Lound Hall, Nottinghamshire yesterday
After my various rambles, I often find matters to research and niggling questions to answer. After yesterday's walk, I wanted to find out who lives in Lound Hall, what the tomb of The Duke Of Newcastle's wife looks like, how much oil lies below the surface of those nodding donkeys and something of the history of Bevercotes Colliery. If you are an inquisitive soul, there is always something more to discover.
This is the marble tomb of Georgiana, The Duchess of Newcastle, who died in 1822 during childbirth and the principal reason why Milton Mausolseum was built. Sculpted by Richard Westmacott, you can see that Georgiana is holding her twin babies. The girl died at birth and the boy survived for just ten days. At that point, Georgiana was already dead and the fourth Duke of Newcastle was grief-stricken.
Of course, All Saints Church in West Markham is altogether a much more humble ecclesiastical building. Yesterday, I mentioned its amazing limestone font. Crudely carved, it is over a thousand years old. My own photo of it was too blurry to share so instead I will show you this picture from the Tate Collection:-
Finally Lound Hall. It was built in the 1930s for a coal mining magnate called Sir Harald Peake. During World War II it served as an orthopaedic hospital and after the war it became a training centre for The National Coal Board. Later still it was to become The National Mining Museum for a few years. Around fourteen years ago the hall reverted to private ownership - purchased by the entrepreneurial Mills family.
One of the sons of that family is called Charlie Mills and he appeared in the TV reality series "Made In Chelsea". Back in 2019, he was arrested and charged with drink driving down in London. He received a hefty fine and an eighteenth month ban. I guess he is a proper Charlie - well maybe to be fair the experience taught him a lesson. I hope so:-
I do find the old buildings in your part of the world so interesting. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSo many of my fellow citizens take them for granted Deb but I don't.
DeleteSo many questions! So few answers!
ReplyDeleteSo much to know.
DeleteSo sad about the Duchess and her babies. I guess I am not the inquisitive sort, I can see lovely buildings and wonder about them, but don't feel the need to look into the history.
ReplyDeleteThey say that curiosity killed the cat but I don't know about that.
DeleteHow tragic that the duke lost his wife and his two children in the space of ten days. It goes to show that not even all his wealth and influence could save them, and what happened to him was the lot of countless poor families every day (and in many parts of the world, it still is).
ReplyDeleteO.K. and I often find ourselves wondering about this, that or the other while we're out walking, and then do a bit of research when we're back home. That is one of the things I love about the internet in general, and wikipedia in particular - there is something to be learned about almost any subject one comes across, and often, one thing leads to another.
I still can't get over the internet and what we can find out in the comfort of our own homes.
DeleteI rather like the looks of the Charlie, Charlie.
ReplyDeleteA friend a couple of years ago said to me, 'You are very curious about everything. I am curiously uncurious'. He may not be curious but he does know quite a lot. Maybe there was some false modesty.
People often project their own traits onto others don't they?
DeleteIs there a DH Lawrence literary connection to Lound Hall YP. It sounds like Lady Chatterley's house. Her husband owned the mines.
ReplyDeleteNone that I know of. Lound Hall is quite a way from Lawrence's "Country of My Heart" around the former mining village of Eastwood where he grew up.
DeleteHaving multiple births can still be quite hazardous. It must have been terrifying in 1822. It is a beautiful sculpture.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see that marble tomb in real life. It looks as though it belongs in an art gallery rather than a locked mausoleum.
DeleteSad story about Georgiana and while I sort of understand, how odd top create a statue memory of your dead wife and two dead children.
ReplyDeleteCharlie's a nice looking fellow if he'd stop smoking; a vile habit.
Smoking is indeed a horrible habit. I guess Charlie was a bit nervous because he was standing outside the law courts. As for The Fourth Duke of Newcastle, he had plenty of spare money to spend on little projects.
DeleteI am looking at a family tree on the wall above my desk, and my great-great-great grandfather's first wife died in childbirth in 1817. A major killer of young women at that time, and something like 1/3 of babies died in infancy. Childbirth and infancy has improved become much safer really over the past 100 years. My mother was a C-section almost 100 years ago, terrifying and risky surgery at that time, my grandmother refused to have more children -(before birth control, she simply refused to have children by the one method that was within her control.)
ReplyDeleteSo many of the tragic stories surrounding childbirth have been washed from human memory. In Africa and parts of Asia and South America, childbirth remains a threatening prospect for many young women.
DeleteThat is quite a beautiful sculpture of Georgiana and her babies. Yes, childbirth has always been a treacherous affair in some instances and it still can be. If the result of men having sex was possibly death, I wonder if they would be so cavalier about it.
ReplyDeleteI like that ancient font very much.
Doesn't every reality star agree to being arrested for something when they sign those contracts? Seems like it to me.
You appear to know more about reality TV than I do. America's right wing seem to be heading in the wrong direction with regard to sex and its possible repercussions.
DeleteWell, thank you for finding out about all of these things so we didn't have to go looking for the answers ourselves. The Internet can be so helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that some sinister people have misused the internet very badly because it has the capacity to enhance our lives.
DeleteChildbirth can still be a dangerous time for women and the US has made it even more dangerous for women now. Sigh. I'm in a mood today.
ReplyDeleteAs for Charlie, I very much doubt he will change his ways. He looks like an entitled young man with rich parents and no idea of what the real world is like.
Ironically, Charlie lives within half a mile of where a coal mine was once situated - brave, hard-working and underpaid men going down into the bowels of the earth. So different from Charlie.
DeleteThat font is truly amazing
ReplyDeleteThe story about the Duchess and her children is so tragic. I'm afraid I agree with Pixie (above) about Charlie's future.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as others have said, that's a heartbreaking story about the Duchess and her twins. I can't imagine how horrible it must have been to die during childbirth, especially given the rudimentary pain relief available at the time.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Charlie looks like he has wholeheartedly embraced being a toff.
ReplyDelete