English Heritage Unlock Doors To Previously Unseen Rooms

Managing Director of Brodsworth Hall Serves Tea for a Former Member of Staff. When Ruth Thomas shut the door behind her for the final time at Brodsworth Hall in 1988 it signalled the end of an era. But it was also the start of an exciting new phase in the remarkable story of the Victorian country house, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

The 56 year old from South Kirkby, near Pontefract, was the last servant employed at the mansion before it was purchased by English Heritage, who then opened it to the public in 1995 after a £4m conservation project.

As the sole keeper of the Hall’s 50 rooms after her mother, Constance Douglas, retired as the last housekeeper, Ruth strove to keep the place looking spick and span. She performed many of the duties once done by an army of 17 servants in the 19th century.

Now she’s back on familiar ground to help English Heritage unveil four fascinating new rooms, previously unseen by the public, ready for Brodsworth’s re-opening on Good Friday, 21 March.  They include two grand Victorian bedrooms, an atmospheric aga kitchen and a scullery, each soaked in history.  As part of the year-long project, over 1,000 objects, fixtures and fittings have been returned to their original place, ranging from biscuit tins to a luxurious boat bed.

Ruth Thomas recalls: “I started working at the Hall to help my mother, Constance.  She gave a good part of her life to the place, spending 15 years at Brodsworth.  There might not have been an army of servants anymore, but she was a stickler for high standards.   By that stage only the owner, Mrs Sylvia Grant Dalton, lived in the house and many of the rooms were closed.  But the atmosphere was always really nice and not at all spooky. It’s quite moving to come back and see the rooms I knew so well open to the public.”

Brodsworth Hall was built by Charles Sabine Thellusson in 1865 at a cost of £50,000. Designed in an Italianate style, it has been described as the most complete Victorian country house in England – a “time capsule” retaining many of its original fittings. 

English Heritage has chosen to conserve, rather than restore the rooms, displaying them much as they were left in the 1980s.  In a style that has become Brodsworth’s trademark, they combine High Victorian grandeur with 20th century kitsch and retro-fittings.

Former kitchen Boy in Brodsworth Hall's Recently Opened Kitchen Joining Ruth on a trip down memory lane was 76 year old Arthur Allen, from Armthorpe, who once peeled spuds on the scullery table. He left school at the age of 14 and was employed as a kitchen boy at Brodsworth in 1945.  He also accompanied the Grant Dalton family on hunting trips to Scotland, once skinning 500 rabbits in one day!  For his labours he was paid the princely sum of £1 per week.

His recollections and those of other ex-staff and their relatives have been used to tell the story of the rooms, furnishing them with memories as well as their original contents.

English Heritage Curator Crosby Stevens said:  “Everything we removed from the rooms in the early 1990s during the Hall’s conservation was kept safe and we also took photos of how they were left.  Because of that we’ve been able to put things back where they were found, even down to a bar of soap and a nail brush.”

The aga kitchen - originally called the Still Room - and the scullery were once a hive of activity, as meals were prepared for the wealthy Thellusson family.  Once it was where the jams, ice creams and other fancies were made, but with a dwindling household, it became the main kitchen for the house in the 1930s.  Used until the 1980s, it is displayed with Formica tops on the Victorian tables, and period cook books, including `57 Ways of Using Heinz Ketchup’ and even a painted plaster Miss Piggy. Many former staff still refer to it as `Emily’s Room’, after Emily Chester, an ex-housekeeper and cook, who spend 70 years at Brodsworth. Her culinary abilities were legendary and curators took their research to new heights by trying her recipe for ginger biscuits.

A short walk up the stairs, but a world away from the domain of the servants, are the newly displayed bedrooms. Once occupied by Charles Thellusson’s privileged children, they were also amongst the last rooms used by Sylvia Grant Dalton, who died in 1988. 

Crosby Stevens adds:  “They include a beautiful single boat bed and a mahogany half tester, which we know from accounts cost about £21 in 1863.  Although the rooms were originally used by children as young as 7 years old, you certainly wouldn’t know that from their decor and furniture.  Victorians tended to furnish all their rooms in an “adult” fashion.  Because they were still used right until the end, they have a real quirkiness about them.  The mainly period fixtures and fittings, combine with objects of a more recent vintage, from an electric fire to copies of Paris Match, doubtless read by guests being accommodated overnight.  Taken together the rooms add another fascinating glimpse into life at the Hall, both upstairs and downstairs.”

Brodsworth's Atmospheric Aga Kitchen Brodsworth Hall re-opens for the summer on 21 March 2008.  Opening hours are Tuesday to Sundays and Bank Holidays, from 1pm to 5pm (the gardens, shop and tearoom are open 10am to 5pm).  The gardens and tearoom additionally open on Monday, 10 to 5pm.  Entry to the house and gardens is £8.50 adults, £6.80 concessions and £4.30 children. Admission to the gardens only is £5 adults, £4 concessions and £2.50 children.  English Heritage members are children under five are admitted free.  For more information call 01302 722598 or visit www.english-heritage.org.uk

Access

Brodsworth Hall has high-quality ramped access to both the Hall and the beautiful restored gardens. There is a lift to the first floor of the Hall and a shuttle buggy to take people to and from the car park and even around the gardens.  Because prams cannot be easily manoeuvred without damaging the fragile interior of the Hall, small padded pushchairs can be provided.   Most of garden paths are also very accessible and are well surfaced.  The  Access Guide to English Heritage Properties will help you plan your visit to this and hundreds of other properties.  Many English Heritage sites offer virtual and audio tours and tactile exhibits. The Access Guide is available on the English Heritage web site at www.english-heritage.org.uk or from English Heritage customer services on 0870 333 1181.   It is also available in audio form - either on tape or CD, as a PDF document which can be used with Screenreader software, as a word file with all formatting removed, in Braille and in large print format on request.