Knebworth House is too small. Not for living in. No sympathy expected there. But too small for the extraordinary collection of historical artefacts that have been collected by 19 generations of the Lytton family. As a living museum, that collection continues to grow, and two of our most popular exhibits now are our Film and Music exhibitions covering movies-made and concerts-held over just the last 50 years. Thus, for the majority of our pre-20th Century collection we are particularly grateful to HALS, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, in Hertford for acting as current custodians.
A few weeks ago Martha and I, and Edward and Helena, attended the launch of the digitisation of the Lytton family archive at HALS, and were reminded of some of its fascinating treasures. For example, this Letter of Patent from King William III and Queen Mary II “to our beloved subjects, the inhabitants of the town of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, that they and their successors may have and hold one market every week on Friday, and one fair each year for three days, namely on the Tuesday before the Feast of St Michael the Archangel and the two days next following, in the said town of Stevenage… without any impediment, molestation, disturbance or contradiction of us, our heirs or successors, or of any officer or minister of us whatsoever.”
As I write this Stevenage is a maelstrom more than a market of Christmas shopping, so clearly we are still living free of the King & Queen’s molestation and contradiction in this respect. I just need to be conscious that I, personally, don’t need any more artefacts. Knebworth House doesn’t have room for them. Unless they are of historical interest of course.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH
@HenryCobbold
