Despite the heavy wind and rain there was a good turn out of
50 people to this years Heritage Open Day at Scampston on Sunday 15th September
Interpretation boards on the oral history work were put up in a marquee near the Walled Garden entrance.
Over
the
last few months, we have been piecing together stories of Scampston:
Indoors and Out and
finding out what life was like on a country estate during the latter half of the
last century. We
have
talked to gardeners, gamekeepers, woodmen, household staff and villagers, all
of whom have kindly shared their memories with us. Below
are
just a few of their stories and photographs.
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| Interpretation Boards |
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| Oral history cards with stories of Scampston's past |
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| Heritage Volunteers |
Scampston Heritage volunteers Valerie,Susan and Anne-Marie, together with Oral Historian, Liz Smith and Sir Charles and Lady Caroline Legard, welcomed visitors to the exhibition and discussed some of the interesting stories gathered so far.
The Heritage Volunteers have spent the last few months helping sort and start to catalogue archive material stored in the dome of Scampston Hall. The hard work of the volunteers is starting to reveal some really interesting material for future exhibitions including; letters, estate records, garden plans, game records, hawking journals, plant catalogues, and a rare WH St Quintin hawk reward poster.
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Heritage Volunteers in the dome
at Scampston Hall
|
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Intrepid heritage walkers
brave the wind and rain across the parkland! |
Paul Mosley, Heritage
Learning Office headed out with several intrepid explorers across the windswept
parkland and estate on a guided heritage walk. The walk included several stops
to highlight key buildings and interesting garden features and included snippets from the oral histories
taking in: The Ice House and its Wartime Secret story, Palladian Bridge with
its secret ladies bathing chamber, the
Stew Pond, the WH St Quintin Aviary and the
story of his Giant Bustards, hawks and grey squirrels, the Capability Brown
Parkland and its hidden vista of the deer house, and the Richardson Conservatory and Walled
Garden and stories of the gardeners.
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Walkers view the ladies bathing chamber
Palladian bridge |
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| Inside the chamber - not too inviting these days especially on a cold day! |
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Palladian Bridge Scampston
Francis Nicholson Pen and Ink Water Colour c.1790 |
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Deer House or Tea House Scampston
Francis Nicholson Pen and Ink Water Colour c.1790
|
William
Herbert St Quintin (b.1851) married Violet Helen Duncombe in 1885 and they had one daughter,
Margery Violet St Quintin. William Herbert St Quintin had a long career in local
politics, being a JP from 1875 through to his death and an alderman from
the time of the formation of the Council in 1889. He was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1899 and
Deputy Lieutenant of the East Riding. He was a naturalist with abiding
interests in hunting, fishing, falconry, ornithology and entomology. He was a founding member of the Avicultural Society of 1895. He was president
of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union in 1909. He was a member of the British
Ornithologists' Union from 1883 to 1922 and served on the council of the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds from 1908-1919
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Giant Bustard Near Palladian Bridge Scampston
His
collection
of rare birds
at the Scampston Aviaries included
snowy owls from Norway and secretary birds from the Transvaal. He also had one Tui from New Zealand. The centre of the
collection was great bustards from Spain, which he successfully bred. This
bird, ironically, had been hunted to extinction in the East Riding only a few
decades before. William Herbert St Quintin died in 1933 when the St Quintin name itself became extinct.
|
 |
Mr Taylor in the conservatory c 1920
Photo courtesy of Bryan Cowton
|
The Heritage Open Day day also included the very first appearance of the
new Scampston Explorers’ Trail map and it was good to see families making
use of this to enjoy a free (if windswept) walk around the cascade circuit. The new map designed by Colour Heroes is part of the
Education Pack development work to highlight some of Scampton's heritage,
stories, features and buildings in a fun and engaging way.
Look out for the new map and new Aviaries and Parkland trails when we open in the Spring. Giant Bustards and Scamp the Mole included! Also available for the Spring will be more education materials and information on school visits.
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| Giant Bustards |
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| Scamp the mole |
If you want to find out more or to volunteer at Scampston, please contact Paul Mosley our Heritage Learning Officer or Oral Historian - Liz Smith. Or look out for more on the Scampston Website.
