An English interlude 2: West Yorkshire

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Kiplin Hall from the gardens

Kiplin Hall

After our few days in Ullswater we set off for West Yorkshire to stay with our friends Valerie and Kenn in Bramham. On the way, we stopped in North Yorkshire to visit Kiplin Hall, a Jacobean house constructed between 1622 and 1625 for George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, after whom the American city is named. (He obtained a charter from Charles I for a colony centred on Chesapeake Bay which he named Maryland after Charles’s Queen Henrietta Maria.)

After the Calverts the house passed through the hands of three other families until 1971 when its last private owner, Bridget Talbot, died and it is now run by a Trust. I had never visited before but my interest was piqued on reading in a magazine that the house is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year.

We started by looking round the gardens before approaching the main door of the house. The crest above it is that of the Carpenters, one of the later families to own the house. The motto, Per acuta belli, translates as Through the asperities of war.

Kiplin Hall gardens
Lady Tyrconnel’s garden
Dahlia
Cynara / artichoke
Carpenter crest
Main entrance

I enjoyed looking round the interior, the Library being an especial favourite. I liked what looks like an early version of Scrabble and the panel acknowledging the owners’ role in the slave trade. The last image below represents Kiplin during the Second World War when it was used as an ammunition dump and Officers’ Quarters.

Kiplin and slavery
Library piano
Library
Dining room
Lady reading
Bedroom
Kiplin in wartime

Finally, we took a stroll round the lake before resuming our journey.

Folly from across the lake
Lakeside Folly
Hall from across the lake

Harewood House

On our first day with V&K we went to Harewood House, somewhere which had been very familiar in our days living in Yorkshire but which we hadn’t visited for decades. Harewood was built in the 18th century by Edwin Lascelles whose family were Caribbean sugar merchants actively exploiting thousands of enslaved African people to make their business profitable. Once again I was happy to see this made explicit both on the website and in exhibits, including in a temporary exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversaries of the landscape painter JMW Turner (1775-1851) and novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817).

Austen, Turner and slavery
Silence and slavery

Another part of the exhibition was a display of costumes from film and TV productions of Austen novels, including two from the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice of 1995 – the best ever Austen adaptation in my opinion. Other opinions are available, but they are wrong.

Costumes from Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility
Costumes worn by Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy

We enjoyed the rest of the interior:

Bedroom
Bedroom
Great Hall
Dining room
Kitchen
Arthur France
Missing portraits
David Harewood

And the gardens and grounds:

House and statue of Orpheus
Gardens
House and gardens
Lake
Harewood Stupa (2004)
Old, tatty + interesting

The last image above is from the second-hand bookshop, something which we noticed on this trip that many stately homes and castles now have. I loved the classification of this shelf and feel it could easily be reused elsewhere, including for library volunteers of a certain age …

RHS Harlow Carr

On our second and final day we went with Valerie to the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Harlow Carr near Harrogate, another very enjoyable visit.

The next day it was time to pack up again and head for our next destination – Derby.

England, UK , , ,

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  3. I’m late to the party here, but so glad you made time to stop off at two of our local playgrounds (well, stately ‘omes I suppose), both of which always give a good account of themselves,

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  6. I’ve wanted to visit Yorkshire ever since I read James Herriott’s books. And as an American, I tend to think of slavery only in terms of our own country’s shameful history in that department. But you’re right, it was prevalent in the caribbean and other countries as well. I still don’t understand how society can ever accept one person “owning” another, but history is full of examples of just that. Thank goodness some people were brave enough stand up to it!

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    • The British Empire was dependent on slavery. I look round Glasgow and so much of it was built on the wealth that came from sugar, cotton, tobacco – all through the labour of enslaved people. Horrific. On a lighter note, I’m sure you’d love Yorkshire – in a couple of posts I’ll be into “Herriot country”.

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  10. Hi Anabel – what an interesting trip – I’d love to visit them all, but Kiplin Hall entices … thanks for the photos – I’ll have to be back to look through … life is taking over at the moment – cheers Hilary

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  13. I’ve only been to Kiplin once- a February visit to see snowdrops and aconites. It might have been sensible to go inside but we had a very small person with us. Harewood, on the other hand, is just down the road from the not so small now person, and his youngster, and we’ve done the full Monty. Harlow Carr- well, we were once members. Preaching to the converted. We might manage YSP this trip but it’s a packed itinerary xx

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  14. Beautiful buildings and gardens. Don’t know Yorkshire at all, apart from the rock climbing areas. Didn’t know much about Jane Austen either, (apart from her book films) until I watched a recent life story about her. Amazing just how many writers from that time period were taken out early by TB or other illness. Luckily, they just lasted long enough to be remembered by history and make an impact. Bob. BSS.

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    • Yorkshire is really lovely – though I know nothing about its rock climbing! It sounds as though you watched the same Jane Austen programme that i did a few weeks ago. Though I’ve been a fan since my teens I still learned more about her. I’m sure she would have had many more books in her.

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  15. Wonderful to see these interesting properties and garden through your eyes , photos and commentary. I especially enjoyed the tour of Harewood House with the links to Jane Austen and the display of costumes.

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  21. I’ve been to Harewood House, many years ago, but not to Kiplin. Like you I am pleased to see that they both now acknowledge the part that slavery played in creating the riches that financed these houses. The Jane Austen exhibition particularly appeals to me and again I am glad that they picked up on her subtle anti-slavery stance in Mansfield Park.

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  22. Another interesting part of Britain I am not very familiar with. We have been to York on our way to Scotland in 2004 (I think it was) but only had time to visit the cathedral and the city centre…Always glad to do virtual tours of new areas. (Suzanne)

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  23. My old stomping ground Anabel as I grew up in West Yorkshire and my dad still lives in Harrogate! I’ve been to Harlow Carr many times – it was just down the road from my dad’s old flat and it’s beautiful at any time of the year. Harewood House was somewhere we went as kids (they used to have an exotic bird garden there) but I always remember my mum going on about the slave trade and I only remember going inside the house once. I’m glad they make this unpleasant history explicit both on the website and the exhibits. I would love to see the costumes from Pride and Prejudice – yes I agree the BBC’s 1995 adaptation was the best! Looks a lovely interlude 🙂

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  24. Such fabulous places to visit Anabel. The rooms in both Kiplin and Harewood look so opulent and I love the ornate bed at Kiplin. Interesting to read about the slavery connections too. The book classification and the reference to yourself made me laugh – interesting you may be but old and tatty, never😀 I don’t know how feasible it would be for me to get to either or both of these places but I must try to make an effort sometime, they look too good to miss.

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  25. Harewood House is the only one of these that I know. Like you, I was impressed by the acknowledgment of the role slavery had in the fortunes of the family owning it. Kiplin Hall looks worth a visit? And I’m looking forward to seeing what you made of Derby, my local city!

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    • Yes, I would recommend Kiplin. There was also a woodland walk I think which we didn’t have time to do. As on our previous visit we didn’t go into the centre of Derby at all, though at least the places we went to were in Derbyshire rather than Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire as two years ago!

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      • Wise move! I spent the last 20 years of my working life based in Derby city centre, and can confirm you didn’t miss much! But DerbySHIRE has lots to recommend it, and I’ll be fascinated to learn where you went and what you made of it.

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