British journalist Eleanor Doughty, well known to our readers, has made a revisit to Castle Howard. What she finds is described in an article in the Times newspaper. Here is an excerpt:
There is nowhere on earth like Castle Howard. Thereâs the dome and the fountain, and the anticipation of that great long driveway. âItâs a world within itself,â says its custodian, Nick Howard. This great North Yorkshire Whig palace, built for the earls of Carlisle by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, is still best known as Brideshead, the stately home at the centre of Granadaâs 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waughâs novel Brideshead Revisited.
Its starring role paid for work to be done in the Garden Hall, but the restoration of Castle Howard has been a story 85 years in the making. In 1940, a fire ripped through the house, leaving a third of the building roofless. The heat caused its famous dome to collapse and liquid lead to flow into the hall below.
After the Second World War its owner George Howard battled with trustees to repair the damage. With his wife, Cecilia, he restored the dome in 1960. But a custodianâs work is never done. Tomorrow the current generation of Howards, Vicky and Nick, unveil the next stage of the houseâs restoration, the Tapestry Drawing Room. This was gutted in 1940 and has stood as a shell ever since… The Howards asked Simon Thurley, who was once head of English Heritage, what to restore next. Thurley suggested the Tapestry Drawing Room because it interrupted the otherwise beautifully appointed visitor route.
On the day we visited in early April with the Howardsâ architect, Francis Terry, one of the freshly conserved Vanderbank tapestries depicting the four seasons, woven for the room in 1706, was being hung. For Terry, primarily an architect of new-build Georgian-style country houses, this was âthe dream commissionâ, he says. âFor my generation, Castle Howard is Brideshead Revisited, just the iconic country house. Iâm a huge Vanbrugh fan and this was [a chance] to do a Vanbrugh room, to get into his shoes and keep walking.â
The room has a new ceiling, a new floor and its bespoke tapestries back in their rightful place. Terry has reconstructed the room from its bare brick with a new chimney piece and overmantel, dado, skirting, window surrounds and wall panelling. There is an exquisite ornate entablature based on an Ionic example by the 16th-century Italian architect Vignola, whose work influenced Vanbrugh…
Doughty avoids any suggestion that Waugh primarily based his description of the fictional Brideshead Castle on Castle Howard, but has noted in the past that it certainly contributed to the one Waugh constructed on paper. It was in fact the film makers of the two adaptations who created the impression in the public’s mind that Waugh’s Brideshead was a copy of Castle Howard.
–The Evening Standard has compiled a list of books recommended for reading this summer. One of those selected is Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies. Here’s the description:
Described by Stephen Fry as Britainâs The Great Gatsby, Evelyn Waughâs novel takes place in the years following the First World War, otherwise affectionately known as the Roaring Twenties.
It follows The Bright Young Things of Londonâs Mayfair â capricious yet intelligent, sophisticated yet highly unsavoury, rich with experience yet increasingly poor in funds â a motley collection of characters who are bold, hilarious, anxious and fabulous.
The full list can be viewed at this link.
–New York University has posted details of an exhibit at its Florentine campus in La Pietra. This relates to the Oxford days of Harold Acton, the estate’s former owner:
Leaving oneâs home and going to college is a moment of self discovery, an adventure in which we come to recognize our future self. Harold Acton writes in his Memoirs of an Aesthete, âOxford set me free [. . .] In many respects I was an un-English production but in one I was singularly English: I was adaptable [âŠ] and gradually entered a circle of lifelong friends.â (p.29)
Sir Haroldâs intimate sitting room with its objects, photos and books leads into his bedchamber and private bathroom, a fitting location to display some of his personal effects from his college days. Considering the roomâs location within the house, characterized by its southern exposure to the garden and its direct access to the childrenâs day nursery, it is likely that this was formerly the bedroom of the Acton boys. At the end of his life, Harold spent his final days here surrounded by his memories and mementos.
On display one can see a selection of Sir Haroldâs personal effects. On the right side of his four poster bed, is a framed photo on the wall of the young Evelyn Waugh and his first wife, Evelyn Gardner. In addition, eight selected photographs show a young Harold Acton with three of his best mates from Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford University â Robert Byron, Brian Howard and Evelyn Waugh…
The full description is available here.
–Penguin Books in the UK is celebrating its 90th anniversary. This is being marked by the release of 90 short booklets which contain excerpts from the books of its prominent authors. Here’s the description:
“In celebration of our 90th birthday, Penguin Classics have delved into the archives to create a new series of 90 short paperbacks. Each title features its own unique cover design in red foil, described by Penguin Classics art director Jim Stoddart as a âlove letterâ to Penguinâs design heritage.
From a Japanese tea ceremony to the mean streets of New York, from ancient battlefields to haunted graveyards and into outer space, the Penguin Archive series brings together a rich, eclectic range of some of the greatest, most transporting stories, ideas and poetry ever written.”
A link to the complete list together with copies of the red and white covers is available here. Conspicuous by its absence is any excerpt from any of Waugh’s books. These have been published in the UK consistently by Penguin since 1937 when it issued Decline and Fall as its No. 75 orange fiction paperback. We can only hope that it has something else in mind to commemorate its long association with Waugh.
Brideshead was based on Madresfield, not Castle Howard. More on this can be found in Mad World by Paula Byrne, an excellent book for anyone looking for more on Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead Revisited. (One of those books that I made me sorry it had ended.)
Yes, there is certainly a strong connection to Madresfleid as a source for the family as well as the chapel described in the novel. Its location in Worcestershire (adjacent to the Wiltshire location in the novel) should also be noted. But the exterior (Baroque style, dome, location of fountain to house) was probably influenced by Castle Howard and this has become even more established by the filming of the two adaptations at that location.