A BIRTHDAY TREAT
We had a lovely day out including a tour of Llanelly House, part of my birthday treat from
Chris and Sarah.
They have just completed a 10 year, £6m restoration, and it is
an outstanding 1714 Georgian Town House. It was the most interesting and amusing tour
we have ever been on. As we were taken
round this huge house, dressing table mirrors, framed pictures, and even a
complete wall about 27 feet long, came to life, with characters such as Sir
Thomas and Lady Stepney, talking to us directly about the ‘goings on’ in the house
at the time, all dressed in the costumes of their day. On the huge wall, which included many picture
windows, (which seemed to disappear) we were shown the history of the house and
surrounding land with animation and drawings, which was superb.
In Lady Stepney’s bedroom, the dressing table mirror was the next thing to come to life,
suddenly turning into a TV screen, with Lady Stepney showing us how she made
up, with that awful white powder with lead in it, and with those little false
black spots that were stuck on as beauty spots to cover up any blemishes on the
face. She was saying how vulgar it was
to have a tanned skin, whilst looking round the room with disdain at all of us!
We were also taken up some extremely steep stairs to the
servants quarters, so steep in fact, that I had to come down again in the lift
as I know I would have lost my balance on the stairs! This was quite a small room, considering it
housed five servant girls. One young servant
girl, who was made pregnant by the son of the Lord of the house, had to swear
that it was the head butler who was the father.
She then committed suicide by taking a large quantity of laudanum (an
alcoholic solution containing morphine, prepared from opium and formerly used
as a narcotic painkiller). In her
bedroom was a long standing mirror, which again turned into a screen, and we
were involved in the court case that went on after her death, with our tour
guide asking them questions, and they in turn, answering our tour guide! These
people were life sized. It is now
thought that she was in fact forced to take the Laudenum, and a suicide note
(which it is believed was false) saying that the head butler was the father of
her child. The signature on the letter, and the hand writing were not those of
a servant girl with no education.
At the end of the tour, we had two portraits talking to
us. One was Lord Stepney, and the other
Lord Cowell. It was written in the will
that only legitimate sons may inherit the house, and Lord Stepney, who was a
kind and forward thinking man was set to inherit it. However, the next in line, if there was no
legitimate son, was Lord Cowell, and he went to court stating that as Lord
Stepney’s parents were married in France, which was not recognised in England,
then that made Lord Stepney illegitimate. He unfortunately won the case, and the house
went to him, my namesake!
There was lots more information, which didn’t quite sink in,
but it was certainly a very interesting and unusual tour, and I recommend
anyone in the area of Llanelli to visit the house and take the tour.
They have a lovely little restaurant there, and our day was
finished up with a very nice meal, including a sweet, and of course a latte!
Unfortunately, although armed with our camera and camcorder,
as usual we were not allowed to use them, so have no pictures to show you. I
did, however, manage to take this picture of Lady Stepney’s bedroom, with the
talking dressing table mirror from the brochure!
