St Fagans National Museum of History

Situated in the Welsh village of St Fagans is an open-air museum devoted to the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Welsh people. Since opening in 1948, St Fagans National Museum of History (Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru) has re-erected more than forty buildings from various locations and periods in Wales.

Welsh poet Iorwerth Peate (1901-82), also known as Cyfeiliog, envisaged the open-air museum after visiting Skansen in Sweden, the world’s largest and oldest outdoor museum. The Earl of Plymouth donated St Fagan’s Castle and the surrounding lands for the project in 1946, allowing the museum to open to the public in 1948 under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum.

Although St Fagans National Museum of History opened at the end of the 1940s, it took years to develop into the extensive visitor attraction it is today. Initially, the museum focused on rural life, but in the 1980s, it changed direction. With Wales’s industrial heritage under threat, St Fagans began purchasing and relocating important examples of Welsh buildings, such as ironworkers’ cottages and buildings from coal-mining valleys. Since 2015 with the opening of an archaeology gallery, St Fagans tells the story of Wales from 230,000 years ago until the present day.

The museum contains buildings that demonstrate different styles of architecture but also the varied classes and occupations of the Welsh people throughout the centuries. Notable types of buildings include a chapel, a pigsty, a blacksmith’s forge, a merchant house and a public house. Due to the varying ages of the buildings, St Fagans has become popular with film crews, particularly for period dramas and science fiction films, such as Doctor Who. 

Since 2007, St Fagans has been the home of St Teilo’s Church, which was originally located in Llandeilo Tal-y-Bont near Pontarddulais. Since the 12th or 13th century, St Teilo’s Church held regular services, with some attendees travelling by boat across a river to join the congregation. The church remained popular until 1850, after which it only opened in the summer for the occasional service. By the 1970s, the church ceased opening altogether. In 1984, the demolition of the church began, intending to move it to St Fagans, but the project was far from simple.

The interior walls of St Teilo’s Church are decorated with murals, which needed careful preservation before moving to the museum. The oldest paintings date to the 15th century, such as a picture of Saint Catherine. The majority of the images show scenes from the Bible, particularly about the life of Jesus Christ. Other saints also adorn the walls, such as Saint Christopher, who faces the entrance to the building. During medieval times, people believed looking at an image of Saint Christopher could prevent sudden death that day, so passersby frequently peeked into the church to catch a glimpse of the saint.

When St Fagans rescued St Teilo’s Church, it was in a state of disrepair. Rather than attempting to rebuild the church as it looked in the 1980s, archaeologists and architects opted to reconstruct it as it may have appeared in 1530. To do this, they sourced new timbers for the roof and created a new rood screen from Radnorshire oak. King Henry VIII removed the original rood screen following the protestant revolution. After building the walls and roof of the church, artists added the paintings, reworking many of the originals that suffered damage over the centuries.

Some early attendees of St Teilo’s Church lived in houses similar to the Tudor Merchant’s House. The original building stood on a bank near Quay Street in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, before being moved to St Fagans between 1980 and 2012. The reconstructed version resembles the house’s appearance in 1580, although it was likely built a few decades earlier.

The Merchant’s House served as a home and a business premises. A shop stood on the lower floor, beneath which a vaulted cellar stored various goods. The family lived on the upper floor, which only had room for one bed. Any children slept on a large shelf in front of a window.

Haverfordwest was an international port, so it is likely the merchant sold imported goods in his shop. His wares may have included wine, salt, soap, prunes and raisins. The shopkeeper also purchased goods from local farmers, such as corn, wool, woven cloth and dairy products.

Farmers in the 16th and 17th centuries could not afford properties like the merchant’s house. Instead, they lived in cruck houses, such as the one from Hendre’r Ywydd Uchaf near Llangynhafal, Denbighshire, which moved to St Fagans between 1956 and 1962. The walls of the house are built from oak stakes, bound together with wattle and daub. The roof is thatched with wheat straw, but the floors remain bare, and the windows open to the elements.

Records reveal the farmhouse belonged to the Foulkes family from 1663 until 1912. The last family member, Mary Elizabeth Foulkes, died in 1912 without an heir. The family shared the house with their livestock, particularly cattle. Split into three sections, the family lived at one end and used the centre for cooking and eating. Smoke from a cauldron and fire escaped through the open windows because the house had no chimney. The remaining section of the building contained animals when not out in the fields.

Not all farmers were poor, as evidenced by the 16th-century Kennixton Farmhouse from Llangennith in South Wales. The house was rented by the Rogers family from 1610 until their ancestors afforded to purchase it around 1800. Over the years, the family extended the house, thus separating the family rooms from the animals.

The red walls of the farmhouse were originally painted with ox blood as a superstitious method of warding off witches. The re-erected version uses modern red paint, but it gives a faithful representation of the 19th-century appearance. Painting the walls made the Rogers stand out from their neighbours and emphasised their growing wealth.

Visitors may recognise the interior of the house from the BBC drama series Poldark. The rooms were used for scenes inside Captain Blamey’s cottage. The dining room is decorated with stencilled decorations, which predate wallpaper, but the other rooms have plain white walls.

In 1939, the Rogers family moved into a new house and let out the farmhouse. The attached barn, which once housed cattle in the winter, became a garage for tractors. Mr J B Rogers donated the house to St Fagans in 1951 but kept the other farm buildings until the early 2000s when they moved to the museum.

Aside from farming, Wales’s most important industry was the production of wool. Specially built buildings, such as the Esgair Moel Woollen Mill, were vital to the industry until larger factories appeared in the late 19th century. Esgair Moll was built in 1760 and became the property of Isaac Williams from 1880 until 1932. Williams enlarged the mill to make room for a spinning jack, which sped up the production process.

Williams produced carthenni (blankets), shawls and flannel for making clothes, and balls of yarn for knitting. The wool process involved transforming raw, greasy wool through a series of dyeing, combing, spinning and weaving. It took an estimated twenty hours to complete the process. Williams sold the final results at a market in Builth Wells.

Woollen Mills were common across Wales due to the number of sheep farms. For centuries, the mills supplied the country with clothing, eventually exporting goods to the USA. Sheep wool was relatively cheap, so the USA bought it to clothe their slaves, giving it the unfortunate name “Negro Cloth”.

The Esgair Moel Woollen Mill ceased trading in 1947 due to the increasing number of factories. The mill moved St Fagans museum in 1952, where it was re-erected above the Earl of Plymouth’s old swimming pool. The mill uses water from the pool to turn the waterwheel during demonstrations.

Other industries in Wales included corn mills, such as the Melin Bompren Corn Mill, which moved to St Fagans in 1977. The first miller, Benjamin Jones, began milling corn in 1853, and the business stayed in the family until Mrs Hettie Jones’ retirement in 1970. Customers brought wheat, oats and corn to the mill for grinding, often paying with products instead of money. According to an account book, several farmers paid in wool, and the innkeeper paid in gallons of beer. Other payment methods included eggs, honey and meat.

Melin Bompren Corn Mill has three storeys. The grain was stored on the top floor, ground on the middle floors and bagged on the lower. The miller often needed to light a fireplace on the upper level to dry the corn before putting it through the grinder.

As times progressed, Welsh citizens began shopping at stores in towns rather than directly from mills. The Gwalia Stores, for instance, opened in 1880 in Ogmore Vale. The owners, William and Mary Llewellyn, lived above the shop, which sold items from all over the world. The shop’s proximity to a railway station made it easy to import goods from abroad, such as tea, sugar and coffee. Local farmers supplied fresh produce, for instance, meat, cheese, eggs and butter.

The Llewellyn family were originally regarded as ahead of the times. They were the first family in the valley to own a car, and William became a Liberal politician. The couple’s son, Thomas, inherited the store in 1920, but the general strike and Great Depression made it difficult for customers to pay their bills. Unlike mills that could accept food and wool as payment, the Llewellyns needed money for the upkeep of the store. After Thomas died in 1945, the family sold the Gwalia Stores.

Eventually, Gwalia Stores could not compete with supermarkets and closed for good in 1973. The building reopened at St Fagans in 1991, decked out to resemble the 1920s. Visitors can buy certain products from the store, such as chocolate, confectionary and jam.

In 1917, the Oakdale Workmen’s Institute opened in Caerphilly to provide educational and leisure facilities for local workers and their families. All sorts of people used the building, including choirs, drama groups, concerts, dances, lectures and political rallies. The institute featured a library, reading room, committee room and billiard room.

The Oakdale Workmen’s Institute tried to support unemployed families during the 1926 General Strike and the Great Depression during the 1930s. Lack of funding made this a difficult task, and ironically, the Second World War saved the building from closure. During the war, evacuees, American Troops, and Bevin Boys (young British men conscripted to work in coal mines) used the institute. They added a cinema to one of the rooms, which helped raise funds to pay off all debts by 1945.

Unfortunately, the use of the institute declined in the post-war years. People preferred to stay home watching their televisions or venture further afield in cars to experience new social and cultural life. In the 1970s, the institute was converted into a licensed club, but by 1987 it had closed for good. Preservation of the building and transportation to St Fagans began soon after, eventually opening in 1995 with a small ceremony led by British politician Neil Kinnock (b. 1942).

Not all the buildings at St Fagans show the history of Wales in a positive light. Dating to 1660 is a cockpit that once belonged to the Hawk and Buckle Inn on Vale Street, Denbigh. The round building features stone walls, a thatched roof and a weathervane. Before 1849 when the United Kingdom banned the sport, men gathered at the cockpit to participate in cockfights. Trained cockerels fought against each other until only one bird remained alive. The owner of the cock won a share of the money collected through a betting system.

The Hawk and Buckle Inn gained many patrons from frequent cockfights. Spectators purchased drinks during a tournament, resulting in drunken brawls and excessive gambling. The cockpit fell out of use after the ban on cockfighting, although battles continued in secret elsewhere.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire chose to preserve the cockpit in 1911 as an example of historic pastimes. Unfortunately, by 1965, the building’s condition had worsened, and they decided to transport it to St Fagans, where it opened to the public in 1970.

Most buildings at St Fagans were moved brick by brick to their current locations. Some of the “older” constructions were built from scratch using archaeological findings. Bryn Eryr, an archaeological site in Angelsey, excavated the foundations of round Iron Age houses. The buildings likely belonged to a farming family over 2,300 years ago. At this time, sections of Wales were run by various tribesmen who focused on producing food, clothing and shelter for their people.

The family at Bryn Eryr grew wheat and kept cattle, sheep and horses, suggesting they were relatively wealthy. Their round homes contained a fire pit in the centre, which provided light, heat and a place to cook meals.

Another reconstruction is a Medieval commotal court, which archaeologists at Llys Rhosyr, Angelsey, excavated in 1992. Historians believe it belonged to Llywelyn ap Iorwertg, Prince of Gwynedd, who built 22 courts between 1195 and 1240. The prince frequently travelled around the country, staying at his royal residences, which also served as administrative centres. The prince, who was incidentally the most powerful man in Wales, met with local noblemen to plan military campaigns and negotiations with foreign kings, for instance, King John. One negotiation resulted in Prince Llywelyn’s marriage to King John’s daughter, Joan.

The recreated building was built to scale using materials readily available in the 11th century. Many academics and craftspeople worked together to decorate the interior with embroidered wall hangings that may resemble the original furnishings. Llywelyn and Joan likely entertained guests in the Great Hall, either at this court or one of the many others.

The only building remaining in situ on the former land belonging to the Earl of Plymouth is St Fagans Castle. The Elizabethan mansion was built on the ruins of a medieval castle and has been the home of many families over the centuries. Sir Edward Lewis of Van purchased the property in 1616, and his family coat of arms remains above one of the fireplaces. In 1730, his great-granddaughter Elizabeth married Other Windsor, the 3rd Earl of Plymouth (1707-32), and the castle became the property of all future Earls of Plymouth.

During the First World War, the Red Cross used the banqueting hall at St Fagans as a hospital. By this time, the owners only used the castle in the summer, preferring to stay at their main home in Worcestershire during the colder months. After the second world war, the Earl bequeathed the mansion and 18 acres of land to create the open-air museum now known as St Fagans National Museum of History.

There is plenty to see and do for visitors of all ages at St Fagans. Over 40 buildings are open to explore, and there are plenty of knowledgeable staff to answer questions. At certain times of the year, special events take place, such as food festivals, fairgrounds, exhibitions and demonstrations. The latter provides an insight into how the various mills worked, plus the opportunity to see other workers in action, such as farmers and cobblers.

St Fagans National Museum of History is free to visit but those travelling by car must be prepared to pay for parking. The open-air museum is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

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The Great Miss Lydia Becker

Long before the Daily Mail coined the term “suffragette” in 1906, women campaigned for equality, including the amateur scientist Lydia Becker. Despite establishing a centre for the suffrage movement in Manchester and founding the Women’s Suffrage Journal, Becker does not get nearly as much praise as the women who followed in her wake, such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Millicent Fawcett.

Lydia Ernestine Becker was born on 24th February 1827. Her father, Hannibal Becker, arranged a typical home education for his daughters. Intellectually curious, Becker continued her studies as an adult in botany and astronomy, earning a gold medal for an 1862 scholarly paper on horticulture. Becker did not receive any support from her father during these studies, but an uncle encouraged her interests, which spurred her to form the Ladies’ Literary Society in 1867.

Becker’s interest in botany and science led to regular correspondence with the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-82). The two scientists frequently spoke about their respective work, and Becker contributed to Darwin’s research by providing samples of plants growing in Manchester. In 1864, Becker published a short book called Botany for Novices, particularly focusing on bisexual and hermaphroditic plants. These plants did not follow the sexual and social order enforced by society, which Becker later used in arguments about women’s equality with men.

In the late 1860s, Becker won prizes for discovering a method of retaining the original colours in dried flowers. She also presented a botanical paper at the 1868 meeting of the British Science Association. Becker became a respected scientist in biology, but her work for women’s suffrage soon took over. Nonetheless, as part of her campaigning, she promoted scientific education for girls and women.

In 1866, Becker attended the annual meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Social Science, where Barbara Bodichon (1827-91) presented a paper called Reasons for the Enfranchisement of Women. Inspired by Bodichon’s views, Becker established the Manchester Women’s Suffrage Committee the following year. Women and men attended the first meeting, including a man Becker described as the red doctor. Doctor Richard Pankhurst (1834-98) was “a very clever little man with some extraordinary sentiments about life in general and women in particular”. He devoted his life to women’s suffrage and married one of the movement’s leaders, Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928).

By the late 1860s, Becker was fully devoted to the women’s suffrage movement. In 1867, a local woman, Lilly Maxwell (1800-76), discovered her name on the register of voters in Manchester. Seeing the error as an opportunity for publicity, Becker encouraged Maxwell to utilise her vote and escorted her to the polling station at Chorlton Town Hall on 26th November. Expecting the returning officer to refuse them entry, the women were pleasantly surprised when the officer found Maxwell’s name on the list and let her into the building. Maxwell cast her vote for Jacob Bright (1821-99), a Liberal politician in favour of the suffragist cause.

Buoyed by Maxwell’s success at voting, Becker encouraged the women of Manchester to petition for their names to appear on the register. Jacob Bright, who won the election, added to the excitement by citing Maxwell as one of the reasons for his success. Speaking directly to the women, Bright said Maxwell was “a hardworking, honest person, who pays her rates as you do.”

Becker encouraged 5,346 women to petition for their names to appear on the voting register. Richard Pankhurst and John Coleridge (1820-94) presented the claims at the Court of Common Pleas on 2nd November 1868, but the court dismissed the case. Britain’s first female voter, albeit by clerical error, never voted in an election again. Instead, she suffered financially and spent her final years in the Withington workhouse.

In November 1867, Becker established the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, which held its first official meeting on 14th April 1868. It was the first national group in the United Kingdom devoted to women’s suffrage. The first meeting occurred at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, with Becker and two other campaigners giving speeches. Becker argued that women should have the same voting rights as men and inspired other women to set up branches of the group in other cities, such as Edinburgh.

Throughout 1868, Becker toured northern cities, gaining support through a series of lectures. After participating in many protests, Becker and her fellow campaigners successfully secured the vote for women in local elections in 1869. The following year, Becker campaigned for women to sit on school boards and became one of the first women elected to the Manchester School Board.

In 1870, Becker and her friend, Jessie Boucherett (1825-1905), established the Women’s Suffrage Journal. They initially called it the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage Journal, but its readership quickly spread to other cities. The magazine focused on news affecting women’s lives and provided encouragement and guidance about presenting petitions to the House of Commons.

The Manchester MP Jacob Bright suggested the creation of a London-based branch of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, which could petition on the doorstep of the Houses of Parliament. The new unit, known as the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, first met on 17th January 1872 and grew to include members such as Millicent Fawcett (1847-1929), who went on to form the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in 1897. For some time, Becker remained in Manchester but eventually became the chair of the Central Committee in 1881.

In Manchester, Becker organised speaking events about women’s suffrage, the first of which fifteen-year-old Emmeline Pankhurst attended in 1874. Inspired by Becker and the other speakers, Pankhurst began campaigning for the right to vote and established the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903. Unlike the campaigns of Fawcett’s NUWSS, the WSPU used militant tactics, earning themselves the nickname “suffragettes”.

Becker published many of her speeches and letters in the Women’s Suffrage Journal. She also included comments and speeches from Members of Parliament for and against women’s rights to vote. Becker encouraged women to support certain MPs and chastise or avoid those who voted against the women’s proposals. Over time, the Journal became a documentation of Becker’s attempts and successes during her campaigns, prompting historian Roger Fulford (1902-83) to declare, “The history of the decades from 1860 to 1890 – so far as women’s suffrage is concerned – is the history of Miss Becker.”

In 1880, Becker and other women unexpectedly secured women’s voting rights on the Isle of Man for the House of Keys elections. The House of Keys is the lower house of Tynwald, the High Court of the island. Those elected can make minor decisions on behalf of the Houses of Parliament.

Becker travelled to London in 1881 to chair the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Although the two main factions of the cause had yet to be established, Becker differed from many suffrage campaigners. Whilst Becker’s main aim was to gain voting rights for women, she wanted to rid the world of male and female stereotypes. Becker argued that the female intellect did not differ from men and that the British education system should be non-gendered.

Another concern for Becker was unmarried women and widows. She believed they deserved the vote more than married women because they had no male representative to speak on their behalf – not that women needed one. Unfortunately, this opinion made her the target of ridicule in newspapers across the country.

In 1890, Becker visited the spa town of Aix-les-Bains in Southeastern France. During her stay, Becker contracted diphtheria and passed away on 18th July, age 63. Immediately following her death, the Women’s Suffrage Journal ceased trading. Its final edition included a message from the editor, which said, “For twenty years and four months this Journal has received the impress of one hand and one mind so that its long row of volumes forms one continuous work, and now when that careful hand is laid low and the energies of that far-seeing mind are carried beyond our mortal ken, it would seem the most fitting course to close these pages where Miss Becker left them.”

Becker passed away long before women gained the right to vote, but she inspired the women who devoted their lives to the cause, particularly Fawcett and Pankhurst. These women receive praise and respect for their campaigns and success, leaving Lydia Becker forgotten in the background. Nevertheless, Becker is listed on the Reformers Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery with others who impacted society and the future, such as Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Fry, John Ruskin, William Morris and John Stuart Mill. Becker also features on the plinth of the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square.

Whilst Becker may not receive adequate praise for her contribution towards women’s voting rights, she is remembered for her attitude towards women’s intellect and her interest in biology. In 2018, the University of Manchester launched the Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation. The university chose her name due to Becker’s connection with Charles Darwin and her belief that women were intellectually equal to men and deserved the same opportunities.

Becker’s writings and speeches on a variety of subjects are kept in the Women’s Library at the Library of the London School of Economics. Her 1864 book Botany for Novices is available online, as are snippets of her other works. Becker’s most notable articles include Female Suffrage (1867) and On the Study of Science by Women (1869), both published in The Contemporary Review; Is there any Specific Distinction between Male and Female Intellect? (1868), published in Englishwoman’s Review of Social and Industrial Questions; and The Political Disabilities of Women (1872), from The Westminster Review.

Lydia Becker is a woman who changed lives, yet her personal life remains unknown. A biography by Linda Walker describes Becker as “Physically stout from early womanhood, her broad, flat face, wire-rimmed spectacles, and plaited crown of hair were a cartoonist’s delight, and she was much lampooned in the popular press.” She lacked oratorical flair but had a statesmanlike mind, which enabled her to persuade and draw large crowds. It appears Becker never married, but she had plenty to say on the topic: “I think that the notion that the husband ought to have the headship or authority over his wife is the root of all social evils… Husband and wife should be co-equal. In a happy marriage, there is no question of ‘obedience’.”

Ultimately, Lydia Becker was the women’s suffrage movement’s key strategist, helping to kick-start a new chapter in the history of Britain and shape the world today. Whilst the militant actions of the suffragettes overshadow the work of others, Lydia Becker is a name that should never disappear from history. By influencing Millicent Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst, Becker set off a never-ending chain of events that continues to this day.

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The “Cripple” Suffragette

It is impossible to list everyone involved in the Suffrage Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Only fifty-nine of the thousands of supporters are named on the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square. However, looking at each of these individuals gives us a sense of the views held by the many women and men who campaigned for women’s suffrage. One such woman was Rosa May Billinghurst, popularly known at the time as the “cripple suffragette”.

Rosa May Billinghurst, or May, as she preferred, was born in Lewisham on 31st May 1875 to Rosa Ann and Henry Farncombe Billinghurst. During her childhood, she contracted polio, which left her unable to walk unaided. For the rest of her life, she relied on leg irons, crutches or a modified tricycle, earning her the unsavoury nickname. Despite her disabilities, Billinghurst involved herself with social work and taught at a Sunday School.

Passionate about the Women’s Suffrage cause, Billinghurst joined the Women’s Liberal Association, which later became the Women’s Liberal Federation. The WLF aimed to work with the Liberal Party to promote just legislation for women, particularly the introduction of votes for women at elections on the same terms as men.

In 1907, Billinghurst became disenchanted with the Liberal party, so she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and participated in a march to the Royal Albert Hall the following year, albeit on her tricycle. That same year, Billinghurst helped organise a protest on the polling day of the Haggerston by-election. Haggerston was a UK Parliament constituency before being incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch and, subsequently, the London Borough of Hackney. The by-election occurred following the death of the Liberal MP Sir Randal Cremer (1828-1908). Rather than give the seat to another Liberal politician, a local election was held to choose a new representative for the constituency. Billinghurst and several other Suffragettes canvassed the area on polling day, shouting “keep the Liberal out.” Their efforts were rewarded when the Conservative candidate, Rupert Guinness (1874-1967), won 51.4 % of the vote.

In 1910, Billinghurst established the Greenwich branch of the WSPU and served as secretary during the Black Friday demonstrations. Around 300 women marched to the Houses of Parliament as part of the campaign for voting rights on 18th November 1910. What started as a relatively peaceful demonstration became a violent brawl when male bystanders and the Metropolitan Police began attacking and, in some instances, sexually assaulting the women.

Billinghurst attended the Black Friday demonstration on her tricycle wheelchair. She was amongst the women pulled through the streets by violent men, who assaulted her, deflated her wheels and stole the valves, leaving Billinghurst stranded. Despite this exploitation of her disability, Billinghurst determined to use the experience as publicity for the suffrage cause.

In 1911, Billinghurst participated in another march to the Houses of Parliament. This time, she came prepared to fight the police and bystanders if they attempted any assault. Billinghurst placed her crutches on either side of her tricycle and charged at any opposition. Whilst this deterred the police from attacking her, it resulted in her arrest.

Billinghurst experienced prison life on several occasions. In March 1912, Billinghurst helped the Scottish suffragette Janie Allan (1868-1968) smash windows along Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, which resulted in a stint in Holloway Prison. On this occasion, Billinghurst was sentenced to one month’s hard labour. Being disabled, prison wardens were confused about her sentence and gave her no work for the duration of her sentence.

On 8th January 1913, the Old Bailey sentenced Billingshurst to another eight months in Holloway Prison after she damaged letters in a post box. In court, Billingshurst represented herself and gave a speech titled The Guilt Lies on the Shoulders of the Government, which she later published in the WSPU newspaper, The Suffragette.

“The guilt lies o the shoulders of the Government for delaying the measure, not on the women who continue to fight for the protection of the weak and the oppressed. In our union are women doctors, nurses, inspectors, teachers — women in almost every branch of industry and station of life. We are not hooligans seeking to destroy, but we mean to wake the public mind from its apathy, and to make our cause the burning question of the day, so that something shall be done for women. Gentlemen, I have stated a few facts of my life to show you why I am standing in the dock to-day pleading “Not Guilty.” I am fighting a righteous battle with a high motive. You may think me guilty; I may be imprisoned. In that case, I shall adopt the hunger strike as a protest against imprisonment being given to women instead of the justice they demand.“

Billinghurst carried out her hunger strike threat with several other suffragettes. Fearing an outcry if the prisoners died from starvation, the prison wardens subjected the hunger strikers to force-feeding. Prison wardens restrained the women while a doctor inserted a small tube up their noses or throats into the stomach to administer liquid meals. Force-feeding was traumatic, abusive and not much more nutritious than starvation. After two weeks, Billinghurst became critically ill, resulting in an early release from prison.

Between 1909 and 1914, the WSPU awarded hunger strikers a medal designed by Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960). The silver medal, engraved with the words Hunger Strike, hung on a ribbon featuring purple, white and green, the colours of the WSPU. With a silver pin engraved For Valour, recipients could attach their award to their clothes to demonstrate how far they were willing to go in their campaign for women’s voting rights. Silver bars were added to the medals with the dates the recipient underwent force-feeding. Many women experienced the gruelling procedure on several occasions.

Despite the threat of imprisonment and force-feeding, Billinghurst continued campaigning. She spoke at public events in 1913 and chained herself to the gates of Buckingham Palace with a handful of other suffragettes. On 14th June 1913, Billinghurst and other members of the WSPU used the funeral procession of Emily Wilding Davison to further their cause. Davison died after being hit by a horse at the 1913 Derby when she walked onto the track during the race. The suffragettes named Davison a martyr, and 5000 women dressed in white followed her coffin through the streets of London. Several male supporters also joined the ranks, helping to carry the banners of the WSPU.

Attitudes towards the suffragettes did not change much throughout their campaign, with many regarding them as a nuisance. Billinghurst joined the crowds of women petitioning to the King on 21st May 1914, where, once again, the police used violence to disperse them. Whilst Billinghurst was not arrested on this occasion, the police tipped her out of her tricycle.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Billinghurst followed Emmeline Pankhurst’s lead prioritising war work. Although she was restricted due to her disability, Billinghurst helped where she could throughout the war years. In February 1918, parliament passed the Representation of the People Act 1918, which extended the right to vote to women aged 30 and over who resided in the constituency or occupied land or premises with a rateable value above £5. Whilst this was not equal to men, Billinghurst felt satisfied and stopped campaigning for women’s suffrage. Instead, she helped Christabel Pankhurst (1880-1958) stand in the 1918 general election for the Smethwick constituency. Pankhurst was narrowly defeated by the Labour candidate.

Very little is known about Billinghurst’s life outside of her work with the WSPU. In 1911, it appeared she still lived with her parents, but at some point, she lived in Sunbury-on-Thames with her adopted daughter, Beth, who she adopted in 1933. Other records reveal that after 1914, Billinghurst lived with her brother Alfred John Billinghurst.

Rosa May Billinghurst passed away at a hospital in Twickenham on 29th July 1953, leaving her body to medical science. Sixty-five years after her death, Billinghurst’s name and picture appeared on the plinth of the newly-erected Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square. Although information about Billinghurst is sparse, her name and determination will never be forgotten.

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The Horniman Museum

In Forest Hill, Southeast London is a museum devoted to anthropology, natural history and musical instruments. The Horniman Museum opened in 1901, although under a different name, and is now known for its extensive collection of taxidermied animals. The museum resulted from Frederick Horniman’s lifelong passion for collecting artefacts. Horniman gathered around 30,000 items during his lifetime, but the Horniman Museum now boasts a collection of 350,000 objects.

Frederick John Horniman was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, on 8th October 1835 to Quaker parents, John and Ann Horniman. John had founded Horniman’s Tea Company in 1826 in Newport, Isle of Wight. He later moved the business to London, the then-biggest tea trading port in the world. By 1891, Horniman’s was the largest business in the trade. 

Horniman grew up in Croydon, where he attended the Quaker Friends’ School until age 14. Upon leaving school, he joined the family business. During the Victorian era, many immoral traders attempted to increase their profits by adding other items to their products. Tea companies frequently supplemented tea leaves with hedge clippings or dust. The Hornimans, on the other hand, refused to cheat their customers. Instead, John Horniman revolutionised the tea trade by using machines to speed up the process of filling pre-sealed packages. The process was quicker and cheaper than paying workers to fill the packets by hand.

During the 1850s, the government tried to put an end to traders cheating customers by secretly testing their products. In 1855, the test results declared Horniman’s Tea pure and safe for consumption. The company saw an increase in sales following this survey, much to the dismay of its competitors.

In 1859, Frederick Horniman married Rebekah Emslie (1825-95), with whom he had two children, Annie (1860-1937) and Emslie (1863-1932). As the only son, Emslie inherited the tea company on Horniman’s death and sold it to J. Lyons & Co. in 1918. Emslie received a private education and spent some of his youth travelling. He later became a Liberal Party politician. Annie also received a private education at home, but her interests lay in the theatre, which Horniman considered sinful. Nonetheless, Horniman allowed Annie to attend the Slade School of Fine Art, which kick-started her career in the acting world. In 1908, she founded the first repertory company at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester.

From around 1860, Horniman began collecting objects, specimens and artefacts of interest. He particularly looked for items belonging to ‘natural history and the arts and handicrafts of various peoples of the world’. His passion for collecting soon became a quest to ‘bring the world to Forest Hill’, where he and his family lived, and to educate and enrich the lives of the local community.

Horniman’s mission took him far and wide to places that either appealed to him or may hold a particular interest to people back home. Countries he visited include Burma, Canada, China, Egypt, Japan, Sri Lanka and the United States. Horniman’s family frequently travelled overseas with him, which inspired his son, Emslie, to dabble in anthropology.

For some time, Horniman’s family put up with his eccentric passion for collecting, but by the late 1880s, his wife Rebekah put her foot down. After giving her husband the ultimatum, ‘either the collection goes, or we do,’ Hormian agreed to move to a larger house on Surrey Mount, not overly far from their previous home in Forest Hill.

In 1890, Horniman organised his curiosities into two categories, art and nature, and opened the collection to the public as the Surrey House Museum. Sir Morell Mackenzie (1837-92), a London-based physician, officially opened the museum on Christmas Eve. Over the next nine years, the museum was open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 pm to 9 pm and on bank holidays from 10 am to 9 pm, attracting over half a million visitors. During the first year, it received 42,808 visitors alone, prompting Horniman to build an extension to accommodate guests and his growing collection of artefacts.

Following the successful extension in 1893, Horniman converted the surrounding land into a public garden, which opened on 1st June 1895. Today, there are 16 acres of land to explore, including a “sound garden” inspired by musical instruments, a wildlife garden and a prehistoric garden.

Since the opening of the Surrey House Museum, Horniman’s vast collection rapidly expanded until it outgrew the building. In 1898, Horniman closed the house and began constructing a purpose-built museum. The work cost around £40,000, which Horniman could afford using the profits of the family tea business. He had also been elected as a Member of Parliament for Penryn and Falmouth in Cornwall, which was another source of income.

The museum was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend (1851-1928), who was simultaneously working on the Whitechapel Art Gallery. The new museum was built from Doulting stone from a quarry in Somerset, dating to the Middle Jurassic era (174.1 to 163.5 million years ago), which seems fitting for a museum featuring several ancient artefacts.

The new museum, known as the Horniman Museum, opened on 29th June 1901. Horniman appointed Dr H. S. Harrison as the Director of the Museum and gave him the responsibility of reorganising the collection. Harrison also introduced several more objects to the museum until his retirement in 1937.

On 5th March 1906, Frederick Horniman passed away and was buried next to his first wife, Rebekah, in Camberwell Old Cemetery. When Rebekah died, Horniman married Minnie Louisa Bennett, with whom he had two daughters. As Horniman’s only son, Emslie inherited the museum and the tea trade. Emslie generously donated money to extend the Horniman Museum, creating a library and lecture theatre in 1912.

When Emslie Horniman passed away in 1932, he bequeathed £10,000 to the London County Council to build further extensions at the Horniman Museum. In 1944, the Royal Anthropological Institute established the Emslie Horniman Anthropological Scholarship Fund to “promote the study of the growth of civilisations, habits and customs, religious and physical characteristics of the non-European peoples and of prehistoric and non-industrial man in Europe”.

Since Frederick Horniman’s death, the museum has been looked after by several Directors. Dr Otto Samson, who was interested in ethnomusicology, concentrated on developing a collection of musical instruments. Later, David Boston embellished the museum with his own findings.

Further extensions to the museum have included the conservatory, constructed between 1987 and 1989, and the Centre for Understanding the Environment (CUE) building. The latter was inspired by Walter Segal (1907-85), who developed a system of self-build housing. Local architects built the centre with sustainable materials, including a grass roof.

In 1999, the Horniman Museum held the first exhibition in Britain about African art and culture. It featured a mix of sculptures, religious or spiritual objects, and information about life on the continent. Gradually, the display expanded to include artefacts from South American countries, such as Brazil. In 2018, the World Gallery opened to contain the growing African and South American collections. It also features items from Europe, Asia and Oceania to educate visitors about the diverse cultures throughout the world.

The Natural History Gallery contains hundreds of taxidermied animals from all continents. There are over 250,000 specimens in the collection, which include 4,700 butterflies, 350 examples of British mammals, and 175,000 fossils. Some of these were collected by Frederick Horniman, such as the insects, and others joined the collection during the 20th century.

The largest animal in the Natural History collection is a walrus from Canada. It originally belonged to the explorer James Henry Hubbard, who exhibited it at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in South Kensington. When the exhibition closed, Horniman purchased the walrus and several other animals for the museum. Unfortunately, not many people in Britain had seen a walrus, so the taxidermists overstuffed it, removing all its natural wrinkles.

The majority of the Horniman Museum is free to visit, including the Natural History Gallery and the World Gallery. Ticketed temporary exhibitions are displayed throughout the year, and a fee is charged for the aquarium and butterfly house. The Grade II* listed building is also of interest, particularly the clock tower and mosaic.

The mosaic on the wall of the museum is a neoclassical mural entitled Humanity in the House of Circumstance. Although designed by Robert Anning Bell (1863-1933), a group of young women pieced the 117,000 tesserae together over 210 days. The image reveals several classical figures representing Art, Poetry, Music, Endurance, Love, Hope, Humanity, Charity, Wisdom, Meditation and Resignation. An open doorway signifies birth, while another door symbolises death.

On display outside the museum’s entrance is a red cedar totem pole. Nathan Jackson (b.1938), a native Alaskan, carved the pole for an American Arts Festival in 1985. The carvings represent an ancient Tlingit story about a woman who married a bear.

In 2022, the Horniman Museum won the Art Fund Museum of the Year award, and it is not difficult to see why. The museum contains a wealth of information about the cultures of the world, plus thousands of fascinating artefacts. There is no sense of prejudice or racism in the World Gallery, and the museum claims Horniman did not gain any of his money through slavery, even in the tea trade (although the same cannot be said for those with whom he traded).

The Horniman Museum and Gardens are open daily from 10 am until 5:30 pm. There is a lot to take in, so more than one visit may be required to appreciate all the artefacts. Look out for the earliest known example of a hoop-shaped horn and the Carlton drum kit in the Music Gallery, and the Apostle Clock on the balcony of the Natural History gallery, which shows Jesus’ twelve apostles bowing to Him at 4 pm every day (if it is working).

For information about temporary displays and exhibitions, visit the Horniman Museum website.

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The 8th Wonder of the World

In the small London district of Rotherhithe is a museum devoted to the history of the “eighth wonder of the world”. Situated in the Brunel Engine House, the Brunel Museum celebrates the construction of the first underwater tunnel. Next to the building, the Grade II* listed tunnel shaft and the world’s first caisson marks where the beginning of the tunnel began, which eventually reached the opposite side of the River Thames, opening in 1843 as a foot passage from Rotherhithe to Wapping.

The Thames Tunnel was the result of Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s architectural genius. Started in 1825 by Marc Brunel (1769-1849), the project faced several issues, particularly flooding, for which Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59) sought solutions. Whilst the Brunels intended the tunnel for horse-drawn carriages, it was mostly used by pedestrians as a tourist attraction. In 1869, it became a railway tunnel for the East London line, and since 2010 is part of the London Overground railway network.

Due to the rapid expansion of the London Docks, Londoners needed a new land connection between the north and south banks of the Thames. During busy periods, people could hop from one boat or barge to another until they reached the opposite bank, but this was not a practical method of crossing the river. Whilst there are many bridges across the Thames, another would restrict the size of boats entering the dockyards. The only solution was to dig a tunnel under the water. Ralph Dodd (1756-1822), a British civil engineer, attempted to produce the first underwater tunnel in 1798 between Gravesend and Tilbury, but constant flooding prevented the construction.

In 1805, a group of Cornish miners made a second attempt to dig a tunnel under the Thames, this time between Rotherhithe and Wapping. Used to working with hard rock, the workers did not have appropriate tools for the soft clay by the river. After four years of trying and failing, the engineers concluded that “an underground tunnel is impracticable”. Marc Brunel, on the other hand, disagreed.

After studying the two failed tunnels, Marc Brunel invented and patented the tunnelling shield. This technology acted as a temporary support structure, preventing the tunnel from collapsing while under construction. Believing the shield was the solution to underwater tunnel building, Brunel sought funding for another attempt at the Rotherhithe and Wapping tunnel. With financial support from several private investors, including Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), Brunel formed the Thames Tunnel Company in 1824 and began the construction the following year.

Brunel began constructing a shaft on the Rotherhithe side of the river, approximately 46 metres from the water. Using a steam-powered pump, Brunel cut through the earth with a 15-metre-wide iron ring. As the machine sliced through the ground, Brunel’s workers manually removed the soil from the hole. By November 1825, the Rotherhithe shaft was complete, and another was constructed in Wapping on the opposite side of the Thames.

To create the tunnel between the two shafts, Brunel used his iron tunnelling shield, which weighed over 7 tonnes. Whilst the shield worked well, the unsanitary conditions caused illnesses and delays. For hundreds of years, the River Thames served as London’s main sewage system, which slowly seeped through into the tunnel. The methane gas in the sewage often sparked small fires when ignited by the worker’s oil lamps. At best, the engineers only extended the tunnel by two metres a week.

Although the tunnelling shield prevented the tunnel from collapsing, water frequently leaked through the ceiling. On 18th May 1827, by which time the tunnel was 167 metres long, the tunnel flooded. Brunel’s son, Isambard, repaired the damage by lowering a diving bell to the bottom of the Thames and throwing bags of clay over the hole. To celebrate saving the tunnel, the young Brunel held an underground banquet. The artist George Jones (1786-1869) captured the event in a painting, revealing a long table set for 50 guests, including the Duke of Wellington. The Coldstream Guards played music during the meal, making it a rather noisy affair. In the foreground, Jones portrayed Marc and Isambard Brunel, although Marc Brunel did not attend the banquet.

Sixth months after work recommenced, the tunnel flooded again on 12th January 1828, killing six men. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was among the injured and dragged from the tunnel unconscious. Marc Brunel sent his son to Bristol to recover from the incident and attempted to continue the construction. By August, the project faced financial problems, forcing Brunel to halt the progress and seal the tunnel.

It took seven years to raise enough money to continue building the Thames Tunnel, by which time the original tunnelling shield had rusted. After installing a new, improved shield, work started again in March 1836. Before completion, workers faced delays from five more floods, several fires and gas leaks. Finally, in November 1841, the tunnel reached the shaft on the Wapping side of the bank. After installing roads, lights, and spiral staircases and building an engine house on the Rotherhithe side, the Thames Tunnel officially opened on 25th March 1843.

The Thames Tunnel cost £454,000 to dig and a further £180,000 to make it safe for pedestrians. The original plan aimed to make the passage suitable for vehicles, but a lack of funds prevented this. Instead, people paid a penny to pass through the tunnel, which soon became a tourist attraction, with around two million visiting every year. The American traveller, William Allen Drew, described it as the “eighth wonder of the world”, although he had not yet experienced walking through the tunnel. When Drew finally visited, he admitted he felt “somewhat disappointed in it”.

There is no official “eighth wonder of the world”, and it is unlikely the Thames Tunnel deserved the title, despite being the first of its kind. Other nominations for the eighth wonder include Niagara Falls, Angkor Wat, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and Stonehenge. It seems far-fetched that the Thames Tunnel would win the position against these nominees.

In September 1865, the East London Railway Company purchased the Thames Tunnel for £800,000. They wished to use it as a railway link between Wapping and the South London Line. Sir John Hawkshaw (1811-91), an English civil engineer, built the railway track through the tunnel, which opened on 7th December 1869. Wapping Station, which repurposed the disused construction shaft, eventually opened in 1884. The East London Railway later became part of the London Underground, which wanted to make cheap repairs to parts of the tunnel. A Grade II* ruling in 1995 prevented this, meaning extra care must be taken to preserve the original architecture. As of 2010, the tunnel between Wapping and Rotherhithe forms part of the London Overground line.

Marc Brunel’s determination and invention of the tunnelling shield, alongside the support of his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, paved the way for future underwater tunnels. A second underwater tunnel opened in London between Tower Hill and Vine Lane in 1869, and Sir John Hawkshaw constructed the Severn Tunnel under the River Severn between 1873 and 1886. Hawkshaw belonged to the original Channel Tunnel Company, which aimed to build a tunnel under the Strait of Dover. This feat was not achieved until 1994.

With so many underwater tunnels in existence, the world’s first success is largely forgotten. The Brunel Museum aims to keep the history of the Thames Tunnel alive with a detailed exhibition inside the former engine house. In 2011, a concrete floor was added to the shaft above the tracks. Visitors can climb down to this level of the shaft and see the smoke-blackened walls caused by old steam trains. Occasionally, concerts and exhibitions are held in the shaft.

The engine house has been used as a museum since 1961 but has needed lots of work and refurbishment over the years. In 1975, the Brunel Exhibition Rotherhithe Trust prevented the building’s closure by providing money to repair structural decay. In 2007, the museum underwent major restoration work to create a larger exhibition space and better toilet facilities. These refurbishments coincided with the addition of the concrete floor inside the shaft.

Since 2019, the Brunel Museum has received development funding from the Heritage Fund to continue improving visitor experience and for the protection of the Grade II* listed building and shaft. The museum has recently acquired a collection of Marc Brunel’s Thames Tunnel watercolour designs, which detail his ideas and progress. Some of these are on display, and others are shown digitally on interactive screens.

The Brunel Museum is currently open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. From 1st April, opening times will change to Fridays, Sundays and Mondays between 11 am and 5 pm. General admission for adults costs £6, while children and the over 65s cost £4. Special events and group talks are available at various times of the year.

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Battersea Power Station

Designated a Grade II listed building in 1980, Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned power station on the south bank of the River Thames, London. Constructed between 1929 and 1941, the station burned coal to create electricity until it closed in 1983. For many years, the building stood empty while several companies attempted to develop plans for its use. Finally, with the help of Malaysian investors, Battersea Power Station reopened as a combination of apartments, offices and a shopping centre in autumn 2022.

The London Power Company proposed the construction of a new power station in 1927. Many protested against the plan because they feared it would be an eyesore and damage the environment. After reassuring the locals the emissions would be “clean and smokeless”, the company commissioned the industrial architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) to design the building. Scott, famed for developing the iconic red telephone boxes, produced plans for two stations, A and B. The construction of Station A began in 1929, with John Mowlem & Co building the facade.

Scott initially proposed square chimneys, but these were switched to cylindrical chimneys during the construction process. Whilst the chimneys are 50 metres high, they sit on a 51-metre-tall building, meaning they reach 101 metres above ground level. Station A, completed in 1935, comprises the western pair of chimneys and the boiler house. It cost £2,141,550 to build, and 207 accidents occurred during the process, six of which were fatal.

During the Second World War, Battersea Power Station continued running, despite the steam from the chimneys making it visible from the sky. Royal Airforce Pilots benefited from the smoke, particularly on foggy nights, because it helped them determine their location. Similarly, the German Luftwaffe used the smoke for navigation, so they never bombed the power station.

Construction of Station B began in 1944 and gradually started operating between 1953 and 1955. Scott’s design for the second station was the mirror image of Station A, resulting in the iconic four-chimney layout. The final chimney was ready for use in 1955, making Battersea Power Station complete. The boiler room was now so large it could fit the entirety of St Paul’s Cathedral.

With Station B complete, Battersea Power Station could produce up to 509 megawatts (MW), making it the third-largest generating site in the UK. London Power Company initially operated Station A, but by the time Station B came into use, the government had nationalised the UK’s electricity supply, thus transferring the station’s ownership to the British Electricity Authority (BEA).

The station was responsible for powering a fifth of London’s electricity, so when an electrical fire occurred on 20th April 1964, a wide-spread area experienced power outages. Unfortunately, one affected building was the BBC Television Centre which was due to launch BBC 2 that evening. As a result of the fire, BBC 2 could not go on air until 11 am the following morning.

Aside from producing electricity, Battersea Power Station became an iconic structure in popular culture and featured in many films and television programmes. Even before the construction of Station B, the building appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Sabotage (1936). In more recent years, it has been a setting in Children of Men (2006) and the 2020 video game Watch Dogs: Legion. Most notably, Battersea Power Station appeared on the album cover of Animals (1977) by Pink Floyd.

Designed by Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013), Pink Floyd’s Animals album cover featured an inflatable pig floating between two chimneys of Battersea Power Station. For the photoshoot and music video, the band tethered a helium-filled 12ft pig called Algie to one of the southern chimneys on 2nd December 1976. A marksman stood nearby with a gun to shoot the pig balloon down in an emergency. The following day, the band returned to the station to add the finishing touches to their video but forgot to inform the marksman. Inevitably, the balloon escaped its moorings and quickly disappeared from view. The pig flew over Heathrow, causing delayed and cancelled flights, while pilots up above panicked about the strange object in their flight path. Eventually, Algie the pig balloon landed in a field on the coast of Kent, frightening a herd of cows.

Before the Pink Floyd fiasco, Station A ceased operating on 17th March 1975 due to increased running costs. Rumours began to spread about Station B following suit, resulting in a campaign to save the building. In 1980, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine (b.1933), awarded the building Grade II listed status, which meant the building could not be demolished, extended, or altered without special permission from the local planning authority. As a result, when Station B ceased operating on 31st October 1983, the building remained standing and empty.

In 1983, the Central Electricity Generating Board, responsible for looking after the building, held a competition for redevelopment ideas. The winning idea proposed a theme park with shops and restaurants. John Broome, the owner of Alton Towers Resort, purchased Battersea Power Station for £1.5 million, but he estimated the development costs at £35 million. The theme park would need to attract 2 million visitors annually to make a profit. Undeterred, Broome started converting the site, and British Rail considered installing a shuttle service between London Victoria and Battersea.

After removing the roof to extract the old machinery, Broome halted the project in 1989. Costs had escalated to an unaffordable £230 million, so Broome ditched the theme park proposal. New ideas flooded in, such as a mixture of offices, shops and a hotel, but the building remained stationary and open to the elements for several years.

In 1993, Parkview International, a Hong Kong-based development company, purchased Battersea Power Station for £10,000. The building came with £70,000 of debt and significant damage from bad weather and flooding. Ten years later, Parkview International began a £1.1 billion project to restore the building and develop it into a retail, leisure and housing complex. Various architects submitted plans for the interior of the complex and extra buildings surrounding the area. The local Battersea Power Station Community Group actively campaigned against these schemes, stating the housing would be unaffordable and “If you surround it with buildings 15 storeys high, you don’t have a landmark any more.”

Further problems arose after construction workers discovered that parts of the chimneys had corroded. Impossible to save, Parkview International sought permission from English Heritage and the London Borough of Wandsworth to demolish and replace the chimneys of the Grade II-listed building. Unfortunately, this unexpected cost put an end to Parkview’s redevelopment plans.

In 2006, Real Estate Opportunities (REO) purchased the site for £400 million, intending to create a 980-foot-high “eco tower” and reopen the building as a power station. The plan included using the chimneys as vents for the biomass and waste fuelled station, while the interior of the building housed a shopping centre and museum. Rather than replacing the roof over the boiler house, REO proposed developing an open-air park in the space. REO claimed the materials used would reduce energy consumption in the buildings by 67%.

REO’s plans were due to go ahead in 2011, but the failure to secure a financial backer put an end to the proceedings, and REO went into administration. New proposals for Battersea Power Station came flooding in, including Sir Terry Farrell’s (b.1938) urban park and a new stadium for Chelsea Football Club. Finally, on 7th June 2012, Ernst & Young Global Limited (EY), partnered with Malaysian developers SP Setia and Sime Darby, won the bid. They proposed to restore the power station, create a riverside park and high street and construct 800 homes.

Construction commenced in 2013 on phase one of the latest project. The entire scheme comprises six phases, three of which are complete as of writing. Phase one involved the development of Circus West Village, a complex to one side of the power station. Completed in 2017, the village contains 23 restaurants, cafes and retailers, and houses over 1500 residents.

Phase two also commenced in 2013. It involved the restoration of the Art Deco power station and the reconstruction of the chimneys. Although the majority of the building work was completed by 2017, the interior required more work. Eventually, the main body of the power station opened to the public on 14th October 2022. Where the engine room once stood, shops, bars, and restaurants fill the space. There are also 254 apartments and a cinema.

To make Battersea Power Station more accessible, the London Underground agreed to create a new branch of the Northern Line. Branching off at Kennington Station, the 1.9-mile-long track serves two new stations: Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. The construction cost £1.1 billion and opened on 20th September 2021.

Since the opening of the main shopping centre, phase three reached completion. Known as the Electric Boulevard, it contains 1,300 sustainable (and supposedly affordable) homes and a handful of shops, cafes and restaurants. Phase four promises more housing and an NHS medical centre. Phases five and six will also provide housing as well as outdoor areas.

Despite the promises of affordable houses, the Battersea Power Station shopping centre feels like a rich person’s playground. Upmarket shops and brands fill the various levels of the building, including Calvin Klein, Mulberry, Omega, Ralph Lauren and Rolex. Similarly, restaurants cater for those with extra cash to spend, notably Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen. The successful businesses will help pay for the £10 billion restoration project, but it is currently only targeting a niche clientele.

A unique highlight at Battersea Power Station is Lift 109, which carries visitors 109 metres to the top of the northwest chimney. At the top, tourists are treated to a 360-degree view of London. The (overpriced) experience allows people to watch planes landing at Heathrow Airport in the distance and gaze down at the many significant buildings that make up London’s skyline.

It is too early to say if Battersea Power Station’s make-over is a success. It is not yet reaching its target footfall, but it promises many events and exhibitions in the future, which will help attract much-needed visitors.

Whilst Battersea Power Station features parking facilities, it is easy to get to on the underground. Battersea Power Station underground station is situated next to the shopping centre; alternatively, the River Boat service provides regular transport into central London. Tickets for Lift 109 start at £15.50 when purchased online but are considerably more expensive at weekends or if purchased on-site.

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Laurence Housman

In 2018, Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled a statue of the Suffragist leader, Dame Millicent Fawcett, in Parliament Square, London. Sculpted by Gillian Wearing, it honours the centenary of (some) women winning the right to vote. It is the first statue of a woman to stand in Parliament Square and honours not just Fawcett but 63 other people who supported women’s suffrage, too. The names are inscribed on the plinth next to a small engraving of each person, including four men. One of the men is Laurence Housman, an English playwright, writer, illustrator, and founding member of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage and the Suffrage Atelier.

Laurence Housman was born on 18th July 1865 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, to Edward and Sarah Jane Housman. He was one of seven children, including Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936), who became a classical scholar and poet, and Clemence Housman (1861-1955), an author and illustrator. Housman’s father worked as a solicitor and tax accountant, but his mother passed away in 1871. Edward Housman remarried a cousin, Lucy.

Housman had a close relationship with his siblings, particularly Alfred and Clemence, with whom he enjoyed creative pastimes, such as putting on theatrical performances and creating a family magazine. Meanwhile, Housman’s father turned to drink as his business floundered, leaving the family in financial distress. Fortunately, the Housman brothers received scholarships to study at Bromsgrove School, a local boarding school that allowed day students.

In 1882, Housman attended an art class with his sister, Clemence. The following year, they each inherited £200 from a relative, which they spent on art courses at the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. Housman’s interest in illustration led to positions at London publishing houses, where he produced the artwork for several books, including Christina Rossetti‘s Goblin Market (1893) and his sister’s novella, The Were-Wolf (1896). The latter was an erotic fantasy featuring a female werewolf.

Housman also dabbled in writing and published several poems, hymns and carols during the 1890s. By the turn of the century, Housman’s eyesight began to fail, so he concentrated entirely on writing. He had already published several fairytales, such as A Farm in Fairyland (1894), but his first major literary success was the novel An Englishwoman’s Love-letters (1900), which he published anonymously. The book initially caused a scandal until the public discovered it was written by a man rather than an Englishwoman.

Many of Housman’s works contained Christian undertones. Aside from novels, Housman penned plays such as Bethlehem (1902), Angels and Ministers (1921), and Little Plays of St. Francis (1922). Once again, Housman caused a scandal for depicting biblical characters on stage, and many plays were only performed privately. Another play, Victoria Regina (1934), caused problems because the Lord Chamberlain, Rowland Baring, 2nd Earl of Cromer (1877-1953), ruled that “no British sovereign may be portrayed on the stage until 100 years after his or her accession.” As a result, Victoria Regina could not be performed until the centenary of Queen Victoria’s accession on 20th June 1937, when it opened at the Lyric Theatre, London.

During his career, Housman published around 100 pieces of work, including an autobiography, The Unexpected Years (1937), in which he discussed his controversial writing. He did not mention much of his personal life in the book due to his homosexuality, which was illegal at the time. Despite this, Housman was quite vocal about his sexuality and invested time in helping homosexuals who were stigmatized by society. Housman joined the Order of Chaeronea, an underground organisation for homosexuals. Housman also founded the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology, which later became the British Sexological Society.

Housman identified as a feminist and devoted himself to the women’s suffrage movement, for which he is remembered on the plinth of the Millicent Fawcett statue. In 1909, Housman and his sister Clemence founded the Suffrage Atelier with the artist and author Alfred Pearse (1855-1933), known under the pseudonym “A Patriot”. The Atelier accepted artists and illustrators, primarily women, who wished to use their skills to assist the campaign for women’s suffrage.

The Suffrage Atelier was not the only group producing artwork for the suffrage movement, yet it was the only one to pay its workers. Working as a studio rather than a party or union, the Atelier produced illustrations and designs, which they sold to groups of suffragists or suffragettes. The Suffrage Atelier primarily worked with the Women’s Freedom League, an offshoot of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

One of the posters designed by the Suffrage Atelier emphasised how unfair it was to deny women the right to vote. At the time, women could run for mayor, work as nurses, doctors, teachers and factory hands, or be stay-at-home mothers, yet not vote in parliamentary elections. Conversely, men who had been convicts, “lunatics”, proprietors of white slaves, unfit for military service, or drunkards still retained their voting rights. This poster and many of the Atelier’s publications could be quickly reproduced and circulated using block printing, such as woodcuts and linocuts. Despite limited colours, the pamphlets, posters and banners helped spread the women’s cause across the country.

Housman allowed the Suffrage Atelier to use his house at No. 1 Pembroke Cottage Kensington in London as their base. The building also became a central hub for the suffrage movement, offering women writing lessons and hosting talks by motivational speakers. In 1911, Housman opened his doors as a safe house for women participating in the Census Boycott. Led by Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), women declined to partake in the census by either refusing to fill in the census forms or staying out of the house on the designated night. Participants of the boycott used the slogan, “If women don’t count, neither shall they be counted,” to put pressure on the anti-suffrage Liberal Government.

In 1911, Housman compiled a book called An Anti-Suffrage Alphabet, using illustrations by several members of the Suffrage Atelier. Housman aimed to raise money for the suffrage movement through sales of the book, which mocked negative views of women with a short rhyme for each letter of the alphabet.

“R are the reasons why women can’t vote – Lord Carzon has plenty from which you can quote. “Irrefutable reasons,” but while you are quoting don’t mention the countries where women are voting.”

“W’s the washing which woman must do day in and day out, on polling day too. If she wants a day off you had better say “Bosh” and tell her such fanciful notions won’t wash.”

Housman also designed the “From Prison to Citizenship” banner, which the WSPU carried during a procession on 17th June 1911, a few days before the coronation of George V (1865-1936). Known as the Women’s Coronation Procession, the WSPU demanded women’s suffrage in the coronation year. The procession was “the largest women’s suffrage march ever held in Britain and one of the few to draw together the full range of suffrage organisations”. Around 40,000 people joined the march from Westminster to South Kensington, with Charlotte Despard (1844-1939) and Flora Drummond (1878-1949) leading on horseback. Housman’s banner was carried by the suffragettes who had spent time in prison for their militant actions.

Aside from the artwork Housman created, he began dedicating his writing to the suffrage movement. He also edited other people’s work to give it a feminist twist. Housman wrote several newspaper articles that urged women to join the campaigns and penned a series of poems for Votes for Women, the official newspaper of the WSPU. Housman set several of his fictional works in a future where the women’s campaigns, particularly the Census Boycott, were successful.

To persuade other men to support women’s suffrage, Housman formed the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage with several other writers and journalists, including Gerald Gould (1885-1935), H. N. Brailsford (1873-1958) and Israel Zangwill (1864-1926). The league produced a monthly paper through which they persuaded a handful of men to write “Votes for Women” on their ballot papers at the 1910 general election.

Housman frequently spoke at rallies and participated in protests, which resulted in his arrest on more than one occasion. At one rally, Housman read Rudyard Kipling’s (1965-1936) poem Tommy (1890), replacing every instance of “Tommy” with “Women”. ‘O it’s Women this, an’ Women that, an’ “Women, go away.”‘

Following the First World War, after women over 30 gained the right to vote, Housman and his sister left the capital and settled in Ashley, Hampshire. With less focus on women’s suffrage, Housman concentrated on writing novels, short stories and plays, as well as overseeing the recently established British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology. In 1921, Housman became the Vice-President of the Ethical Union (now Humanists UK), of which many members had belonged to women’s suffrage groups, including the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage. The organisation aims to represent “people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs”. Housman, who had previously written about Biblical characters and hid Christian themes in his novels, may have seemed like a peculiar candidate for the Vice-President, yet his main focus was improving schools and education, which in some instances had been restricted by the Church.

In 1924, Housman and Clemence moved to Street, Somerset, which remained Housman’s home for the rest of his life. He continued to support the Ethical Union, remaining Vice-President until 1957. On 25th September 1929, Housman delivered a lecture at Conway Hall on The Religious Advance Towards Rationalism. He explained, “while society advances toward rationalism, it should also advance toward religion, but to a religion different from past forms. This religion will derive from human experience … Experience has actually led us, along the path of science, to perceive the limits of scientific understanding: to see that science cannot explain the origin of existence. Science leads, then, to a primordial sense of mystery, which can be called a religious sense. Also, the gospel story, whether historically true or not, advocates love, and love is permanently relevant to mankind.”

In 1945, Housman opened a bookshop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. Although the shop shares his name, it was founded by the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) in his honour. The PPU promoted pacifism and was closely connected with the Ethical Union. Housman desired the shop to promote “ideas of peace, … human rights and a more equitable economy by which future wars, and all their inherent suffering, might be avoided.” The shop moved to Kings Cross, London, in 1959, where it remains one of the longest-running radical bookshops in the country. Over time, it has started stocking new and used books on feminism, anarchism, anti-racism, anti-fascism, LGBTQIA+ politics, socialism, and nonviolence. It remains a non-profit bookshop and is managed by a trust.

Housman and his sister continued living with each other in Somerset until Clemence’s health began to fail. Housman and his neighbours initially cared for Clemence at home until they had no choice but to send her to a nursing home in Glastonbury. Clemence passed away on 6th December 1955, aged 94. Housman continued to live in their house in Street without his lifetime companion, eventually passing away at age 93 on 20th February 1959.

Following Housman’s death, The Times posted an obituary describing him as an “idealist and iconoclast… a figure of versatile and idiosyncratic distinction.” Whilst Housman did not entirely reject Christianity, the newspaper portrayed him as agnostic. In Housman’s autobiography, he wrote, “One hears a good deal of talk nowadays about the decay of religion; and the Victorian age is spoken of as though it had been an age of faith. My own impression of it is that it combined much foolish superstition with a smug adaptation of Christianity to social convention and worldly ends.” Housman still believed in something, but not the form of Christianity imposed during the Victorian era and used against women’s suffrage campaigners and homosexuals.

Despite Housman’s decades-long campaign for reform, his fame diminished over time, although he has remained an inspiration for humanist organisations. The Millicent Fawcett statue has unearthed Housman’s name, but it is unlikely he will ever receive the same recognition as the suffragists, suffragettes and other campaigners.

Housman wrote at least ten novels, 25 short stories, 55 plays, and several poems and works of non-fiction, the majority of which are now out of print. Housman’s play, Victoria Regina, was adapted for American television in 1961, starring Julie Harris (1925-2013) as Queen Victoria and James Donald (1917-93) as Prince Albert. Unfortunately, there have been no revivals and adaptations of his works since.

“I have had pleasures and disappointments; but though the disappointments are perhaps more numerous and present to my recollection than the pleasures, I continue to find life worth having.“
– Laurence Housman, The Unexpected Years (1937)

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William Blathwayt of Dyrham

Situated in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in South Gloucestershire, England, is a baroque English country house, once belonging to William Blathwayt (1649-1717). Since its takeover by the National Trust in 1961, the grounds, and more recently, the house, has been open to the public.

William Blathwayt, born in London in 1649, was the grandson of Justinian Povey (d. 1652), a former accountant-general to Queen Anne of Denmark (1574-1619). Blathwayt’s father, a barrister, passed away when Blathwayt was young, and his mother remarried. Fortunately, Blathwayt’s parents, and presumably step-father, came from wealthy backgrounds, allowing Blathwayt to train as a barrister, like his father. In 1665, he was admitted at Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court.

Blathwayt’s uncle, Thomas Povey (1613-1705), found him a diplomatic position in 1668 as Clerk of the English embassy at The Hague, the Netherlands. Blathwayt held the same appointment at the Embassy in Copenhagen and Stockholm in 1672 before touring several European countries. When Blathwayt returned to London, he became a Clerk of the Privy Council in Extraordinary and, in 1679, was promoted to secretary of trade and plantations.

During the 1680s, Blathwayt served as Secretary at War, effectively launching the War Office, and was responsible for establishing the charter of the Crown colony of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which later became the state of Massachusetts. Blathwayt was “very dexterous in business”, as John Evelyn (1620-1706) recorded in his diary, and promoted trade in America. During his career, he also served as the whig politician for Newtown on the Isle of Wight (1685) and Bath (1693-1710).

On 23rd December 1686, Blathwayt married Mary Wynter, daughter of John Wynter of Dyrham Park. When John Wynter died in 1688, Blathwayt gained possession of Dyrham Park, where he built a large mansion house. Using much of his wealth, Blathwayt furnished the building with paintings by Dutch Old Masters and lavish fabrics.

Blathwayt used an existing Tudor building as the basis for his mansion. He commissioned Samuel Hauduroy, a Huguenot architect, to modernise the west front during the 1690s, including an Italianate staircase leading from the terrace to the grounds. In 1698, Blathwayt added a stable block with enough room for 28 horses. The upper floor of the stable contained extra sleeping quarters for servants. Finally, in 1704, William Talman (1650-1719), the architect of Chatsworth House, removed the remains of the Tudor building by reconstructing the east front and adding a statue of an eagle – the family crest – on the roof.

The Blathwayt family continued to own Dyrham until 1956, during which time the majority of the interior decor remained largely the same, except for the addition of furniture by eighteenth-century designers. During the Second World War, Baroness Anne Islington rented the house as a home for evacuees. She redecorated several rooms, which the National Trust have worked hard to return to their original appearance.

Most rooms feature dark wooden panelling decorated with Delft tiles. Through Blathwayt’s royal connection as Secretary at War to William III (1650-1702), Blathwayt had access to a range of Dutch art, including delftware, furniture and paintings. Blathwayt commissioned a purpose-made state bed with crimson and yellow velvet hangings in the Anglo-Dutch style and purchased Dutch vases and such-like. Around the house are hung many bird paintings by Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636-95) and still-life and landscapes by other Dutch masters, such as Abraham Storck (1644-1708) and David Teniers the Younger (1610-90).

In a doorway at the end of one corridor hangs A View Through a House (1662) by Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten (1627-78). The painting captures a moment in time, as though a door has just opened, and the viewer is seeing the interior for the first time. A dog and cat, mid-movement, glance at the viewer from the first room, while an open doorway reveals a couple more rooms of the fictional scene. In the middle room, two men and a lady sit beside a window, perhaps negotiating a marriage. On the other side of the glass, a ghostly figure peers in, which many interpret as the lady’s lover, about to interrupt the proceedings and declare his love.

When hung correctly, Hoogstraten’s painting creates the illusion of a long corridor within the house. Blathwayt’s uncle, Thomas Povey, either purchased or commissioned it for his home in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, where it attracted the attention of diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703). Blathwayt purchased A View Through a House from his uncle in 1693.

In 1701, Blathwayt added an orangery to the southeastern side of the building. This acted as a greenhouse for exotic plants and fruit trees. In 1800, the English landscaper Humphry Repton (1752-1818) added a glass roof to allow more sunlight into the room.

The orangery served more than one purpose; it helped hide the servants’ quarters from the main house. At the time, the servant quarters were not much to look at, but in the 1840s, they were modernised to make room for a kitchen, dairy, bakehouse and several larders. Servants ate separately from the rest of the house in the Servant Hall, where they were frequently joined by tenant farmers. William Talman, who constructed the east side of the house, added a new stable, which is now used as a tearoom for visitors.

The house is situated in 274 acres of gardens and parkland, which was once home to 200 fallow deer. Unfortunately, a tuberculosis outbreak in 2021 forced the National Trust to cull the herd. It is hoped that deer will eventually return to the park when it is safe to do so.

Walls, artificial lakes and cascades of water were added to the grounds during the late 18th century. The gardens behind the house were designed by George London (1640-1714), although some features, such as a Dutch water garden, were replaced in the late 18th century by Charles Harcourt Masters. Whilst Masters was a well-known architect during his day, London is famous for working on gardens at Hampton Court Palace, including the hedge maze, Chelsea Hospital, Longleat, and Chatsworth House.

Within the grounds of Dyrham Park is the Anglican parish church of St Peter. It was built during the 13th century, although it had a complete refurbishment in the 17th century to compliment the style of the mansion house. Although the church is small compared to other religious buildings in nearby cities, it contains a north and south aisle, chancel, south-west porch and a bell tower. The encaustic tiles in the south aisle come from the original church, but the font is Norman (11th-12th century), suggesting it was moved to the building from elsewhere.

Similar to many old buildings, Dyrham Park has been featured in several television programmes and films. Notable period dramas include the 1999 BBC mini-series Wives and Daughters, based on the works of Elizabeth Gaskell; Servants (2003), set in the 1850s, The Crimson Field (2014), which took place during the First World War; Jane Austen’s Sanditon (2019), and Poldark (2015-18), as the home of George Warleggan. Aside from period dramas, Dyrham Park was also the setting for one episode of Doctor Who (2010), in which an 8-year-old boy is terrorised by crude-looking dolls. The house was also the setting of The Remains of the Day (1993), starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

Due to ongoing restoration works, Dyrham House is currently only open to the public at weekends, but visitors are welcome to explore the grounds, gardens, tearoom, shops and basement. Entry costs between £12 and £16.50 for adults depending on what day they visit. Children cost between £6 and £8.30, although family tickets are available. Please note, ticket prices are due to increase from 1st March. National Trust members can visit for free.

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House of Frankenstein

When thinking about the city of Bath, the author that usually comes to mind is Jane Austen, but she is not the only writer celebrated in the city. A couple of doors down from the Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street is Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein, which explores the world of Mary Shelley and her best-known fictional character. Shelley briefly lived in Bath in 1816, but the city did not leave a significant impression or influence on her work as it did with Austen. Nonetheless, the interactive museum pays homage to the author and the impact her imagination has had on the world.

Mary Shelley was the second child of Mary Wollstonecraft, the British writer and women’s rights activist, who died shortly after Mary’s birth on 30th August 1797. Mary and her half-sister Fanny were brought up by her father, William Godwin (1756-1836), a political philosopher who endeavoured to keep his late wife’s achievements and memory alive. For the first few years of Mary’s life, her father fought to make ends meet, often leaving her in the care of the housekeeper, Louisa Jones. Eventually, Godwin’s financial situation forced him to look for a wealthy new wife.

In 1801, Godwin married Mary Jane Clairmont (1768-1841), who already had two children, Charles and Claire. Most of Godwin’s friends disliked his new wife, and Mary hated her. Godwin’s hope of avoiding debts also backfired. Godwin and his wife set up a children’s publishing firm called M. J. Godwin, but it did not make a profit. Godwin only avoided going to debtor’s prison through the help of some friends and devotees.

Mary’s father did not have enough money to provide her with formal schooling, but he tutored her in a range of subjects at home. The children spent a lot of time in their father’s library or talking to his intellectual friends, such as the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). As Mary got older, Godwin started to feel guilty for not educating his daughters in the manner their mother would have wished. With the little money he had, Godwin provided his children with a governess and allowed them to read books from his failed publishing company, particularly Roman and Greek histories. In 1811, Mary spent six months at a boarding school to complete her schooling. By 15, she was “singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind. Her desire of knowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible.”

In June 1812, Godwin sent Mary to Dundee, Scotland, where she stayed with the radical philosopher William Baxter. Godwin instructed Baxter to educate her in philosophy, per her mother’s wishes. During the holidays, Mary returned to London and became acquainted with poet-philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), who had agreed to help her father pay off his debts. When Mary moved home after her second trip to Scotland in 1814, Shelley, now estranged from his wife, had upset his family by denouncing the traditional models of the aristocracy. As a result, he no longer had access to the money he had promised Godwin.

Despite her father’s anger at Shelley, Mary began meeting the poet secretly in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church, near her mother’s grave. Mary, then only 16, began to fall in love with the 21-year-old radical, and on 26th June 1814, they both declared their love for one another. When Godwin discovered the relationship, he attempted to put an end to the pair’s liaisons. Confused, Mary argued that Shelley was an embodiment of her parents’ liberal and reformist ideas and that Godwin had once said that marriage was a repressive monopoly. By this time, Mary had lost her virginity to Shelley, who was still legally married.

Unsure what else to do, Mary and Shelley eloped to France on 28th July 1814, taking Mary’s step-sister, Claire Clairmont (1798-1879), with them. Mary’s stepmother followed them, trying to convince Mary and Claire to return home, but they refused. For a few months, the trio travelled on foot, carriage and donkey through France to Switzerland, where they eventually ran out of money. With no other choice, they returned to England, landing at Gravesend, Kent, in September 1814. Godwin refused to have anything to do with his daughter, so Mary, now pregnant, and Shelley moved into Claire’s lodgings in London.

Mary suffered poor physical and mental health throughout her pregnancy, not helped by her lover’s growing infatuation with her stepsister. Although Mary believed in free love, she was jealous of Shelley and Claire’s relationship. Mary also disapproved of Shelley’s hints that she should begin an affair with his friend, Thomas Jefferson Hogg (1792-1862). Eventually, Shelley ended his love affair with Claire, who quickly found herself another lover, the poet Lord Byron (1788-1824). Unfortunately, Mary had no opportunity to feel happy about Shelley’s return because, on 22nd February 1815, she gave birth to a two-month premature daughter, who only lived for a few days.

Throughout the spring, Mary suffered from acute depression, often seeing ghostly visions of her deceased daughter. By the summer, she had conceived again, and the hope of a new child greatly improved her mental health. Around the same time, Shelley received some money from his late grandfather, so he treated Mary to a holiday in Torquay. Following this, Shelley rented a cottage in Bishopsgate, where Mary gave birth to a son, William, on 24th January 1816.

In the summer of 1816, Shelley, Mary and their son travelled to Geneva, Switzerland, to spend time with Lord Byron and his pregnant lover, Claire. The weather in Europe remained wet and dreary throughout the summer months, and the four friends spent many an hour sitting around a log fire at Byron’s villa, telling German ghost stories. Byron proposed that they write their own stories to share during the evenings. Mary initially struggled to think of a concept, but during a late-night discussion about galvanism, the theory that electricity could animate body tissue, Mary imagined using electricity to reanimate a corpse. Thus, Mary penned the first draft of her famous novel.

With encouragement from Shelley, Mary expanded her ghost story, which she published anonymously as Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in 1818. Shelley provided the introduction for the first edition, which led many people to assume he had written it. Mary’s name did not appear on the cover until 1821, but it took much longer for readers to accept her as the author.

Returning to England in September 1816, Mary, Shelley, and Claire took up residence in Bath, where they tried to keep Claire’s pregnancy secret. While there, Mary began receiving desperate letters from her half-sister, Fanny. Fearing for her mental health, Mary sent Shelley to check on Fanny at her home in Bristol, but he arrived to find her dead beside a bottle of laudanum and a suicide note. Two months later, Percy Bysshe Shelley learned of the death of his estranged wife, who drowned herself in the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park, London. Wishing to assume custody of his children, Eliza (1813-76) and Charles (1814-26), Shelley’s lawyers advised him to marry Mary, which he did on 30th December 1816.

In March 1817, the court ruled Shelley was too morally unfit to take custody of his children. The Shelleys still lived with Claire Clairmont, who gave birth to a daughter, Alba, in January. Following the court’s ruling, the Shelleys and Claire moved to Albion House at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where Mary gave birth to her third child, Clara. Soon, financial difficulties caught up with Shelley. Fearing he would lose Mary’s children too, he moved Mary, Claire and the children to Italy.

Lord Byron, who lived in Venice, agreed to help raise his daughter, Alba, so long as Claire stayed away. He also changed the child’s name to Allegra. Byron initially placed Allegra with a foster family but later moved her to a Roman Catholic Convent, where she contracted malaria and died aged 5. With one less child to worry about and believing Alba/Allegra would be safe in Byron’s hands, Claire remained with the Shelleys on their roving existence, moving from place to place without staying anywhere for long.

Tragedy struck the Shelleys again in 1818 and 1819, when both children, William and Clara, died within months of each other. The loss of all her children had a profound effect on Mary, who found solace in her writing. Mary wrote, “May you never know what it is to lose two only and lovely children in one year, and then at last to be left childless and forever miserable.” The birth of Mary’s fourth child, Percy Florence Shelley (1819-89), was the only thing that managed to lift Mary’s spirits.

While living in Italy, Mary Shelley wrote two novels, Matilda (1820) and Valperga (1821-23), and two plays, Proserpine (1820) and Midas (1820). The first of the two novels, Matilda, was not published until after Mary’s death, but the money she earned for Valperga helped alleviate her father’s financial difficulties. Despite the family rift, Mary still deeply respected her father.

In June 1822, Mary suffered a miscarriage that nearly killed her if it had not been for her quick-thinking husband. The doctor was too far away from the Shelleys’ residence on the Italian Riviera, so fearing Mary would die from blood loss, Shelley placed her in a bath of ice to staunch the bleeding. When the doctor finally arrived, he commended Shelley’s actions. Unfortunately, neither Shelley nor the doctor could prevent the depression brought on by the loss of another baby. To make matters worse, Shelley began spending more time with other women than his wife.

Mary remained devoted to her husband despite his many affairs and questionable behaviour. For years, Mary followed him around Italy without hope of settling down and tolerated his immoral behaviour. Whilst Mary suffered from depression following her miscarriage, Shelley found himself a new plaything – a sailing boat. On 1st July 1822, Shelley and his companions set off along the coast to Livorno to see Lord Byron. After staying there for a week, Shelley set off for home but never reached his destination. Mary did not know when Shelley planned to return, so she did not worry until she received a letter addressed to Shelley saying, “pray write to tell us how you got home, for they say you had bad weather after you sailed Monday & we are anxious.” Ten days after the storm, Shelley’s corpse washed up on the shore.

Following Shelley’s death, Mary lived with the poet Leigh Hunt (1785-1859) and his family in Genoa for a year. Mary spent time transcribing her husband’s poems, which she later published in 1839. Unfortunately, Mary’s financial situation prevented her from staying in Italy, so Mary returned to England with her son in 1823. Initially, she stayed with her father and stepmother in London until her father managed to find her some lodgings nearby. Mary also asked Shelley’s father, Sir Timothy Shelley, for help. The Baronet said he would only help if his grandson, Percy Florence, was handed over to an appointed guardian. Naturally, Mary refused to relinquish her only surviving child but persuaded Sir Shelley to provide an allowance of £100 a year. The amount increased to £250 following the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s son, Charles.

Mary continued to focus on writing for the remainder of her life. In 1826, she published the novel The Last Man and contributed to biographies about Shelley and Byron. Between 1827 and 1840, she wrote The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837) and contributed to a ladies’ magazine. Her primary concern was the welfare of her son, which prompted her to sell the rights to Frankenstein for £60 in 1830. She also persuaded Sir Timothy Shelley to help pay for Percy Florence’s education. The young Percy attended the prestigious Harrow School before studying at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Percy Florence remained devoted to his mother and returned to live with her after completing his university studies. In the 1840s, mother and son travelled around the continent, gradually putting together the book Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842 and 1843. The following year, Sir Timothy Shelley passed away, leaving his estate to Percy Florence, who became the 3rd Baronet of Castle Goring, Sussex. For the first time in her life, Mary was financially stable.

Now that she had some money, Mary became the target of blackmailers, who threatened to publish various letters that could ruin her reputation or the memory of her late husband. Mary purchased a few letters but ignored other claims, such as someone posing as Lord Byron’s illegitimate son. These threats did not appear to have too much of an impact on Mary’s life. She remained living with her son, even after his marriage to Jane Gibson in 1848. Unfortunately, Mary’s final years were blighted by illness, and she passed away on 1st February 1851, aged 53, from a suspected brain tumour.

Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein devotes one floor of the building to the life of Mary Shelley. Her history is crammed into four rooms, leaving the rest of the museum to explore Mary Shelley’s most famous creation, Frankenstein’s monster. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a fictional scientist who is determined to create a sapient creature through unorthodox scientific experiments. Frankenstein stitches together the body parts of recently executed criminals to create a creature and brings it to life using electricity. Scared of the monster he created, Frankenstein runs away, and the beast spends years trying to find a place for itself in the world.

Frankenstein received mixed reviews after its publication in 1818. Some praised the author for introducing the science-fiction concept to the Gothic horror genre, but others wrote disparaging reviews about the novel. The novelist William Beckford (1760-1844), who lived in Bath, called Frankenstein “The foulest toadstool that has yet sprung up from the reeking dunghill of the present times.”

Despite some early criticism, there have been over 100 dramatisations of Frankenstein and several films. The first theatrical production, titled Presumption! Or, The Fate of Frankenstein opened in 1823. It included music and songs, and while it remained faithful to the storyline, the play was shown from the perspective of a new character, Fritz. In the show, Fritz was Frankenstein’s assistant, who later became the basis for the hunchbacked Igor in subsequent films. The monster, known as the Creature, was played by Thomas Potter Cooke (1786-1864), who wore a wig of wild hair and pale green face paint.

Since the first production of Frankenstein, the monster has usually appeared with green skin and scars, eventually developing a flat head held onto the neck with two bolts. The character is easily recognisable throughout the world and has become a commercial medium, with merchandise ranging from rubber ducks to flower pots. The monster or creature is definitely the most famous of Mary Shelley’s characters, leading to the frequent error that it is called Frankenstein, rather than that being the name of the scientist.

Mary Shelley never intended the monster to look like a green-skinned zombie. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein describes his creation as something quite different from the commercialised version. “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” Shelley also revealed the creature was 8-foot tall (2.4 metres).

For the first time, a model of Mary Shelley’s monster has been authentically produced as she described. The formidable animatronic creature is located in the laboratory on the second floor, whilst other rooms feature unusual artefacts and vintage objects, which set the scene for the world’s first science-fiction novel. On the top floor, visitors are invited to watch a handful of short films showing the first few appearances of the monster on screen.

Those feeling brave can visit the basement, where they can probe dark rooms accompanied by the unnerving hum of electricity and screams of torture. The more daring visitors can enter “The Cage” and try to find their way to freedom through a twisted metal maze, where there is no choice but to push past the bodies of The Cage’s previous victims. This exhibit is not suitable for young children or those of a nervous disposition.

For an extra fee, Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein opens the doors to the attic, where families and friends can race against the clock to solve clues and escape from Frankenstein’s quarters. Based on the popular Escape Room games, visitors experience the mind of a madman who wants to harvest their organs to complete his latest maniacal quest. This feature is also included in the birthday, hen, and stag party packages.

Tickets to Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein cost £15.50 per person, although some concessions apply, including children and over 60s. The house is open every day but special attractions must be booked in advance.

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The Roman Baths

Once upon a time, around the 9th century BC, Prince Bladud contracted leprosy. His father, Ludhudibras, banished Bladud from the court and sent him to work as a country swineherd. Accepting his fate, Prince Bladud took good care of his pigs, noticing that when the animals wallowed in the steamy, muddy swamp at the bottom of the valley, they emerged cleansed of their warts and sores. Braving the mucky water, Bladud plunged into the stream and emerged without a blemish. His leprosy had vanished, and his father welcomed him back home. The news spread of the miracle, and soon, a small town developed around the thermal waters, building the foundations of the city of Bath.

The water that cured Prince Bladud is the same water that fills the city of Bath’s top tourist attraction. The Roman Baths or thermae date to around 60-70 AD, during the first few decades of the Roman occupation of Britain. These baths attracted people from far and wide who wished to sample the healing power of the water. The city became known as Aquae Sulis (Waters of Sulis) due to the Roman belief the hot spring that supplied the water belonged to the goddess Sulis Minerva. For this reason, the Romans also built a temple on the site.

As with most Roman buildings, the baths succumbed to the elements. Fortunately, parts of the original foundations survived, upon which 18th-century architects reconstructed some of the walls and columns. Today, swimming in the waters, which have turned green due to algae, is not possible, but the baths are open to the public as a museum. Next door, the Grand Pump Room sells samples of the curative water to taste – something that gets mixed reactions from visitors.

The water in the Roman Baths may be many hundreds or even thousands of years old. It originally fell as rain on the Mendip Hills and percolated down through limestone aquifers measuring a depth of 2,700-4,300 metres (8,900-14,100 ft). The deeper the water travelled, the higher the temperature rose, reaching between 64 and 96 degrees Celsius. Under the pressure of the limestone, the water eventually rises back up to the surface through cracks, forming heated springs. Scientists have studied this phenomenon to develop enhanced geothermal systems.

Around 1,106,400 litres of water rise every day to fill the baths. This is approximately 13 litres per second. It rises from the Pennyquick fault, which thanks to Roman engineering, flows directly to the bathing pools. There are an estimated 43 minerals in the water, including calcium, sulphates, sodium and chloride. There are also some traces of iron, which causes orange stains on rocks and stone. Sometimes, the water may appear to bubble. This is caused by gases escaping.

Archaeological evidence suggests the site of the baths was a worship centre for the Celts. They dedicated the springs to the goddess Sulis, a life-giving mother goddess, who the Romans associated with Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. When the Romans invaded, they kept the name Sulis, as seen in the name Aquae Sulis, but frequently referred to the goddess as Minerva-Sulis or Sulis Minerva. Before constructing the bathing complex, which took around 300 years, the Romans built and dedicated a temple to the goddess.

Builders began by creating a wooden foundation in the mud surrounding the thermal spring, then constructed a stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century AD, a wooden barrel-vaulted ceiling enclosed the building, dividing it into several sections, including a caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (lukewarm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). Bathers usually started in the tepidarium, heated by underground lead pipes, which directed water from the spring into the baths. Here, the bathers acclimatised to the heat before moving on to the considerably warmer caldarium. The rich usually brought attendants to rub their bodies with fragrant oils before taking a plunge into the freezing water in the frigidarium to close the pores.

Bathing was not the only activity available at the baths. Alcoves provided spaces for business meetings, philosophical discussions, or a place to meet friends. Evidence suggests visitors played board games, gambled and consumed food and drink. In other areas, musicians performed while people received certain treatments, such as manicures and pedicures.

Many Roman towns contained a bathing house, but people travelled far and wide to experience the curative waters provided by Sulis Minerva. People with various ailments travelled to Bath to drink the water or submerge their ailing bodies. Others visited to ask the goddess for advice or vengeance. Over 130 lead or pewter curse tablets have been discovered, asking Sulis Minerva to punish a wrongdoer. Many of these relate to petty crimes, such as the theft of a towel. Often, the accuser did not know who committed the crime, but they believed the goddess would know and mete out punishment accordingly.

Excavation has also revealed thousands of coins, jewellery, dishes and cups, many containing a dedication to Sulis Minerva. When not asking the goddess for requests, people gave sacrifices and gifts. Unlike contemporary religions, where gods and goddesses are worshipped across the world, the Roman baths and temple became the point at which the human world could communicate with the presiding deity.

Not much remains of the Temple of Sulis Minerva, which stood next to the baths. During excavations and sewage works, a handful of artefacts have been unearthed, which are now in the Roman Baths museum. A gilded bronze head belonging to a statue of Sulis Minerva was discovered by workers in 1727. Its body has never been found, but it is believed it once wore a tall Corinthian helmet. Other items once belonging to the temple include a relief carving of the goddess wearing a gorgon mask and parts of a carved pediment, which may also feature a gorgon. According to Greek mythology, the hero Perseus killed the gorgon Medusa and gifted her head to the goddess Athena, the Greek equivalent of Minerva.

The baths remained popular for many years, permitting both men and women entry. At one time, men and women could not visit together, but further construction provided separate changing areas for the different sexes. Builders also raised the floors of the baths to escape the rising water levels caused by the frequent flooding of the nearby River Avon. These floods also sent mud into the water system, which accumulated in the Sacred Spring. The higher the bath floors, the further away they got from the underground heating, rendering it useless. The number of visitors dropped rapidly, and the inhabitants of Aquae Sulis gave up the losing battle against the floods. Eventually, mud and debris found their way into the temple, damaging the walls and causing the building to collapse. The baths suffered a similar fate, and the ceiling crashed into the swamp below, where people once bathed in the thermal water.

The story of the Roman Baths did not end there. During the 12th century, John of Tours (d.1122), the Bishop of Wells, built a new bath over the once-Sacred Spring. The pool became known as the King’s Pool and is where Anne of Denmark (1574-1619), the wife of King James I (1566-1625), bathed on 19th May 1613 on the recommendation of the court physician, Théodore de Mayerne (1573-1655). Anne returned in 1615 to bathe in the newly constructed Queen’s Bath, decorated with the inscription Anna Regnum Sacrum (Anne’s Sacred Kingdom).

During the 18th century, father and son architects John Wood, the Elder (1704-54) and John Wood, the Younger (1728-82), designed a new building to house the King and Queen Baths. Basing the design on the original Roman Baths, the neoclassical building also contains the Grand Bath, which the general public used. Next door, they built the Grand Pump Room, where visitors could “take the waters”, in other words, drink it, or attend social functions.

Further expansion of the baths continued during the Victorian era. During the late 19th century, statues of Roman Emperors and Governors of Roman Britain were placed on the open terrace surrounding the Grand Bath. Over time, the elements have eroded some features, particularly the faces, but a new protective wash prevents further damage. The statues represent Julius Caesar, Emperor Claudius, Emperor Vespasian, Governor Ostorius Scapula, Governor Suetonius Paulinus, Governor Julius Agricola, the Head of Roma (symbolising Rome), Emperor Hadrian and Emperor Constantine the Great. These men lived between 100 BC and 337 AD, and all had significant connections with Britain, or Britannia, as it was then known.

The Roman Baths stayed open until October 1978, when a young girl contracted naegleriasis and died. The fatal brain infection is caused by Naegleria fowleri, more commonly known as a “brain-eating amoeba”, which lives in untreated waters. The Baths closed for several years to tackle the microorganism, but it never reopened for public use. In 1979, the psychiatrist Herbert Needleman (1927-2017) documented the dangers of lead exposure. Lead interferes with the normal functioning of cells in the body, chemically displacing vital elements, such as calcium, zinc and iron. Although Naegleria fowleri still poses a risk, the lead piping delivering water to the baths is also a health risk.

In 1982, a new spring water borehole was sunk to provide safe, clean water for drinking in the Pump Room. This water also fills the pools at the nearby Thermae Bath Spa, which opened in 2006. Here, visitors can experience the effects of the healing waters in a modern environment and receive various treatments.

Although the waters at the Roman Baths are out of bounds, visitors to Bath can wander around the Grand Pool where people of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries once congregated, and before them, the people of Roman Britain. The entry fee also incorporates the Roman Baths museum, which houses artefacts from the Roman period. Objects include over 12,000 Denari coins and the gilt bronze head of Sulis Minerva.

The museum building preserves the remains of the original Roman Baths. With the help of projections and CGI, the museum recreates scenes in the original changing rooms and saunas to help visitors understand how the original baths were used. The 1.6 metres deep frigidarium or plunge pool is also part of the self-navigated tour, as is part of the Roman drainage system.

Visitors should expect to spend a couple of hours at the Roman Baths. There are thousands of objects on display in the museum, spanning four centuries. Many of the items were found in the sacred pool and are presumably offerings to Sulis Minerva. Several metal pans, known as paterae, are inscribed DSM or Deae Sulis Minerva, suggesting people used them to make offerings of holy water. There are also many curse tablets on display, which are some of the earliest examples of prayer in Britain.

The Roman Baths is a very popular tourist destination, and it is not uncommon to see queues of people waiting in the courtyard outside Bath Abbey. For this reason (and the recent pandemic), visitors must book their tickets in advance. Ticket prices change throughout the year depending on school term time, bank holidays, and so forth. They also cost more at weekends. In November, for example, an adult ticket costs £20 on weekends and £17.50 on a weekday. Students and seniors (65 +) received £1 off their entry, and children cost between £10 and £12.50. Visitors can expect to pay at least £3 more during peak times.

For more information about booking tickets, visit the Roman Baths website.

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My blogs are now available to listen to as podcasts on the following platforms: Anchor, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Spotify.

If you would like to support my blog, become a Patreon from £5p/m or “buy me a coffee” for £3. Thank You!