A little visit to the Queen: Windsor Castle

Toward the end of our stay in London, Danielle, her mom Pat and I decided to make a trip to Windsor Castle. Windsor is one of the castles in which the royal family still actually resides just a few miles outside London - a brief National Rail ride gets you there. There is a small fee to enter, but like the Tower of London, I think it's worthwhile as a historically significant stop in the UK. The town has a lot of nice pubs and shops too. It's a pretty good spot to get those Union Jack-emblazoned mugs and socks you want to bring back. 

The queen was home, too. You know that when you see the flag raised in the round tower. We opted for the free audio tour, similar to what you got at Westminster Abbey and the Churchill War Rooms, so you can explore at your own pace. You could not take photos in the state apartments inside, but the opulence was impressive - even more so than the Royal Pavilion at Brighton. 

A very cool feature were the paintings in the Royal Collection that you could see there - like a mini-version of the National Gallery. The coolest part of all (for a miniature lover like me anyway) was Queen Mary's dollhouse, a massive miniature castle with a plethora of tiny, perfect replicas of bigger things - including a tiny record player that actually works. There is also a china museum...which I think my mom would have appreciated.

This is the guard that everyone wants a picture with...like them all, he marched to and fro with a very straight face from time to time.

The daffodils were really popping this time of year.

Magnificent garden outside the main castle.

Hey! It's me and Danielle! And Liz and Phil.

We did get a chance to see the old guard play and march by, which was fun. This statue of old Vic is in town.

The chapel was gorgeous and reminded me of King's College in Cambridge. The carvings of Tudor greyhounds and Welsh dragons are hard to see here but they were pretty breathtaking.

My pilgrimage to the Bronte Parsonage...

In the final week of the semester, I travelled to Haworth, a village in West Yorkshire, to visit the Bronte Parsonage Museum. The museum is the actual family home of the Bronte sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne as well as their parents and brother. (After their mother passed away, their aunt moved in to help the family.) The house exists as it did when they lived there, and features items actually used by the family, as well as some that were recreated to look as they did in their original form...and you know how I feel about that! 💓💓

Emily was the author of Wuthering Heights, one of the first Victorian novels I ever read. As a teenager, that novel had a lasting impact on me and my own writing, but not as much as Charlotte's Jane Eyre, which I believe to be the greatest Victorian novel ever written. I have taught Jane Eyre many times, and I still enjoy it. I also find that even students who would normally be put to sleep by 19th-century lit, actually enjoy Jane Eyre. It was part of my Women Writers syllabus this semester, and I still cried when I read it, even after all this time. So naturally I had to make a trip to the parsonage, even though it is quite a ways from London and required a train ticket. 

I couldn't require it of my students for that reason, and I regret offering it as extra credit, since I think that grants unfair privilege to the wealthier students. However, I would totally advocate for getting this trip funded, particularly if you are teaching Women Writers and including Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre or any Bronte work. Haworth isn't exactly exciting...it's downright sleepy in fact, but it's pretty and has some lovely little pubs and shops. It reminded me of Corsham, a little village outside of Bath that I travelled to for a conference about ten years back. While there I enjoyed a pint in a little pub, and had some nice conversation with some locals who were there. That's something that probably won't happen in London.

Importantly, I learned a lot about the Bronte women and their family that I didn't know, and I came to appreciate the mission of the museum. In addition to preserving the past, it seemed interested in the community and the future. At the time of my visit, visitors were invited to fill out a little form with their concerns about the present and hopes for the future to be placed in an urn labeled with the month. The urns, which will be revisited later like time capsules, are a part of an installation by artist Layla Khoo called Contemplating Hope. They are meant to resemble Anne and Emily's diary papers, which are also on display.

There is a lot of value in this place for students - creative writers as well as Women's Lit scholars. The stories about the family say a lot about the power of imagination and the importance of keeping a journal or diary. When they were little, the sisters and their brother created a whole fictional world, complete with characters and their adventures - and their dad encouraged it, despite being a protestant pastor. When I think of how much is lost due to the digital age, I could feel sad, but then I remember that I too had TV, and I had notebooks filled with characters and stories too. It's not hopeless for my nephews or any kids today. They just need that encouragement.

It was a long journey, and a difficult one due to the effect of the weather on the trains, but I was more than glad I went. I hope to return and spend a bit more time in Haworth - maybe get a room for the night - and return to the museum when I can linger.

See here the drawing room, with a portrait of Charlotte above the hearth. The recreated rooms were accompanied by placards and the exhibition room at the end told the family's complete story. 

In the same room see the table where many of their works were written. (When they first began sending their work out, they went by male names: Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell.)

Many of these objects, including the couch, were refurbished originals. The museum featured original letters, papers, sketchbooks and early copies of their work. There were a lot of other artifacts such as sealing wax, writing implements, and clothing. 

This apostle cupboard was in the family, and is actually described in Jane Eyre, Charlotte was so enamored with it.

Of course I had to get one of the kitchen. The Bronte story though is an important one in discussing women authors, because they would have been distracted from their work by the duties of the household in the same way women still are today. 

This is a copy of a portrait drawn by brother Branwell, who was an artist. He blotted himself out of the picture, but you can still see him as a kind of blurry shadow.

Branwell's story is kind of sad. He fell in love with a married lady he was working for and of course it didn't work out. Afterward, he started having problems with alcohol and drugs. The recreation of his room reflects his troubled later days, and the sketch below is one he drew of death coming for him while he slept. He died suddenly, and though we don't know exactly how, I think we know how.

When I was in this room, the pages of a book on the desk started moving, as if blowing in the wind. 

"The half minute time is up, so come to the scratch won't you."

"Blast your eyes; it's no use, for I cannot come."

In 2017, artist Clare Twomey invited patrons to the museum to help recreate the lost manuscript of Wuthering Heights. Ten thousand visitors contributed one line at a time, and it was completed in 2019.

Some chickens in town. Below a little hotel called Rochester House...there was also a little motel called the Bronte Cottage. The countryside was very lovely, too, and there were many nice views, as the parsonage was high upon a hill.

A lot of adorable dogs seen. Warning...lots of uphill walking, but I think that added to my satisfaction.

The Bronte sisters are in Westminster Abbey, not here, but this was among the most beautiful parish graveyards I've seen.

Day Trip Three: Brighton

Our final day trip of the semester was to Brighton, a resort town on the south coast of England. The weather was less than ideal for a trip to the beach - in fact it started snowing at some point - but the students actually really loved it. In fact, I think the students enjoyed it most of all our day trips. For one thing, our students are from Iowa and haven't had many opportunities to see the beach. For another, while the shopping and dining areas in Cambridge and Salisbury were targeted at people my age, the shopping and dining in Brighton was definitely more up the twenty-something alley. 

The town features a pier that was reminiscent of Cape Cod or the Jersey Shore. For Michiganders like me, a lot of this is familiar, but for these land-locked students it was pretty cool. The beaches are very rocky, and the students all took home a souvenir in the form of a super-smooth rock. Our very own Zizzy found herself a rock that had "FUCK" written on it, and what are the odds? 

The first part of the day was a tour of the Royal Pavilion, an oriental-style palace built by King George IV in the 19th century. No one has lived there for many years, which means we could take photographs, which I did. 

The walls, carpet and furniture from the original pavilion is all intact, and I was reminded for obvious reasons of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The chandeliers were no joke. As you can see, this one looks like lotus flowers. The entire design of the pavilion, inside and out is Asian in theme, which is weird. At this time, Orientalism was in full swing, and everyone wanted to wear Asian or Arabic flourishes in their outfits or have Asian touches their homes. 

Yet another lotus chandelier with Chinese figures included.

Wider view with clock.

A dragon (and a snake.) There were SO many dragons...the Chinese kind of course.

Of course I had to take one of the kitchen. Many of the pots and other items were the originals.

The dining room (with more dragons.) One thing that I appreciated in the placards that guided you through the palace  was a blurb on servants and the role they played. In certain areas, mostly long hallways, there was this blue painted Dutch tile along the walls. That signaled it was a servant area. Servants in that society were kept invisible, which was a theme I kept coming back to in all my classes, appropriately enough.

A quote from someone on the placards: "Behind all the staterooms there's this secret world of the servants...(The tiles) formed a sort of seamless link from one end of the building to the other so that George would never have to see the servants."

The Royal Pavilion exterior, which is more Indian in theme than Chinese, while most of the inside was Chinese. The garden outside was lovely too, but probably lovelier in May.

Take your punishment, lesson two: The Clink Prison Museum

Our final excursion related to Criminal Justice and Foucault's Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison was to the Clink Prison Museum. This fun little house of horrors lies in the former location of the actual Clink Prison in Southwark not far from the Globe Theatre and Borough Market. Yes, that was the name of a literal prison that operated from the 12th to 18th centuries. Though it was dingier and sillier than the Tower, I think it had a lot of value, and in fact I ended up wishing I had brought my creative writers there. Like other museums, it focused a lot on stories. It did charge for admission, but it was relatively cheap, especially for students. I think the students had fun anyway. It's amusing how it attempted (also using rats as a guide, as in the Museum of London) to provide interactive moments for children, given the subject matter. It's possible British children are a little more thick-skinned than American kids, who would probably get scared in there. Or not?

This executioner's axe and block is just a replica, and that way they could add some fake blood! The walls in this room featured detailed illustrations of the prison and the area in which it stood during its day. Some of these were tracings of actual illustrations from the 18th century.

There was a bit more detail with regard to what torture devices were and how they were used. This was an odd addition, because a chastity belt wasn't technically used for crime punishment. However, I liked the addition, because it interrogates medieval society's moral expectations, especially for women.

As with the chastity belt, the inclusion of the "ducking stool" was among several critiques of historical misogyny embedded in this museum, which I appreciated. The stool, for instance, was basically used against women who complained. (For men who wonder why we never tell you what's wrong...maybe this is why, hmmm?)

A close view of the gibbet, and the blue plaque. These circular blue plaques appeared in all historic locations, such as where someone famous or important lived.

This is called the heretic's fork. It was strapped to a person's neck with one end at the throat and the other at the chin so you couldn't put your head down. Basically, you couldn't nod off, or injury would ensue. 

The scavenger's daughter held the prisoner in a crouched position, sometimes forcing blood from the mouth and ears. It was invented during Henry VIII's reign by someone who has something very wrong with them. Seriously, what the hell?

This is a replica of a chair that prisoners would have been tortured in. It reminds me of the torture chair in Game of Thrones at Harrenhal...you know the one with the rats? (The museum also highlighted the same rat torture method...so that was accurate apparently.)

To my delight, this museum featured plenty of wax figures and recreated environments, mainly prison cells and dungeons. Most of these included background audio of people telling their stories, or people groaning and screaming. It was better than a haunted house for Halloween.

This guy was my favorite for some reason...those are entrails in the bowl next to him. I should point out that the museum did a good job of pointing out the injustice and cruelty of these institutions. There was good reason for shutting these places down.

The realism. The cells didn't have toilets, so you know...shit corner.

The museum had plenty to offer in terms of historical figures who would have been housed in the prison and their stories, which were told in placards like these as well as the wax replicas. For instance, John Greenwood was imprisoned in 1587 for harboring "seditious texts." He was hanged in 1593 for it.

Placards on these famous criminals were also great material for inspiring characters and scenes in creative writing. Take for instance Elizabeth Brownrigg, a kindly lady who took in poor foundlings and cared for them, and then turned out to be a psycho who beat them viciously as they hung from a butcher's hook in her kitchen.

Note to teachers: If you are teaching Criminal Justice, Discipline and Punish, or any course in which you criticize systems of criminal punishment, the Clink Museum has a lot to offer. It poses numerous questions about what we choose to outlaw in addition to how we historically punished supposed wrongdoing. It definitely contains a warning about the importance of separating church and state.

However, I also think it was a great stop for Creative Writing, because it provided a lot of detail for a certain type of setting, as well as character inspiration for scenes that would definitely challenge students to write outside of their comfort zone...not just because of the horror of the subject matter, but because these are characters that they would probably call "unrelatable." I do hate that word.

I think this rose window was actually part of the original prison.