First of May is Garland day, The Vineyard, May 1911

"Please remember the Garland"

Wrote Maude Egerton King in The Vineyard in May 1911.

"In the southern counties of England, it often comes to pass on May morning that the gentlefolk who are still in their beds, or in the act of dressing, or even breakfasting, according to the time-table of the particular house, become aware of children's voices out of doors.  And, if they look, of the children themselves, wearing and carrying floral decorations.  They will hear, spoken or chanted, over and over again: -

          First of May
          Is garland day,
          Please to remember the garland.

When the words reach the ear as -

          First of My
          Is garland dy,

Garland Day in the garden at Sandhouse, Witley
from The Ailing Countryside and prescriptions  for some forthcoming physic by "Home Counties"
c. 1910

There needs no milestone to convince the listener of being within forty miles of Hyde Park Corner (- nb. the 40 miles to Hyde Park Corner milestone stands in Haslemere High Street).  If the district were further removed from that centre of culture, it is quite possible the little chant will be followed by the beautiful May-day song:

          I've been a -wandering all this night
          And some of this day,
          And now returning home again,
          I've brought you a garland gay.

          A garland gay I've brought you here,
          And at your door I stand.
          'Tis nothing but a sprout,
          But it's well budded out
          By the work of our Lord's hand.

Here and there the gentlefolk are dimly conscious that the little group they are looking upon is the very last of a vanishing picturesque past, and, in a sudden stir of pity and pleasure, send out largess.  More often the children are hardly noticed, and if it were not for the servants (who always find something for these and for carol-singers and organ-grinders too) they would clatter away no heavier by a single penny or bun.

detail from embroidered panel,
designed by Godfrey Blount, 1896, V&A Museum

And yet, as sheer matter of fact, these children are the faithful priests of an ancient and universal religion, and their weak shoulders, alone of all to-day, uphold the age-long tradition; of which they know no more than the eternal human heart in their breasts and their unlettered mothers can tell them.  They come from far, and are just the remnant of a great company who have dropped off by the way: whose very names they have forgotten, although they would know and welcome them did they ever meet them again.  They do not know that they are one of the multitude in many lands and ages, but so it is.  The fellows of these little people in pinafores and clumsy boots, sang love-songs of rapturous welcome to the swallow two thousand years ago in Greece.  And to-day, over the same ground, they pass in little companies, carrying a wooden swallow from door to door, asking gifts of fruit and cheese from those who welcome with them this harbinger of fruitful days, and singing.

          She is here, she is here,
          The swallow that brings us the beautiful year;
          Open wide the door,
          We are children again, we are old no more.

They broke the green boughs in the woods of Roman Britain and decked their homes with them for the Floralia, the festival which the Romans brought hither along with sterner things; and they danced around a flowery pole set up in honour of the sweet Goddess of flowers and fruitful promise."

The Country Alphabet by Godfrey & Ethel Blount

I think that this poem jointly written by Godfrey and Ethel Blount encapsulates their values beautifully.  It was published in the April 1911 journal, The Vineyard, in the section titled "for the children".

A is for Almighty God,
   Who has given every treasure;
Agriculture for our Acres,
Art to give us shining Angels,
   Apples for a homely pleasure.

B for Blessing on all Birth,
   Babies, Buds and Beasts,
Endless beauty for the earth,
   Birds and Barley-feasts.

C for Customs, Country ways,
   Cross of Christ in battle,
C for blessed golden Corn,
   C for gentle Cattle.

D for Distaff with its spindle,
   Homespun Dress for happy toil,
D for Days of Admal's labour,
   Digging deep in fruitful soil.

E for Eating gratefully
   Blessing platter, blessing cup,
Easter and the Eucharist,
   Heart to Heaven lifted up.

F for Furrowed, russet Fields
   Holding wealth in store;
For Flowers and Fruit, for Fire and Force
   And flail on threshing-Floor

G for Groves and Gardens Green,
   Grain and Grapes on hills,
Glory of purple juice in vat,
   And Grist for a thousand mills.

H shall stand for Heart and Hand,
   For Harvests won from earth;
For Harrow, Hoe and binding Hedge,
   For Hammer, Home and Hearth.

Both I and J shall mean to those
   Who live by country ways,
The Justice, Joy and Innocence
   That fill their simple days.

K is for the Kingly heart
   That lives to serve and bless,
To feel, to rule, to help and heal
   In Knightly Kindliness.

L shall stand for happy Labour,
   Loom and fruitful Land;
Love that makes the world go round;
   Life from God's own hand.

M for Men and Master too
   In the Meadows Mowing;
M for Miller in his Mill
   With the Mill-wheel going.

N for Nature with her Night,
   Need of pain and wrestling,
Bringing New-birth with the light,
   New love for the Nestling.

O for Ordered Orchard ways;
   Wind-blown Oat-stalks bowing;
Oaks and Oil and Olive-groves;
   Patient Oxen ploughing.

P for Peasant, Plough, and Prince,
   Patriot, Pagan, Praise,
Pastures green  and Purity,
   Prayer and Peaceful days.

Q for Quaint and homely Quince;
   Q for hero's Quest;
Q for Quenchless, Quickening life
   In cottage, byre, and nest.

R for Reapers in the harvest,
   Rain and Rainbow, Roses, Rooks.
R for noon-day Rest from labour,
   Garnered Riches, golden stooks.

S for Spade and Scythe and Sickle,
   Share and Sword and Saint afar;
Sorrow, Secret, Seed and Spirit,
   Song and Sun and shining Star.

T for Thatch and Tree and Tool,
   Town and old Tradition's lore;
And the Tune the rhythmic flails
   Thump upon the Threshing-floor.

And U shall stand for Unity
   And sympathy of hearts,
And patient Use that trains the hand
   To Useful country arts.

And V is for true Victory,
   And Virtue tried by fire;
For happy Vine-clad Village homes
   Around the Village spire.

Wine and Water, Wheat and Wealth,
   Wage, and Wassail-making;
Winnowing, Wind and Wintry World
   Ere the spring be Waking.

X the Xtians Xmas love
   With creche and Xmas-tree;
X the Cross on which our Christ
   Wins immortality.

Y for leaves of autumn yellow;
   Years that Yield the Yearned-for truth,
Whilst the ancient earth renews us
   With her everlasting Youth.

Z our Zeal and sacred passion,
   Breaking bread in happy wise,
Learning in such simple fashion
   To regain our Paradise.

Another Peasant Tangent - a Francis W. Troup factory

Recently I was surprised to discover that I walk past a Francis W. Troup designed building on the way to work everyday.  Not a building in Haslemere, but in London.  There is a listing of all the buildings that Troup was identified as having designed in Jackson's F.W.Troup: Architect 1859-1941 (Building Centre Trust, 1985), and this is how I made the discovery.  

164-180 Union Street, London
Spicers Ltd' Envelope Factory extension
designed by F.W.Troup in 1914

Jackson records that in 1914 Troup designed an "extension to an existing red brick building, it was a six storey, sixteen bay, ferro-concrete framed structure faced in white glazed bricks above a blue brick plinth.  The functional quality of the fabric was echoed in the fittings - metal windows, and patent stone lintels and rainwater heads made by Stuart's Granolithic Company Ltd."  The building was at an envelope factory for Spicers Ltd, and this was the second building that Troup designed for Spicers Ltd, the first being Blackfriars House (New Bridge Street, London) in 1913.  

the main entrance to 164-180 Union Street, Southwark, London

the meeting of the old Envelope Factory building (182-194 Union Street)
with the extension designed by Francis Troup in 1914 (164-180 Union Street)

The building stands at 164-194 Union Street (Southwark, London), the Troup section of the building stands at 164-180 Union Street and is now called Linton House.  The blue brick plinth looks black to me, but perhaps it always was this colour.  The white gloss bricks set the building apart.  The mass of metal windows still prevails.   The rainwater heads are too far above street level to see clearly but I suspect they have been replaced.


Linton House is host to a number of offices and a cafe.  The view from the road is dominated on one side by the Shard.   I wonder what F.W. Troup would make of it now.  In the present day, this building intrigues passers-by who can look through the basement windows into the Paxman Limited showroom and workshop, "one of the world's leading horn makers".  


As an amateur, I can see no obvious connection between this building and those on Kings Road, Haslemere but I thought I would share.

Paxman Limited showroom,
164 - 180 Union Street, London
building designed by F.W. Troup in 1914

182-194 Union Street, Southwark, London
original Spicers Ltd's Envelope Factory
for which F.W.Troup designed the extension:164-180 Union Street

164-194 Union Street, London
originally Spicers Ltd's Envelope Factory
with F.W. Troup's extension on the right in white brick

Linton House interior office view

the view from outside 164-180 Union Street
is now dominated by the Shard

Arthur Romney Green's lychgate

Having read Life to the Lees, (Elkin, Susan, Cromwell Press, 1998) I recently made a small detour off the A3 to All Saints Church, Catherington, near Waterlooville.  It is here that Arthur Romney Green was commissioned to make a lychgate to commemorate those that fallen in the First World War.  

Arthur Romney Green's lychgate,
Catherington

Elkin writes that "Eric Gill procured for Green an important order for a war memorial lychgate...'Inside' the gate, designed into the pleasing geometrical shape of the construction, are four rectangular panels on which are carved the names of the dead.  According to Graham Castle it was from Gill that Green learned how to cut letters.  Each panel is edged with Green's characteristic fine-lined diamond patterning.  The structure includes elegantly angled shelved on which - to this day - Catherington families place wreaths." (ibid).

Arthur Romney Green's lychgate,
Catherington

There is a lot of detailing in this large wooden structure, and it was fascinating to spot many Arthur Romney Green design traits as I explored the lychgate.  From the carved wording to the diamond patterning and the clover leaf gates, there really was quite a lot to see.  


The wording over the entrance reads "I am the resurrection and the life".  On the beam inside the cross is repeated, and the wording reads "For those who fell in the Great War 1914-1918".  The structure is generally in very good condition.  The gates have some water damage however.  Sadly as most visitors now approach from the car park to the side of the church, the path from the lychgate to the church has been grassed over.  The structure's outline is mirrored in the finial of the Second World War memorial which stands in front of the lychgate.

looking towards the lychgate,
Catherington

the view from the lychgate,
Catherington

Works of the Other Haslemere Craftsmen

The Art Journal in November 1906 published an article on 'Haslemere Arts and Crafts' by R. E. D. Sketchley which covered the main craftsmen at the time.  The article contains some interesting photographs of the works of Arthur Romney Green, Luther Hooper and the St Edmundsbury Weaving Works, all of whom had work in situ at the time in St Christopher's Church in Haslemere.

Portiere in Woven Embroidery, designed by
Luther Hooper, woven at the Green Bushes Weaving House,
Art Journal, November 1906

Dining Table of Brown English Oak, designed and made for P. Debell Tuckitt, Esq.,
by Arthur Romney Green, Art Journal, November 1906

Panelled Chest of Brown English Oak, designed and made by Arthur Romney Green,
Art Journal, November 1906

Arm Chair of English Oak, with Laced Leather Seat,
designed and made by Arthur Romney Green,
Art Journal, November 1906

Gothic Tulip Tapestry, designed by Edmund Hunter,
woven at the St Edmundsbury Weaving Works,
Art Journal, 1906

St Paul Brocade, designed by Edmund Hunter, woven at the St Edmundsbury Weaving Works,
Art Journal, November 1906

Gothic Rose Tapestry, in Silk and Aluminium,
designed by Edmund Hunter, woven at St Edmundsbury Weaving Works,
Art Journal, November 1906

Vineyard Poplin, from St Christopher's Church, designed by Edmund Hunter,
woven at St Edmundsbury Weaving Works,
Art Journal, November 1906

Superfrontal in Red and Black, designed by Edmund Hunter,
woven at St Edmundsbury Weaving Works, Art Journal, Noemvember 1906

St Christopher's Church & the Foundry Meadow artisans: Part 2

I would just like to return to St. Christopher's Church to conclude on the items that originated from Foundry Meadow.  There are no identified pieces of work by what I call the Peasant Arts movement - the Kings' Haslemere Weaving Industry and the Blounts' various Peasant Industries.

However we did identify two pieces by Arthur Romney Green: the altar chair and altar table.  Arthur Romney Green had his workshop in Foundry Meadow at the time the pieces were produced.  Both pieces are still in situ.

We also found that there had been a number of Luther Hooper hangings: a wool hanging dividing the choir vestry and chancel and silk altar curtains.  There is no trace of any Luther Hooper work at the church.

Holy table by Arthur Romney Green, altar curtains by Luther Hooper(Nicholson, C., and Spooner, C., Recent Eccelesiastical Architecture, Technical Journals Ltd., London, c.1910)

Altar chair, by Arthur Romney Green c.1903

Luther Hooper wool hanging for St Christopher's Church from
Hand-loom weaving, plain & ornamental,
Pitman & Sons, London, 1920

Curtain of Woollen Tissue, St Christopher's Church,
designed by Luther Hooper, woven by Percy C. Hooper,
from Art Journal, February 1911

Portion of Silk Damask, Side Curtain to Altar,
St. Christopher's, Haslemere
designed by Luther Hooper
from Art Journal, February 1911

The Vineyard - a beginning - Part 4

For completeness I feel that I should include how the first editorial of The Vineyard in October 1910 actually began, which was not with what I have shared so far.  Maude Egerton King begins in 'The Vineyard' itself and with a poem which she presumably wrote herself:

"Between high hills the river windeth on,
    Here washing their sheer pedestals of rock,
There, 'twixt the mountains and its rapid run,
    A little chapel, shepherding a flock

Of humble homes, o'erlooks the dust-white road,
   Where with loud whip the blue-bloused peasant drives
His mild, strong oxen : bearing a like load
    Both man and beast wear out their lowly lives.

And round the homes sweet lawny levels lie,
    Shady with fruit-trees, green with mountain rills,
And there beyond stands dark against the sky
    The pathos of the labour-mantled hills,

Whose every ledge and crag is clad in vines,
    From out the rock with brave toil hardly won,
That now await amid their tiny shrines
     In earnest patience for the ripening sun.

Courtesy of German Wine Institute

"Anyone who has stayed long enough in the Mosel country must have felt the beauty of the vineyards.  Seen, as they always are first seen by the traveller, from the river, terrace rises orderly above terrace, save where the hill-side becomes sheer cliff of rock.  Even there there is no waste if courage and industry can help it, for ever least pocket and ledge has been redeemed from savagery and must grant foothold for an isolated group of vines.  Here and there a path gleams white through the green : one, as nearly sheer as will still leave human going possible, for this is a Kreuzweg leading to the imaged Calvary on the highest headland above the stream ; another more indulgent in its slope, by which folk go to church to Our Lady of the Vineyards.

Beilstein on the Mosel,

Charles Rowbothan from WikiGallery.org

"That blue or brown speck up there among the vines is little man at his work, and never very far from him is the sign of his comfort and hope; for these labour-mantled hills are set with tiny shrines like jewels.  The traveller who would see both man and work nearer will be rewarded if he leave the tourist-boat and climb the hill.  Up and down the steep ways they go, on toil or devotion bent, the grave laborious decent men and women with their back-baskets and big cotton umbrellas, and the jolly crop-headed little boys and two plaited little maidens - all of them glad to extend to the stranger the old benedictory greeting, "Gruss Gott," that they exchange among neighbours.  Even if he cannot wait for the vintage, he will find the labour that preludes it - the keen-eyed watch that is kept for disease or insect attack, and all the skilful care whose every detail is a bit of ancient earth-craft - very good to see and think about.  He will be glad but hardly surprised to learn that here among others is grown that good wine that once won for itself the proud name of Doklor because it healed the Kaiser Maxmilian when all his learned physicians failed him."

Mosel from the hillside at Pallien
JW Turner