Today, Jay, Diane and I visited Sutton House, which was built during the Tudor era and is located in the eastern London borough of Hackney.
The house, a National Trust property, has a Tudor room -- the Linenfold Room -- whose walls are covered with intricately carved dark oak paneling made to look like folded linen, a Victorian study and a Georgian parlor.
Built by a diplomat who served Tudor monarchs from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, the house's inhabitants have included a silk merchant who went bankrupt and had to sell the house when American cotton drove the price of silk down, Huguenots -- Protestants who fled persecution in their native France -- a church institute (one room has a plaque bearing the names of institute members who fell in World War I) and 1980s squatters. It's the kind of place where London's layers of history rise up and smack you in the face -- literally.
On the second floor, we walked into the Great Chamber, only to find ourselves in the middle of a lesson presided over by a VERY strict teacher in period costume who kept admonishing the kids sitting on benches in the room to sit up straight.
The "teacher" scared ME. Diane said it reminded her of her Catholic school education -- except that Diane's school did not have fingercuffs, which are like handcuffs for fingers.
As with nearly every National Trust property we've visited, Sutton House has a nice cafe. Diane and I enjoyed soup and a really nice chunk of bread, and Jay had chocolate cake (much more fun!).
A bonus of our visit was a chat with a work colleague, Paul Bolding, who is a volunteer at Sutton House. And yet another co-worker, Alex Smith, was paying a visit.
We took buses to and from Sutton House, giving us a look at trendy Islington, bohemian Hackney and gritty Bethnal Green. Fun!
The house, a National Trust property, has a Tudor room -- the Linenfold Room -- whose walls are covered with intricately carved dark oak paneling made to look like folded linen, a Victorian study and a Georgian parlor.
Built by a diplomat who served Tudor monarchs from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, the house's inhabitants have included a silk merchant who went bankrupt and had to sell the house when American cotton drove the price of silk down, Huguenots -- Protestants who fled persecution in their native France -- a church institute (one room has a plaque bearing the names of institute members who fell in World War I) and 1980s squatters. It's the kind of place where London's layers of history rise up and smack you in the face -- literally.
On the second floor, we walked into the Great Chamber, only to find ourselves in the middle of a lesson presided over by a VERY strict teacher in period costume who kept admonishing the kids sitting on benches in the room to sit up straight.
The "teacher" scared ME. Diane said it reminded her of her Catholic school education -- except that Diane's school did not have fingercuffs, which are like handcuffs for fingers.
As with nearly every National Trust property we've visited, Sutton House has a nice cafe. Diane and I enjoyed soup and a really nice chunk of bread, and Jay had chocolate cake (much more fun!).
A bonus of our visit was a chat with a work colleague, Paul Bolding, who is a volunteer at Sutton House. And yet another co-worker, Alex Smith, was paying a visit.
We took buses to and from Sutton House, giving us a look at trendy Islington, bohemian Hackney and gritty Bethnal Green. Fun!
posted by Jonathan at 7:46 PM
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