The great house at Erdigg is not
that great. When negotiations began, the Trust did not want the house, which was structurally undermined. (It got better). But the Trust did very much want the 30,000 artifacts within. (Now the 2nd largest single collection in the National Trust). Over three centuries, the Yorke family simply never threw anything away. Moreover, the Yorkes were not
that wealthy, so that in order to retain a staff, they had to treat them reasonably well. Consequently, much is known about the staff, at least from Edwardian times, and Erdigg is one of the few sites where one can see nearly all of their living and working quarters. The 18th century gardens have been restored to their original design and are an attraction by themselves. Consequently, Erdigg will get several posts here. The tour begins in the work areas, so we'll start there, proceed upstairs to the areas of the Great and the Good and the, um, Interesting, and then proceed to the gardens.
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| Erdigg House from the formal gardens |
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A really, really old Rover, so old the graphic appears Art Nouveau,
reminiscent of Hector Guimard maybe |
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It's easy to forget that bicycles were a late 19th century innovation, the first
chain-driven models appearing in 1885; here's an Edwardian collection, including
at least one earlier velocipede |
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Frozen in time...Peter Yorke not only treated his staff well, he documented them
extravagantly, and memorialized them in his poetry |
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| One example |
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| The family |
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| In the kitchen |
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| Laundry |
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| Some of Peter Yorke's poetry |
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| Hod for carrying firewood up the servants' stairs |
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| You have been warned |
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This is a pedal-powered vacuum cleaner--worth the price of admission by itself;
you step on the pedals as with a stepper and thus work the bellows which thus
create the suction...ingenious, those Victorians! |
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| Instructions |
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| Interesting ceiling decor in the servants dining area |
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| Thus |
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| You rang, sir? Episode #403,689 |
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| Attic room of one of the senior servants |
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| Back in the engineering sections |
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| Transportation department |
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| Mill |
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| In the beautiful carpentry shop |
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| With Peter Yorke's tribute to the joiner |
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| And beautifully exhibited by the Trust |
