{"id":12365,"date":"2019-08-10T15:08:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T15:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/?post_type=kbe_knowledgebase&p=12365"},"modified":"2019-08-10T15:08:28","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T15:08:28","slug":"visiting-houses-holkham","status":"publish","type":"kbe_knowledgebase","link":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/?kbe_knowledgebase=visiting-houses-holkham","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Houses (Holkham)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Holkham<\/em> by Leo Schmidt is a history of the development of this house (and\nestate) in the 18th century. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourists\nvisited Holkham while it was being constructed and afterwards, in surprising\nnumbers bearing in mind its somewhat isolated position on the North\n Norfolk coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no\nvisitors book which recorded the visits, but there are entries in the wine\nbooks, kept since 1748.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The servants\nrecorded whom they had served with refreshments from the cellars, together with\nthe details of the type and amount of wine consumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This very\ncivilised habit was so unusual in country house visiting that it caused\nvisitors to record their astonishment in their diaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir George\nLyttelton wrote in 1758:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was not\noffered the least refreshment, but a glass of wine at Lord Leicesters, at any\nHouse I visited in the whole county<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Lybbe Powys\n(a remote relation to JA by marriage) wrote of even more generous hospitality:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we had\nbreakfast at Holkham, in ye gentlest of taste with all kinds of cakes and Fruit\nplaced undesired in an apartment we were to go thro’; which as ye family were\nfrom home I thought was very clever in the Housekeeper, for one is so often\nasked by people whether one chuses chocolate which forbidding word at once puts\n(as intended)a negative on the Question<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no\nofficial entrance fee, but visitors were expected to tip the servants. Horace\nWalpole wrote slightingly about Lord Bath and his wife who left a tiny (in his\nopinion) tip after visiting Holkham:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord bath\nand his Countess and his son have been making a tour at Lord Leicester\u2019s; they\nforgot to give anything to the servants that showed the house: upon\nrecollection- and deliberation, they sent back a man and horse six miles with-\nhalf a crown! What loads of money they are saving for the French!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Leo Schmidt\nobserved (on p219), obviously one was expected to leave rather more than this\nsum as a tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house was\nso popular with visitors that a guidebook was published in 1775, and could be\nhad from Norwich\nbooksellers. It stated that \u201cHolkham could beseen\nany day of the week, except Sunday, by noblemen and foreigners, but on Tuesday\nonly by other people<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visitor in\n1772, Lady Beauchamp Proctor wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

..when we\ncame to the House the servant told us we cold not see it for an hour at least\nas there was a party going round…we were obliged to submit to be shut up with\nJupitor Ammon in the Smoking Room below the Saloon, and a whole tribe of people\ntill the Hosuekeeper was ready to attend us, nothing could be more disagreeable\nthan this situation ,we all stared at one another, and not a creature opened\ntheir mouths, some of the Masters amused us with trying to throw their hats\nupon the Heads of the Busts, whilst the Misses scrutinized one another’s\ndress…at length the long-wished for time arrived. The good woman arrived and\nwe rushed upon her like a swarm of Bees. We went the usual round, all but the\nwing my Lord and Lady used to inhabit themselves, this was new done up…when\nwe came down the party vanished, but we were conducted a second time to Mr\nJupiter where we poured libations of Chocolate on his altar, that is we had\nsome set out in great form in the Leicester style<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another guide\npublished in 1817 entitled The\nStrangers Guide to Holkham Containing a Description of the Paintings, Statues\netc of Holkham House In the County of Norfolk, the Magnificent Seat of T W Coke\nesq, M.P.,…Printed and published by J Dawson, Burnham <\/em>gave the following advice, which\nconfirms Lady Proctors experience: that visitors were to \u201dcongregate in the\nVestibule under the Portico and the Saloon, to wait for the Person who shews\nthe House.” The Guide describes a route around the rooms which is still\nthe route taken by tourists today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small extra\npoints of interest are that the family apartments as described in the late 18t\ncentury show that master and mistress shared one bedroom, and that marble water\nclosets were installed in1741.The architect Matthew Brettingham was asked by\nThomas Coke, in 1738 to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember to\nmake a light (window) out of my water closet that is in my dressing room to the\nstair case<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marble stools\nfor water closets were installed in 1741 in the family wing, at a coast of \u00a39,5\nshillings each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/bama.ua.edu\/~jdonley\/austen\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holkham by Leo Schmidt is a history of the development of this house (and estate) in the 18th century. . Tourists visited Holkham while it was being constructed and afterwards, in surprising numbers bearing in mind its somewhat isolated position … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","kbe_taxonomy":[260,261,264,265],"kbe_tags":[450],"class_list":["post-12365","kbe_knowledgebase","type-kbe_knowledgebase","status-publish","hentry","kbe_taxonomy-etiquette","kbe_taxonomy-households","kbe_taxonomy-locations","kbe_taxonomy-travel","kbe_tags-great-house-touring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/kbe_knowledgebase"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12366,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12365\/revisions\/12366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kbe_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkbe_taxonomy&post=12365"},{"taxonomy":"kbe_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkbe_tags&post=12365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}