaliers and ghosts, the play makes
the most of its historic setting both in practical
terms of using the grounds and house exterior
and in imaginative terms by blending Shakespeare's
plot and events believed to have happened there.
The enthusiasm and creativity of the young actors
will bring to life characters from Much Ado About
Nothing, known to be the favourite play of Charles
I, entwined with the history of the Washington
family.
"We always welcome the young arts programme
at Sulgrave but the focus this year on using the
special opportunities the site has to offer is
a particular joy" says Sulgrave Manor's Director.
"We are already enjoying watching the play
develop; the young people's enthusiasm is very
infectious and the sound of them enjoying themselves
at work in our wonderful grounds is a pleasant
addition to the sounds of summer.
Visit Us From London With
Ease On An Evan Evans Tour -
14th April 2006
If you are not familiar with British road or
rail systems, reaching us here in the heart of
England can look a bit difficult from London.
Now there is an alternative to doing it yourself!
Evan Evans, London's premier coach tour company,
have added Sulgrave Manor to their list of regular
destinations. The day trip, including a look at
Banbury Cross and a visit to Blenheim Palace,
is called 'The Great Statesmen's Tour', linking
Winston Churchill and George Washington into one
historic journey.
Any Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday through to the
end of October, with pick-ups from many London
hotels, lunch with us here at Sulgrave and returning
to London by about 6.45pm.
Evan Evans tours can be booked on line www.evanevans.co.uk
or through their reservations hotline number,
(+44) 020 7950 1777, USA or CANADA call 1 800
422 9022 (toll Free) or 1 866 382 6868 (toll free).
We look forward to welcoming you.
A New Lease Of Life For
George's Saddlebags - 9th April
2006
Move your mouse over the
photo to see what the saddle bags looked
like before restoration
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Donated to the Manor over eighty years ago in
1924, George Washington's saddlebags have been
a familiar sight to visitors to our little museum.
The years have taken their toll however - they
were, after all, about 150 years old when we received
them! Despite what tender loving care could do,
the leather was drying out and deteriorating badly.
Now, thanks to the Leathersellers, Cordwainers,
Coachmakers, Saddlers and Girdlers Guilds of London
and to the University of Northampton's Conservation
Centre, the saddlebags have a new look.
No longer dry and dark, the leather gleams and
invites stroking. So of course, we have had to
move them out of touching distance! But they can
still be admired in the museum and one can still
imagine what they must, in their time, have held
and what they must have seen in their travels
through Revolutionary America.
Our very sincere thanks to all the Guilds whose
donations made this possible.
Vote For Sulgrave Village
Shop - 21st March 2006
The Sulgrave Village Shop has received a nomination
in the Observer Ethical Retailer of the Year Awards
2006. Voting is open to anyone but votes have to
be in by 31st March 2006 at the latest so please
act now! If you would like to vote please click
here to visit the Observer web site.
More
information >>>
Transcript of Watson Chair
Lecture Now Available - 18th
January 2006
The transcript of Peter Jay's lecture "USA
Never, USA Ever" is now available to purchase
for just £4.00 including postage and packing.
The lecture took place on November 18th 2005 at
Sulgrave Manor, and was the first in a series of
resurrected Watson
Chair Lectures.
The Sunday Times Picks Out Sulgrave Manor For
Christmas
The Times Online. |
The Sunday Times featured an article entitled "Christmas
Past" on 20th November 2005 in which
it looks at Christmas traditions and their origins.
It picks out various places up and down England
where traditions of Christmas are being celebrated,
and Sulgrave Manor was highlighted as a place to
visit.
The article read... "SULGRAVE, Northamptonshire.
Back in 1505, turkeys were still gobbling innocently
around America. Instead, Christmas dinner generally
included peacock or swan for the nobility, and umble
pie, made from the “umbles” (offal) of
deer, for the peasants.
At 16th-century Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury, the
ancestral home of George Washington, you’ll
be serenaded by Wyndebagge the Minstrel, then take
a tour round the Tudor table with Kate the Cook,
discovering why it has a coffin for a centrepiece.
There are lots more titbits of festive lore in the
garlanded great hall, where you’ll be warmed
by the ribbon-wrapped yule log — unless you’ve
got flat feet or a squint, in which case it’s
unlucky to get too near the fire.
The only less than authentic detail is the mince
pies on arrival. “We used to put mutton in
them,” reports custodian Wendy Bowles, “but
nobody ever got past the first bite.”
Tours run hourly on December 11 and 18 from 10.30am
until 3.30pm; £7.50/£3.50. Call 01295
760205 or visit www.sulgravemanor.org.uk. Sulgrave
is also planning two traditional winter wassailing
days on December 27 and 28, to bless the apple trees
with honey-spiced ale.
For the full article please
click here.
To
celebrate Sulgrave Manor's reputation for the traditional
Christmas a new book has been launched.
The Traditions of Yuletide Book. |
Here, at Sulgrave Manor, we have, for many years,
tried to show how Christmas used to be. We decorate
the old house in the traditional way with evergreens
and candles and we talk with our visitors about
the Yule Tide Log, the Kissing Bough and the other
customs and practices of bygone days – Christmas
before the Victorians began the process of turning
it into today’s commercial extravaganza.
In this booklet we have gathered together all
the information we have shared with our visitors
over the years.
The booklet can be ordered by phone (01295 760205)
and paid for by a credit/debit card - £5
including postage and packing
We hope that you will enjoy finding out the background
to some of the things that still distinguish Christmas
from all other festivals – crackers, carols,
Santa Claus, pantomimes – and that it will
help you to enjoy “the festive season”.
Merry Christmas!
The
Watson Chair Lecture
Peter Jay. |
Sulgrave Manor is proud to announce the re-launch
of lectures from "the Watson Chair of American
History, Literature and Institutions", founded
in 1919, at a time when no university in Britain
had either a Chair or a Lectureship in American
Studies.
The first lecture in the new series will be held
on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 6.30pm at Sulgrave
Manor with the eminent economist, journalist and
historian, Peter Jay speaking on the US, UK and
Europe today.
The lecture will be followed by dinner at the
Manor.
Tickets are now available. If you would like to
receive further information please contact
the manor.
More about the Watson
Chair Lectures....
Independence Day : An American
Celebration
Will take place at the Manor on
Sunday 3rd July, 10.30am - 4.30pm
**STOPPRESS
- 28/06/05: "Unfortunately, the Heid-Brazier
horses are suffering health problems at the moment
and are unable to work. We are hoping that Jill
Parker will be bringing her horse instead - but
please contact
us to confirm if the horses are your main
reason for visiting."**
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Thrill to the pace and precision
of American Quarter Horses.
What is the American Quarter Horse? "He's half
a ton of poised and controlled energy, held on an
easy rein and a hair trigger. He's a workin' man
who can earn his keep on the range all week - and
be a handsome dandy at the track on Sunday afternoon.
He's proud when he stands; looks lazy when he walks
-but when he runs he can whip the tears from the
corners of your eyes and plaster your hat brim against
the crown.
He's big in the haunches, supple in the withers,
stout in the neck and wide across the chest .........
to hold his great heart. He's cow-smart and brave
- though sometimes a clown - and to the man with
the sky in his eye and mud on his boots the Quarter
Horse is a faithful hand .........and a friend."
Demonstrated by Heid and Brazier, breeders of the
first British born Quarter Horse to become AQHA
Champion.
Tap your feet to the fast and furious dancing
rhythms of the Appalachian Mountains.
Soft Option have been performing
Appalachian step dances nationwide for over ten
years and originate from Worcestershire. All of
their dances are unique - having been choreographed
by the group, using steps handed down over generations.
They are an all female group whose distinctive black/red
and white kit has become a familiar site at folk
festivals around the UK. Soft Option always dance
to a live band.
Sing along with traditional
and modern American music.
Celebrate the birthday of the
United States with a medley of Americana and hear
George Washington's ancestor tell of the family
of the man who was to become the first President
of the United States of America in the house of
his ancestors.
Herbs And Horticulture
- 11th May 2005
A traditional English
May Day Dance. |
The May Bank Holiday event at the Manor offered
a wonderful mix of things to do and see.
Christina Stapley delighted appreciative audiences
with her talks on Herbs in Cookery and Physick
in the Great Kitchen. Christina who has been growing
and using herbs for 35 years, has published several
books, lectures widely and conducts workshops
of all aspects of cultivation and application
of herbs. She presented her talks in the persona
of Lady Anne Blencowe whose late 17th century
‘Receipt Book’ she has recently edited
for modern use.
The children of Greatworth Primary School entertained
with the medieval Robin Hood play customary for
the season and a wide range of types of dance
culminating in the traditional May Day Dance.
Sulgrave Manor... As Seen On TV
- 22nd April 2005
TV's Britain's Best Breaks programme is currently
featuring Sulgrave Manor.
The 1/2 hour programme focuses on Oxford and the
surrounding area and provides a selection of ideas
for visitors wishing to spend a weekend in the locality.
The programme describes the Manor as a peaceful
place of pilgrimage that provides a fascinating
insight in to life 300 years ago.
Visit the Britain's
Best Breaks web site, or to see the footage
of Sulgrave Manor in Windows Media Player click
here.
You can also catch the full programme
on Sky Digital Channel 160, Life TV on: Wed 18th
May, Thu 9th June, Thu 30th June, Thu 7th July,
Wed 20th July, Mon 1st August, Fri 12th August,
Wed 7th September, Thu 29th September, Sat 8th October,
Mon 24th October, Wed 9th November, Fri 18th November,
Mon 5th December, Thu 22nd December, Wed 4th January
2006, Sat 28th January, Fri 10th February, Mon 27th
February, Thu 9th March, Sat 25th March, Thu 6th
April, Tue 18th April. All shows start at 6:30 p.m.
(Repeated at 8:30 p.m. on Sky Digital Channel 161,
Life TV+2).
Viking Invasion Force On The Way
- 18th April 2005
Hereward the Wake is a name that many people know
but they can't say who he was or what he did. Now
here's the opportunity to find out! A rolling re-enactment
at Sulgrave Manor will tell his story with opportunities
also to look at life as it was lived at his time
- in the eleventh century just after the Norman
Conquest. Sulgrave Manor will host a Saxon encampment
for two days from which the story will be told and
the battles fought in front of an audience looking
across a gulf of nearly a thousand years. From foreign
invaders to children playing in the encampment,
a fascinating tale will entertain and inform.
The Vikings Of Middle England, the re-enactment
group responsible for 'In Freedom's Cause' last
visited Sulgrave a couple of years ago and drew
one of the largest crowds to a re-enactment event
in recent years. They will be living on site in
the encampment taking their own personal journey
back in time. 'Living history' provides a way for
both the re-enactors and their audience to use imagination
and the fruits of careful research to enter, for
a little while, another world.
The acts of the drama will unfold during the course
of each day (between 10.30 and 5pm) with opportunities
in between to wander around the camp and look at
the crafts and living conditions of the time. The
Manor House and grounds provide other diversions
with a shop and buttery, providing light refreshments,
throughout the day.
Entry is just £7.50 for adults, £3.50
for children and £20 for families (2+2). For
more information please telephone 01295 760205 or
e-mail enquiries@sulgravemanor.org.uk.
New Elizabethan Embroideries Tenth Anniversary Celebration
- 19th March 2005
NEE Stitchers Admire The
Finished Piece. |
The final pieces of a ten year project at the Manor
have now been put in place and the canopied oak
bed in the Great Chamber stands proudly dressed
in a complete set of new hangings. The last two
curtains to complete this project were hung on 19th
March 2005 when the team of stitchers and the project
committee enjoyed a celebratory lunch.
Visitors to the Manor during the coming season (Easter
to end of October) will be able to view, not only
the breath-taking hangings but also a temporary
exhibition which illustrates the progress of the
project from its beginning in 1995.
The project has involved more than five hundred
volunteer embroiderers from both sides of the Atlantic
making it a joint Anglo-American enterprise as befits
Sulgrave Manor, a property held in trust for the
peoples of the United Kingdom and the United States.
The work is in the style of sixteenth century embroiderers:
it uses hundreds of 'slips', individual canvas work
designs applied to a ground fabric and then enhanced
and embellished with metallic thread and free-hand
embroidery. There are more than forty different
designs on the new bed-hangings, curtains, valences
and cover. The designs have been inspired not only
by our knowledge of earlier work and reference to
surviving pieces, but also by artefacts in Sulgrave
Manor. There are also references to Colonial America
and Washingtons at Sulgrave.
The project has been funded entirely by gifts,
donations and sponsorship and represents thousands
of hours of volunteer effort. Visitors travelling
especially to see the Embroideries are advised
to telephone to check availability as the curtains
are taken down from time to time for conservation
purposes.
Latest Exhibit
Opened
- 21st February 2005
David Johnson cuts the
tape
on the new deed room. |
Sulgrave Manor welcomed Mr David Johnson, Chargé
d'Affaires ad interim at the United States Embassy
in London to the opening of the new deed room
on Monday 21st February 2005.
The deed room has been extensively improved and
now houses many items from the Manor's historical
past.
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