Chips off the Old Block

A while ago we got wind of a fundraising scheme by The Friends of Lichfield Cathedral to auction off damaged sections of the cathedral that had been removed from the North and South Clerestory during the restoration of the East End of the building. Currently scattered around the cathedral lawn, the advert promised that the stones (which are 17th-century) could make a great garden feature and would come with a proper certificate of authentication. So off we went last Saturday to the stonemason's booth (above) to place bids on 1) part of a quatrefoil taken from below copings 2) the upper section of pinnacle and 3) copings from the Lady Chapel.

We'll get to know today if we've been successful. Perhaps, because the money goes towards the cathedral, we won't be subject to the harsh judgments of the monk, St Wulfstan, whose upset over the demolition of St Oswald's Anglo-Saxon cathedral at Worcester led him to remark: 'We miserable people have destroyed the work of saints, that we may provide praise for ourselves. The age of that most happy man did not know how to build pompous buildings, but knew how to offer themselves to God under any sort of roof, and to attract to their example subordinates. We on the contrary strive that, neglecting out souls, we may pile up stones.'

Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.
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A Georgian Supper at Darwin's House

The Parlour, Erasmus Darwin House, Lichfield, Christmas 2009
Well, I hang my head in shame for taking so long to tell you about a dinner for Erasmus Darwin's birthday that we attended on 12th December 2009 but better later than never! The Erasmus Darwin House in Lichfield (above) is a wonderful museum and was originally Darwin's home between 1758 and 1781. Regular readers of this blog will know about the pleasant herb garden at the back - tucked away from view behind the Cathedral Close - and, of course, Erasmus Bunny who lives at the back of Lichfield Cathedral Bookshop. The garden is a fitting memorial to Darwin, whose interest in plants contributed to our understanding of many biological processes, including photosynthesis.

For those unfamiliar with Erasmus Darwin's life and work, he was born at Elston, five miles southwest of Newark in Nottinghamshire, and he worked as a physician, first in Lichfield and later in Derby. He was a remarkable man with an endless curiosity about the world and his influence was far-reaching. He investigated topics such as physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, plant growth, nutrition and biology; he was also a keen poet whose 1792 work Botanic Garden was much admired by the Romantic poets, particularly Coleridge. As a member of the Lunar Society, he joined with friends such as Mathew Boulton, Joseph Priestley and James Watt to develop and promote Birmingham’s new industrial technology, and - perhaps most importantly - his thoughts on evolutionary biology were the catalyst for his grandson, Charles Darwin’s, famous treatise on natural selection, On the Origin of Species.

Not a great deal is known about the house during Darwin’s residence, though it’s clear that he was responsible for the way it looks today. Having qualified as a doctor in 1756, the 26-year-old Darwin married Mary Howard the following year at St Mary’s Church in Lichfield, and settled into an old half-timbered house at the western end of the Cathedral Close. The building he modified to suit their tastes, turning the back (on Beacon Street) into a grand new façade with Venetian-style windows. The old semi-circular moat around the Close was still visible at this time, so Darwin built a bridge of shallow steps and Chinese paling from his front door to the pavement, clearing the bottom to make a terrace planted with lilac and roses.

Yet unlike Lichfield's other major 18th-century attraction, the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, Darwin’s house was derelict 15 years ago and - thanks to the support of Darwin scholar Dr Desmond King-Hele and Gordon Cook (now Chairman of the Erasmus Darwin Foundation) - opened as a museum in 1999 with donations from, among others, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Development Fund. Last year it marked its tenth anniversary with a refurbishment of several rooms, while Darwin’s birthday on December 12th was celebrated with a six-course supper of classic Georgian dishes (a fine tribute to a man whose motto was ‘eat or be eaten’).

We had, of course, eagerly purchased our tickets early on, so as not to miss out on the feasting, and weren't disappointed by the authentic menu which drew heavily on the recipes of that great English cookery writer, Hannah Glasse. Despite Dr Johnson's rather predictable dismissal of female cooks ('No Madam. Women can spin very well, but they cannot make a good book of cookery') the results were absolutely stunning!

I have typed up the full menu so you can appreciate the full extent of the chef's art (see below), but I remember in particular the Christmas Pye which had turkey, goose, chicken and pigeon underneath a great pastry top (pictured above right). The Nasturtium berries and lime in the mashed potato - gathered from Darwin's herb garden - were an amazing combination. Meanwhile the starter (Salmon and scallops preserved in elderflower vinegar) was a clever reference to the Darwin family coat of arms which featured three scallop shells. Erasmus famously added the Latin inscription E Conchis omnia (‘everything from shells’) to demonstrate his belief in evolution, but this offended Canon Seward of Lichfield Cathedral, who claimed in a satirical verse that Darwin ‘renounces his Creator/And forms all sense from senseless matter./Great wizard he! by magic spells/Can all things raise from cockle shells'.

Dessert was a tour de force, and though we were absolutely stuffed, everything cried out to sampled from the plum porrige (a forerunner of Britain's traditional Christmas pudding) to an amazing almond soup (pictured right) and boozy sack posset. With port and kickshaws to follow, it's fair to say that we were pretty full by the end of it! Kickshaws, by the way, are trifling edible things (the word comes from the French quelque chose, literally 'something') and are, I suppose a forerunner of petit fours. Check out the full menu below and marvel at the skill on display!

Dinner At My Home, 12th December 2009.

Salmon Preserved the Jews' Way.
Salmon and scallops preserved in elderflower vinegar, dressed with pickled samphire.

Soup Cressan.

Yorkshire Christmas Pye.
Containing turkey, goose, fowl and pigeon, served with mashed potato with Nasturtium berries and limes; buttered cabbage; ragout of onions; carrots dressed the Dutch way; truffle and Morel sauce.

Puddings.
Plum porrige for Christmas; almond soup with jugged cherries Lady North's way; sack posset.

Preserved fruit and kickshaws.

Potted cheese.

Coffee and sweetmeats.

Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.
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In Search of Dr Floyer

The Bank Holiday afternoon also proved the perfect time to investigate Sir John Floyer: a curious local physician – forerunner of Erasmus Darwin – who was an early researcher into asthma and a keen advocate of cold bathing.

Born in 1649 to Richard and Elizabeth Floyer of Hints Hall, Staffordshire, he moved to Lichfield in 1675 and practiced medicine there for over 50 years; he believed in the careful observation of his patients and was quick to recognise the importance of measuring the pulse in diagnosis. He published The Physician’s Pulse Watch, in two volumes in 1707 and 1710, and even had a watch adapted especially for medical use (he wrote: 'I caused a Pulse-Watch to be made which runs 60 seconds, and I placed it in a Box to be more easily carried, and by this I now feel pulses’). When James II visited Lichfield in 1686, Floyer was a member of the welcome party, which gives some idea of his status.

We knew that Floyer believed in hydrotherapy (another important work of his was An Enquiry into the Right Use and Abuses of the Hot, Cold and Temperate Baths in England, 1697, which he dedicated to the Duke of Devonshire), and that he supervised immersion baptism at Lichfield Cathedral. We had also read tantalising references to St Chad's cold bath at Unett's Well at Abnalls, near Lichfield, which Floyer himself had built between 1700 and 1703 (see below for a pic close to the area).

Apparently there were two baths – one for women and one for men – separated by a wall with changing rooms attached. Later, when Erasmus Darwin settled in Lichfield, he developed a botanic garden at Maple Hayes, a mile west of his house on Beacon Street, which turned out to be the same spot as Floyer’s baths; Darwin even incorporated the baths into his garden.


Anna Seward described the botanic garden as: 'a little, wild, umbrageous valley, one mile from Lichfield, amongst the only rocks which neighbour that city so nearly. It was irriguous from various springs, and swampy from their plenitude. A mossy fountain, of the purest and coldest water imaginable, had, near a century back, induced the inhabitants of Lichfield to build a cold bath in the bosom of the vale. That, till the doctor [Darwin] took it into his possession, was the only mark of human industry, which could be found in the tangled and sequestered scene’.

We knew that parts of the baths still existed – no doubt thanks to the restoration job that the Victorians did on them - though they were still on private land. We wanted to get as close as possible, without actually trespassing, but it proved to be a frustrating mission.


Using our trusty map, we managed to get pretty close, but on finding a set of houses backing onto fields, we stopped to ask one of the residents if they knew if we could get a glimpse of the archeological site from the public road, but she explained that due to a deer-rustling episode at Maple Hayes School a few weeks before, large deer fences (see above) had been erected, so it was doubtful that we would see anything.

We rambled back the way we had come, onto Pipe Green, a very ancient piece of land, bequeathed 'to the poor widows of Bacon [i.e., Beacon] Street', which is now a nature reserve (see below). It's still managed by the people of Lichfield - any householder who has lived on Beacon Street for five years or more or any person born on Beacon Street and who has owned a house there for three years can join the Pipe Green Trust, whose objectives are to: 'maintain and repair the boundaries hereof, to preserve, plant, replant, grow and cultivate plants, trees and other growing things, to promote and encourage the growth and development of wildlife'.

It was a shame that Floyer's baths had escaped us, but we did enjoy the gorgeous view of the cathedral spires!



Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Lichfield From Above

Time seems to have run away from me last week, but - finally - here are some pictures of our Bank Holiday Monday jaunt up the spire of St Mary's, and the views of Lichfield from above - and very impressive they were too. I'll also be posting something shortly about our afternoon walk in search of Dr Floyer's cold baths, at Abnalls, near Lichfield, so don't go away!







Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Lichfield Memorial Garden

The Cathedral had a wonderful rosy glow on it just now; I couldn't resist nipping into the Memorial Garden to take these pictures.




Photographs © Memoirs of the Celebrated Mrs Woffington.

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Merry Christmas

Thank you for your kind support over the last month as this blog took its first tentative steps - it means a lot to me. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!


Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire. Copper engraved print published in The Beauties of England and Wales, 1801.
Source: Ancestry Images.


Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire, photographed by me yesterday.

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