Henry Lytton Cobbold

This month marks exactly 10 years that I have been writing a monthly piece for the Knebworth Parish News.  Those who know me know I keep everything – my excuse is I live in a museum, and every piece of plastic will be fascinating in 100 years time!   So you won’t be surprised to hear that all 120 articles are available to revisit on the Knebworth House website at www.knebworthhouse.com/blog  I don’t see you all rushing to your computer screens – but it will be an interesting historical record one day!

Looking back at my very first piece in December 2005, I see I was telling you about our upcoming fireside reading of “A Christmas Carol”.  This year, after a break of a couple of years, I am delighted to be inviting you back to the Banqueting Hall for our upcoming fireside reading of “A Christmas Carol”.  For one night only – Friday 11^th December – brilliant local actor and musician Wesley Hughes will perform his version of everyone’s favourite Christmas spirit raiser, with carols sung by himself and guests.  Welcome back, Mr Dickens!  Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!

Knebworth House, meanwhile, celebrates its 525 years of modern history with all eight of its iconic tower-top weather vanes present and working – something that hasn’t been the case in my memory.  Again, change and no change.  Amidst the slings and arrows of heritage preservation that’s called progress!

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

I have been reading old descriptions of Knebworth House, from before 1811, when Mrs Bulwer Lytton knocked down three quarters of the old Tudor house and “did up” the west wing, making it the house we know today.  The four original Tudor wings surrounded a courtyard, the entrance to which was through the archway of an old tower, which was possibly even older than the Tudor house.  We can get a sense of this entrance today, because the old tower and arch were rebuilt to the same basic design using brick from the demolished house on the Hitchin road as “Tower Lodge”.  Dr Kite and his family used to live there and I remember being shown how the tower had been converted into a “tower shower”!

It is harder to imagine what the old façade and the courtyard used to look like.  But we have a clue, in that Edward Bulwer Lytton wrote that he remembers it looking like the front courtyard of Knole House in Kent.  Having not ever been to Knole (the birthplace of Vita Sackville-West, and apparently the largest private dwelling in the country, with four acres of roof!), I was determined to go see for myself.  It was remarkable approaching Knole, as it does look very much like the drawings of the old Knebworth House, and standing in the front courtyard I could very easily imagine myself back in Tudor Knebworth.

www.knebworthhouse.com

There has been a lot of interest in the collection of glass slides from the 1890s that I mentioned last month.  So I thought I would forgo text this month for the two images of Park Lane, before it was paved.  These days, the questions at the Parish AGM are about potholes and dog mess – I imagine the questions back then were about mud and horse mess!  The biggest difference I see, is that I can’t imagine our community today hanging a big sign over the lane saying “Welcome”, not for any reason.  Can you?

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

Stanley Milsted was an accountant from East Barnet.  He died in 1966, aged 88.  What his connection is with Knebworth is a mystery.  However, through him – and the thoughtful and kind donation of Neil Olsen, the son of Stanley’s neighbour – our Archive now holds a fabulous collection of glass slides of Knebworth in the 1890s.  There are images of Park Lane before it was paved, various early houses, the station, a wedding at St Mary’s Church, and of course lots of images of Knebworth House and Park.  Some of the slides have been beautifully hand-coloured.  All are a fascinating glimpse into the past.

Two of the slides show the Garden Front of Knebworth House, and their surfacing is particularly serendipitous this week as they show the central west elevation beasts that, also this week, have been restored to their battlement posts for the first time in as long as anyone can remember.  Beautifully sculpted in Newmarket by Spectrum Stone, they represent the most visible element of the current restoration project (half of phase 6 of 10) that, more crucially, is about securing the roof behind and beneath them.  Perhaps we should call the two with angel wings Stanley and Neil?

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

Just before Christmas two of our elves disappeared.  There is a poetic explanation for this.  And there is the sad reality.  They were stolen.  I say “stolen”, but one was actually ripped from his boots – without which he can’t have been much good for anything – so “vandalised” is more apt.  What the thief/vandal gained from this crime is hard to fathom.  But it has meant that Snow White has only had an escort of five Kobolds for the first half of this year – and that is confusing if you are a visiting child learning to count.

Presumably the perpetrator of this senseless act did not realise that most of the carvings in Knebworth House Gardens are done in situ, on pre-existing trees that have either died or become a health and safety concern.  They are not removable because there are decades, sometimes centuries, of roots anchoring them to the ground.  As many of you will know, these wonderful creations are the work of brilliantly talented local chainsaw carvers, Dennis Heath and Dave Flemons.

My good news for you is that Dennis and Dave will be back in the Gardens this July and August to rebuild Snow White’s entourage – and to exhibit over 100 of their most recent sculptures, also made from local wood, that you can legitimately take home for a very reasonable price.  So if you see Santa out and about this summer, recruiting elves, let him know that if he brings cash he can pick up some with their boots on!

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

A brochure for Knebworth Garden Village that I have not seen before surfaced in the Archive last week.  It must date from between 1910 and 1914, and has two pretty girls standing on a hill saying “Welcome to Knebworth” on the front cover.  I wish I could quote it all, but here are a couple of its many gems:

“One after another is asking himself why he should go on renting a brick box in a sordid street when for the same annual cost he can live in a house built to suit his own tastes and requirements and standing in a pleasant garden where not only he himself but his wife and children may enjoy abundance of fresh air and sunshine with all the zest to life that comes from sharing the interests of his neighbours.”

“The altitude is between 300 and 400 feet above sea level, the subsoil is chalk and gravel, and the air is dry and bracing.  There is a plentiful and constant supply of water, and a scheme of drainage has been carried out, so that all the pleasures of country life can be enjoyed without any attendant discomforts.”

Among the accompanying photos are a couple of a rural Stockens Green.  A treasured Conservation Area now it has houses on it!

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

We’ve just filled another Visitor’s Book at Knebworth House.  Before I deposit and catalogue it in our Archive for a future generation to discover (I know how much fun that is), I am browsing through it, reading the immediate reactions of people touring Knebworth House between the Spring of 2012 and the Spring of 2015.  It’s a heart-warming document, packed with praise – “amazing house”, “truly beautiful”, “really interesting”, “wonderful tour”, “friendly staff”, “magical place”, “real experience”, “beautiful gardens”, “good value”, “well cool!”, “one of the best houses we have visited” – I  probably ought to keep it on my bedside table to read every night!

Of course, in the same way that people only tend to write on Trip Advisor if they have had a bad time, people only tend to write in a Visitor’s Book if they’ve had a good time.  We don’t currently keep Trip Advisor comments in the Archive, so maybe we are skewing history?  I don’t think so.  We take all comments seriously and welcome constructive criticism.  The way we do things is better for it.  And there are always going to be people whose expectations we cannot match – “please ban children under 7” – but they are the grumpy few.  Overwhelmingly, the majority of our 100,000+ visitors a year enjoy a good day out at Knebworth House.

So if the general truth is not always obvious on Trip Advisor or in the Visitor’s Book, where is it best found?  As we know, in the mouth of babes:  Lucy from St Albans, “I wish I could live in this house (and be a princess too)”; Zoe from Dunstable, “I lick all of the rooms”; Niklas from Stotfold, “I fink the Chinese bed is the best”; Sophie from Banstead, “I really liked the seacreat dors!”  Sam from Birchanger, “I liked the interesting stuff!”; Simran from Stevenage, “:)”…

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

It was a great pleasure and privilege to speak in St Mary’s Church on International Women’s Day about my great-great-aunt Constance, whose ashes rest in the Mausoleum in Knebworth Park.  The Mayor of Stevenage, Sherma Batson, had invited guests from around the county to honour the important role Constance played in the battle for Women’s Rights.  Constance was a militant suffragette who, on hunger strike in Liverpool Prison, suffered forced feeding that led to a stroke and her early death in 1923, five years before the fight was won and women were given the vote.

I read from a eulogy by her cousin Adela Smith: “All that can be written or said of Con will always fall short of what those intimate with her knew her to be.  How can one describe her presence, the grace of her figure, the charm of her manner, her laughter, or her intense feeling?  Above all, it is beyond power to show the fullness of that noble golden heart, which could rise in defence of another’s wrong, but could never retaliate by anger or vituperation.”

Constance was further honoured that day by the premiere of a very fine play commissioned by the Mayor and Stevenage Arts Guild.  The play was written by Ros Connelly who wrote the similar piece about Constance’s fellow suffragette, Emily Wilding Davidson, performed as part of our Village Festival in June 2013.  At Knebworth House, throughout our summer season, we will continue the tribute with a special exhibit about Constance, her life and her struggle for the vote – work from which we will all benefit on 7^th May, and into which she threw herself “with all the ardour of her great soul”.

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

We receive wonderful comments about how lovely Knebworth Park is, and how much enjoyment it gives our neighbours to walk its footpaths.  We are always pleased to see the park being enjoyed.  We work hard to care for the park and manage it so that it can be enjoyed.  We ask only that you spare a thought to how the park keeps itself.

Knebworth Park is not a public park, so there is no contribution from the tax payer to pay for its upkeep.  It has to find its own ways to stay looking lovely and stay a safe environment for us all to enjoy.  Its summer season, which begins on 21^st March, is one of these ways.  We thank you for your support of our summer events.  We thank you for buying a ticket if you want to use the added facilities we provide, adventure playground, dinosaur trail, toilets, etc.  We thank you for not using the car park by St Mary’s except to visit the church.  We thank you for keeping your dog on a lead so as not to distress the deer.  We thank you for considering how difficult the management of our footpaths is when the park is trying to earn its keep – and not everyone stops to appreciate the custodial realities.

Most of all, however, we thank you for loving Knebworth Park!  If you live in this parish, please accept an invitation to visit us on Sunday March 22^nd, our Parish Open Day.  All our added park facilities – and Knebworth House itself – will be open without charge to our neighbours in Knebworth Parish.  Come spend the day with us – enter by the white gate at St Mary’s, bring something that says you live in the parish (e.g. a copy of this magazine) – and help us celebrate our new season and this beautiful country park that, with your support, survives as a very special and unique asset to our village.

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com

Christmas seems a long time ago, but this is my first opportunity to say how wonderful the Knebworth Community Chorus was at our Christmas evenings in December.  We were thrilled to host three magical concerts by Kim Wilde in the Banqueting Hall beneath a magnificent ceiling-high Christmas tree – and beneath the angelic voices of the Knebworth Community Chorus filling the ancient rafters from the Minstrels Gallery.  Particularly moving were the songs that the Chorus performed with Kim.

With her brother Ricky, Kim had rehearsed a selection of songs with the 30-strong Chorus from their recent Christmas album.  She had never performed these songs live with a full choir, and was moved to tears by the magical accompaniment of the Knebworth choir.  It was really very special.  A huge thank you to Derek Harrison and everyone involved.

If anyone was moved to tears when Kim asked me to join in singing with her on the concert’s finale of “Kids In America”, it was probably for different reasons!

Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com