NCB tank engine near Dalmellington 1960s No coal? No capitalism! Discuss. Inspired by this book of photos of Ayrshire mines and ...

During the eighteenth century, England’s agricultural lands and economy changed from yeoman and peasant subsistence farming to something not too different from what is with us today: professional, …

Hand-colored plates.

A look at the restoration of Clandon Park.

Normanby Hall Country Park is a beautiful 300 acre estate set in the heart of North Lincolnshire. Open to the public every day of the year, the park offers the perfect backdrop to your day out. The Hall and the Farming Museum are only open throughout the summer months, but with award winning gardens, ample wildlife, exciting events, or just a relaxing environment to enjoy a day out, there is plenty to keep you entertained all year round. All year, 9am to dusk.

Hand-colored plates.

In most of the 18th century, before the introduction of the mechanical seed-drill, there were only two ways of sowing crops. Wheat and barley, turnips and beans were either bro…

An agricultural survey of the West Riding from 1794 provides details of life in Craven at the time, when just about everybody was employed either in…

I thought I'd get the New Year of 2012 off to an Ackermann's start and post the wonderful Furniture plates they published for the years 1809-1828. Back in the Regency your home fashions were just as important as your personal wardrobe so Ackermann's included nearly as many furniture plates as it did fashions in every monthly issue. I have found these images to be a wonderful treasure trove of digital inspiration and I hope you do too. My favorite of all the Furniture plates have to be the curtains - I love them so much that I devoted an entire blog post to them in November 2011 that can be seen HERE. I even digitally altered many of my favorites for easy use in digital artwork and posted those new creations to my deviantART account so other artists could use them too - I hope you take a look at them both. My top pick for the 1809-1815 furniture plates is this Library Couch from 1811 done in a Regency "Greek Revival" Style Frame for the above image was created by me and can be found on my deviantART account - HERE A bit about Ackermann's for those who are new to my Ackermann blog posts. Ackermann's Repository was a popular periodical, published in England from 1809-1828. It's full name was "The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashion, and Politics" published by R. Ackermann. but it was referred to as simply Ackermann's Repository to keep it simple. These monthly issues were produced with the intention of binding each collection into book form (2 volumes per year) and so the plates in each issue were were numbered accordingly into 3 series; Series 1 ran from 1809-1815 Series 2 ran from 1816 - 1822 Series 3 ran from 1823 - 1828 The repository included a wide variety of entertaining articles including the latest in furnishing trends. Today I'm posting the hand colored furniture plates that were published for series 1 (1809-1815) *** See my previous blog posts from June 29, 2011 - Dec 31, 2011 for other Ackermann images.*** Ackermann Repository Furniture Plates from 1809 - 1815 These hand-colored furniture plates from AR series 1 (1809 - 1815) show the popular and cutting edge in home decor for this time period in England. Those with large disposable incomes would regularly update their home to stay current with the trends just as they regularly changed their wardrobes. However those of lesser means would have use this information as inspiration for adding accents or key pieces to their homes so as to stay in the" mode" as it were. Several styles such as Grecian (neo-classical) and Gothic were considered acceptable styles throughout 1809-1828 so redecorating to stay in fashion could be as simple as recovering existing furniture in a new fabric, hanging new drapes and painting a room an "in fashion" color. These are all things that need to be done anyway from time to time to avoid having a "shabby" home; so when you really think about it, it resembles how many of us may update our home too from time to time. This reminds me it's time to paint my kitchen - giggles. 1809 This was the first year for Ackermann's Repository so the furniture plates they printed were fairly normal home items such as tables, chairs, sofas and ladies toilet sets. There was lots of beautiful gilded wood and some amazing trims. I just love all the trims on the Regency items, be they furniture or fashion. 1809 - Sofa Bed from Ackermann's Repository 1809 - Drawing Room Chair Table and Accessories from Ackermann's Repository 1809 - Chaise Lounge and Window Seat from Ackermann's Repository 1809 - Ladies Secretary and Parlor Chair from Ackermann's Repository 1809 - Library Sofa and Candelabra from Ackermann's Repository 1809 - Ladies Toilet, Fauteuil, Footstool and Chamber Bath from Ackermann's Repository Fauteuil - an 18th century, open-arm, carved relief, wooden chair with upholstered seat. Chamber Bath - A wash basin type of personal bath you would sit in to clean yourself. (not the full immersion type of bathtubs we have today). Here is the full Ackermann's description for the above 1809 Ladies Toilet Ackermann's Description of the Ladies Toilet and Accessories 1809 - Drawing Room Chairs from Ackermann's Repository Ackermann's Repository showed many furniture items in the Grecian style for 1809. Beautiful wood with gilding, rich upholstered fabrics and lovely fringes and tassels. Curtains were also considered part of the furniture plates they published. These are two Ackermann's published in 1809. To see all the Regency curtains from Ackermann's click HERE To me this looks like a leopard spotted curtain and is one of my favorites 1809 - French curtain from Ackermann's Repository 1810 With the first year of publication behind them Ackermann's Repository chose to show some innovative furnishings and contraptions in their second year of publication. A circular movable bookcase, convertible globe writing tables, and even a Regency era invalid chair "wheelchair" was included in the furniture plates for 1810. 1810 - A new innovation - Circular Movable Bookcase from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Gothic Library Furniture (Sofa, Table, Chair and Footstool) from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Patent Sideboard and Dining Tables from Ackermann's Repository The above image if for the a Patented Sideboard with Dining Tables. This could be commissioned in any size needed and was made in such a way that the dining tables can be shut up within the sideboard when not in use and the extra table leaves are stored as shown in the middle top drawer of the sideboard. 1810 - Convertible Globe / Writing Table from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Comfortable Salon and Library Chairs from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Sideboard and Dining Room Chair from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Banquette suite of sofa and chair - furniture for summer or foreign climates from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Invalid Chair "Wheelchair" from Ackermann's Repository Below is the Ackermann's description for this innovative chair. Ackermann's Repository Description of the Invalid Chair from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Innovative Library or Bedroom Chairs with Attached Accessories from Ackermann's Repository 1810 - Curtain Designs from Ackermann's Repository 1811 Ackermann's continued to show us more interesting furniture innovations in the 1811 issues. Among them were; a ladies convertible work/game table, a library chair that would flip and become a set of steps and the most interesting Merlin's Chair for invalids. 1811 - Swan embellished Circular Sofa from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Two Drawing Room Chairs from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Library Couch from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Military Couch Bed from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Ladies Work/Game Table from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Bookcase from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Merlin's Mechanical Chair and other ideas of modern transportation. The above chair as it stands was intended as another version of an invalid chair or "wheelchair" as we might call it; however the article that accompanied it also references may possibilities for a design such as this and I found it to be a most interesting read, so I have included it below. The author speculates that it could be powered by a small steam-engine (a Regency motorized wheelchair if you can image that) or that with an alteration in the design the steam powered contraption could be mounted with a small cannon (a Regency personal tank?) or even a new mode of self-moving engine for public conveyance. I just found this fascinating and I hope you do too. Ackermann's Description for the Merlin Chair Above 1811 - Convertible Library Chair/Steps from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - Card/Writing/Sofa Table and Trafalgar Chair from Ackermann's Repository This innovative "gadget" table is a small, square, card table that can be converted into a double reading/writing table so that two persons can sit opposite each other to read or write without being able to overlook what the other - for privacy. And finally by drawing out the ornamental brackets on either end, the writing/reading surfaces flip down so the item becomes a sofa table. Two Window Curtain designs were published by Ackermann's in 1811 as part of the Furniture Plates. 1811 - French Window Curtain from Ackermann's Repository 1811 - French Drapery Design from Ackermann's Repository 1812 Ackermann's Repository showed more traditional items of furniture in their 1812 issues; however some of these items still contained a few fun "extras" to keep them interesting. 1812 - Bed created for the Marquis of Winchester less the family crest and other ornaments. 1812 - Cabinet Piano-Forte from Messrs. Wilkinson & Wornum of Oxford St. 1811 - Library Bookcase and retractable Writing Table 1812 - Ladies Toilette/Dressing Case This was a most intriguing piece of ladies furniture that just could not be explained in a few words so I have opted to include the full Ackermann's description below for your entertainment. Description of the above shown Ladies Dressing Case 1812 - Library Table and Chair by Ackermann's Repository 1812 - French Sofa and Drawing Room Chair by Ackermann's Repository 1812 - French Scroll Sofa and Table by Ackermann's Repository 1812 - Furnishings of Candelabrum, Footstool and Table 1812 - Bookcase by Ackermann's Repository 1812 - French curtain for the Library or Morning Room 1812 - Window Curtain for the Drawing Room 1813 Ackermann's published some fairly ordinary furnishings for 1813; however the Pocock patented reclining chair was a bit out of the norm and though they called it a tastefully classic design I believe I would have skipped the gargoyles had I ordered one in 1813. 1813 - State Bed by Ackermann's Repository 1813 - Patent Fireplace - I used the blue part of the surround to create a frame HERE - see full post HERE 1813 - Cabinet and Dwarf Table (table for library, sitting room or boudoir) Patented Reclining Chair - re-positionable back with double reclining foot-rest and attached table in a classical style. 1813 - A variety of fashionable Footstools 1813 - Antique style Sofa and Table 1813 - 2 chairs 1813 - French Window Treatments and various room accessories There were also about a half dozen "Gothic" architectural plates published in various 1813 issues. (Conservatory, Hall, Library, Staircase, and Bedchamber). Click HERE to see the previous post where those items 1813 Gothic items can be seen. 1814 Chairs seemed to be the theme in 1814, most of the furniture plates for that year included at least one. I'm not sure if it were a new trend to replace one's chairs or if it was simply one of the more economical items in furnishings that could be purchased to update the look of a room. 1814 - Library Desk and Chair 1814 - Convertible Writing/Game Table 1814 - Bookcase with Fold-Away Writing Table 1814 - Table and Chair from Carlton House 1814 - Ottoman Couch 1814 - Bedroom Chairs ( I would not want to sit in one of these too long) 1814 - Hall Chairs (an uncomfortable seat for anyone requested to "wait here" by a servant of the house) 1814 - Parlor Chairs (come and sit for a while but don't stay too long) 1814 - Drawing Room Chairs (oh look at my pretty chairs, sit a while but don't dare lean back) 1814 - Window Treatments 1815 Three window treatments and a decorated room were included as Furniture plates in Ackermann's Repository 1815 issues. 1815 - French Cottage Bed and Chair 1815 - French Sofa, tables and lamp with globe for argand gas light 1815 - Table, Rack and Chair for an Artist or Collector 1815 - Furniture for a Music Room 1815 - Dining and Drawing Room Chairs 1815 - Sofa, Worktable and Candelabrum with argand lamp globe for gas light 1815 - Items that could display artwork such as embroidery or ladies drawings according to the full description in AR 1815 - Furnished French style Bed Chamber including draperies 1815 - Curtain for the Library 1815 - Drawing Room Window Curtain - similar to that in the French Bed Chamber 1815 - Draperies I hope you have enjoyed my start to the New Year with the first of 3 posts showing the Regency era furniture plates from Ackermann's Repository. If you are like me there will be items here you love and others that make you wonder "what were they thinking" but all in all I have to say most of the items are quite beautiful even though many of them did not look very comfortable. I guess that factor alone would have made you want to get up and move around rather than to become a couch potato. Join me again next time for the furnishings in Ackermann's Series 2 (1816 - 1822) Thanks for visiting me here at EKDuncan.blogspot.com If you have enjoyed seeing these images from Ackermann's Repository and would like the opportunity to see and read an original for yourself they are are available on line at www.archive.org Click HERE then choose the volume you are interested in. You can then see and read them online or download them to your computer for future reference. Enjoy!

Image taken from: Title: "Modern London; being the history and present state of the British Metropolis. Illustrated with numerous copper plates [By Richard Phillips.]" Author(s): London [organisation] British Library shelfmark: "Digital Store 10349.h.13" Page: 593 (scanned page number - not necessarily the actual page number in the publication) Place of publication: London (England) Date of publication: 1804 Publisher: Richard Phillips Type of resource: Monograph Language(s): English Physical description: viii, 571 pages (4°) Explore this item in the British Library’s catalogue: 002251090 (physical copy) and 014840612 (digitised copy) (numbers are British Library identifiers) Other links related to this image: - View this image as a scanned publication on the British Library’s online viewer (you can download the image, selected pages or the whole book) - Order a higher quality scanned version of this image from the British Library Other links related to this publication: - View all the illustrations found in this publication - View all the illustrations in publications from the same year (1804) - Download the Optical Character Recognised (OCR) derived text for this publication as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) - Explore and experiment with the British Library’s digital collections The British Library community is able to flourish online thanks to freely available resources such as this. You can help support our mission to continue making our collection accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment, by donating on the British Library supporter webpage here. Thank you for supporting the British Library.

Great landed estates were symbols of the owner’s wealth and status in British society. Everything was put on grand display – from the exquisite architecture of the house itself to the f…

A new farmhouse replaced a large group of utilitarian farm buildings within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Kent, known as the "Garden of England," is a county steeped in history and heritage. From ancient Roman settlements to medieval castles and industrial revolution sites, Kent's archaeological landscape is rich and diverse. The Council for Kentish Archaeology plays a crucial role in uncovering and preserving this history for future generations to enjoy and learn Kent, known as the "Garden of England," is a county steeped in history and heritage. From ancient Roman settlements to medieval castles and industrial revolution sites, Kent's archaeological landscape is rich and diverse. The Council for Kentish Archaeology plays a crucial role in uncovering and preserving this history for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

An Early Modern Pie from Rose Castle, Cumbria Because of the sizeable mountain of skirrets that I have extracted from my garden, I decided this week to make a skirret pie from a recipe in a very special English manuscript cookery book. This is the wonderful Receipt Book of Elizabeth Rainbow ( d.1702), the wife of Edward Rainbow, Bishop of Carlisle (1608-84). The couple lived in the Bishop's Palace at Rose Castle in Cumbria until Edward's death in 1684. Here are Elizabeth's original handwritten instructions. Photo © Dalemain Estates. Elizabeth Rainbow. Photo © Dalemain Estates. Skirret pies seem to have been popular from the Stuart period to the middle of the eighteenth century. Recipes occur frequently in both manuscript and printed collections. Other ingredients such as dates, chestnuts and candied orange peel were usually included in the pie filling. Bone marrow was also popular. These pies were usually filled at the end of baking with a 'lear' or 'caudle', a kind of custard made with wine, sugar and egg yolks. Pies of this kind were also made with artichokes, sweet potatoes and eryngo roots. Below are two other recipes from well-known printed sources. SKIRRET PYE Take your skirrets and boil them, skin them, then cut them to Lengths about two or three inches. Wash them with yolks of eggs and season with salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. Put to them some chestnuts boiled and blanched and some yolks of hard-boiled eggs split, and lay over some sliced lemon. Put over butter and close it in a raised coffin. Joseph Cooper. The Art of Cookery. London: 1654. SKIRRET PYE. Boil your biggest skirrets and blanch and season them with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a very little ginger and sugar. Your pye being ready lay in your skirrets; season also the marrow of three or four bones with cinnamon, sugar, a little salt and grated bread. Lay the marrow in your pye and the yolks of hard eggs, a handful of chestnuts boiled and blanched, and some candied Orange-peel in slices. Lay butter on the top and lid your pye. Let your caudle be white wine and sugar, thicken it with the yolks of eggs, and when the pye is baked pour it in and serve it hot. Scrape sugar on it. E. Smith, The Compleat Housewife, 1727. Below is a pictorial record of the whole process of making Elizabeth's pie. Skirrets from John Gerard. The Herball. (1633) Before you can make a skirret pie you will need to grow some skirrets. I propagate mine every year by dividing up these young root offsets and planting them out about a foot apart. Unpeeled skirret roots coming to the boil in a brazen skillet. They take about 8 minutes to cook. While the skirrets are cooking, a raised pie coffin is made using a very large pie dolly. The boiled skirrets are peeled Bone marrow is extracted from some ox bones with a marrow scoop. The pie coffin is filled with layers of skirrets, bone marrow and dates The coffin is filled to within an inch of the top - note the cinnamon. Detail of a still-life painting by A. Pereda (1678) showing a typical raised pie of the kind made in Elizabeth Rainbow's lifetime. Although this pie is from a Spanish source, very similar pies are illustrated in Robert May's The Accomplisht Cook (London: 1660). I aim to make a pie loosely based on this striking design. A lid is added to the pie and the edges crimped. The structure in the centre is called a haystack and is used as a kind of pastry funnel through which the caudle is poured at the end of baking. The pie is ornamented. A caudle is prepared by whipping up egg yolks, sack and sugar. The finished pie is removed from the oven and the caudle poured in through the haystack. This sort of pie was eaten by removing the lid and spooning the contents from the coffin. Elizabeth Rainbow's skirret pie is related in some ways to the better known mince pie. The addition of bone marrow makes the pie filling very rich. Inside the coffin, the skirrets dissolve in the heat of the oven into an unctuous mush surrounded by dates and the rich caudle, though their distinctive flavour is still strongly evident. This luxurious Caroline pie is incredibly delicious. Elizabeth and Edward Rainbow's former home of Rose Castle is a remarkable building with an extraordinary history. Since the thirteenth century it has been home to sixty-six Bishops of Carlisle. The Church Commissioners recently decided to put the property up for public auction, but the Friends of Rose Castle, a group passionately committed to saving it, are attempting to raise the funds to purchase it. Fortunately the Church Commissioners have recently agreed to give the group two years to buy the castle for the wider community. Phillipa Harrison, one of the friends, says. 'Only one building represents the unique history of the establishment of a Border between Scotland and the North West of England, Rose Castle, created for the Bishopric of Carlisle to administer the “lands which were Scottish”, before Cumbria finally became English a hundred years later than the rest of the country. Also the preeminent English castle in the medieval Scottish wars and reiver skirmishes in the North West, Rose is the only remaining monument to our turbulent border history there. Its retention, with public accessabilty and as an educational resource, is vital for the maintenance of any sort of national historical perspective.' Elizabeth Rainbow's skirret pie is a tiny element from the domestic history of Rose Castle brought back to life. If you would be interested in knowing more or becoming a friend of Rose Castle, there is a link to the website below. As part of the fund raising effort, I am planning to produce an entire seventeenth century Bishop's feast from Elizabeth's receipt book, which will be served at Rose Castle at some point in 2012. If my skirret harvest next year is as good as this year's, skirret pie will definitely be on the menu. Look out here for more news about this event. The Friends of Rose Castle This blog is created by Historic Food. Go to the Historic Food Website.

Explore the British Museum collection and journey through two million years of human history.

"The Reapers," by James Ward (1800) DIMENSIONS • 9" x 12" (Image: 7.5" x 10.13") • 12" x 16" (Image: 10" x 13.5") • 16" x 20" (Image: 12.56" x 17") • 20" x 24" (Image: 14.75" x 20") • 24" x 30" (Image: 18.5" x 25") Archival Inkjet on Fine Art Paper Smooth Surface - Matte Finish - Inset Borders ABOUT THE ARTWORK ----------------------------- The Yale Center for British Art describes James Ward as "one of the finest animal, portrait, and landscape painters of Regency England;" a "brilliant and neglected artist" who "worked well into the mid-nineteenth century, creating dynamic compositions that epitomized Romanticism." Apprenticed to an engraver at age twelve, he took up painting in order gain admission to the Royal Academy, initially founding his reputation on rustic genre scenes informed by those of his brother-in-law, George Moreland. "The Reapers" is one such work. Depicting men and women farming alongside their pets and children, its central figure pausing to converse with a passing acquaintance, it highlights the social and domestic virtues of an agrarian way of life. ART-CENTRIC DESIGN ----------------------------- Vintage art is not standardized. The original works are usually too long, or too short, to neatly fill a store-bought frame. Most shops arbitrarily crop the artwork to match, leading to claustrophobic prints with missing or partial elements. These modifications — sometimes trivial, sometimes ludicrous — are not always shown in the product photos. We believe that the purpose of art is not to fill a frame; it is the purpose of a frame to showcase the art. Our prints have inset borders that make up any differences in proportion between the artwork and a standard frame, so that you can experience the art as the artist intended. They look sharp in beveled mats, may be float mounted, or inserted directly into standard frames; the borders providing a mat-like accent around the image. There are many styles from which to choose. Framing is a fun, creative process that enhances the artwork and livens your space for years to come. Should you like any advice, feel free to reach out. CUSTOMIZATION AND IMAGE REQUESTS ----------------------------- We are happy to customize our prints to fit your frame. Borderless prints may require the artwork to be cropped to fit a new aspect ratio. In such cases, we will provide a mockup to ensure that the final product meets with your approval. If you’re looking for an artwork that is not in our catalog, feel free to ask if we can provide it. We will print any public domain or openly licensed image that is available in high resolution. MUSEUM QUALITY ----------------------------- Giclée process prints are the gold standard in fine art reproduction. We use a matte finish, cotton fiber paper to maximize detail while eliminating glare. Our prints display a wide color gamut, deep blacks and beautiful tonal transitions. Produced using only archival materials, they will not fade or yellow, but maintain their original quality for as long as you own them. HANDMADE DECLARATION ----------------------------- To assure artistic quality, all of our production and design is strictly in-house. Every print has been proofed, calibrated and inspected for defects. We do not drop ship, resell or make use of third-party production partners. SHIPPING AND PACKAGING ----------------------------- All orders ship within one business day via USPS First Class, Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express. Sizes 9” x 12” and 12” x 16” ship in a flat configuration, unless combined with larger prints, which require tubes. We will replace any lost or damaged items at no expense to you. HAPPINESS GUARANTEE ----------------------------- We will promptly address any issues that may arise with your order. If you are unhappy with your print for any reason, you are welcome to return it for a full refund.

The Primrose reclaimed old cast iron antique fireplaces of the Georgian,Regency,Victorian,Edwardian,Art Nouveau,Art Deco and Arts and Crafts periods,eras

Hank Shaw's collection of dove recipes and recipes for pigeons and squab, from dove poppers to grilled doves and a whole lot more.

If family history is about gathering as many ancestors as possible, this book fails: it focuses on just three generations of the author's paternal side, between 1780 and 1826. At first nothing stirs the still waters of centuries of East Kent farming tradition. Men organize parish affairs, women follow domestic routines, boys attend a boarding school in Ramsgate, and only grandma seems interested in socializing or travel. Why then did Thomas Oakley Curling uproot everything and take his family on a marathon five-month voyage to Van Diemen's Land? Why leave one child behind? And where does Sir Charles Napier fit in? The genealogical quest starts naturally with a family heirloom, but soon tangential questions emerge, as multiple threads are collated and woven into one story. 'Georgian & Regency ancestors' might sound remote, removed from our reality, but the individuals' letters draw us into their world, and copious illustrations punctuate the text, animating the environments in which they lived. For fellow seekers there are also abundant indices, references, and a list of archives.