St Fagans under snow: Tomorrow's guided tours of St Teilo's Church going ahead - if the snow holds back! David Thorpe, 11 January 2010 The St Fagans site isn’t usually this quiet: even on blustery November afternoons, determined (but soggy) visitors can be found walking the site, exploring the galleries and the historic buildings. This week, however, the only surge in visitors has been the amazing array of birds we’ve seen reclaiming the hedgerows and, out of necessity, brazenly venturing near the offices and mess rooms in search of food. Only last Friday I was kept company by a pair of Lapwings, who were enjoying the last of the afternoon sun outside the museum's main entrance.The only human traffic on our pathways has been a small army of Museum Assistants, Craftspeople and Agriculturers, busy clearing snow and gritting. The textures, colours and smells of our Christmas Nights event* are now long-gone; tipp-exed out and muted. The site is eerily empty - though it is incredibly beautiful, it has not been safe enough to let visitors in on several occasions during the last week or so.In the snow, St Teilo's Church does not look as dazzling as last year: as is the custom with traditional buildings, the bright limewash covering the outer wall has taken the brunt of the season's weather, and will be re-applied next spring when it is milder. The interior, as ever, is still as vibrant as it was when the reconstruction was officially opened in 2007, and, we hope, as it would have looked in 1500-1530.The wall painting scheme is now finished, bar a few Latin inscriptions, which are proving harder to decipher than previously thought. The north chapel design, including figures of Saints Dewi and Teilo, as well as what is thought to be male and female portraits of local patrons, were composed by copying fragments plaster from the church in its original location. Where the plaster had deteriorated, or the pigment faded, we looked at better preserved mural sequences in Wales in order to come up with appropriate evidence for the missing parts.While the north chapel is not directly accessible to the visiting public (partly because the east end of the church houses some of the oldest furniture in our collection), these murals are visible through the carved screens in the church. These, too, have had a new lease of life, through the work of Fleur Kelly, who has worked with our own in-house painters on several aspects of the church’s painted carvings.If the snow holds back, the advertised guided tours of the Church will go ahead tomorrow and Friday (14-15 Jan); starting at 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00. Those interested in attending are encouraged to telephone us before starting their journey, to ensure that the museum is open and accessible, on (029) 2057 3500. The church is a ten-minute walk from the main entrance on a clear day, so please bear this in mind when choosing your footwear! Wrap up warm, and hope to see you there!*That's treacle; fairy lights; brass bands; bay leaves; woodsmoke and wet boots, in case you were wondering...
English Pottery at Amgueddfa Cymru Andrew Renton, 6 January 2010 1: Incised earthenware harvest jug, made in Gestingthorpe, Suffolk, in 1680. Purchased 1904. Amgueddfa Cymru boasts a magnificent collection of English pottery, the beginnings of which go back to the founding of the Museum. Generations of benefactors have ensured that the collection continues to thrive. The former Cardiff Municipal Museum began collecting ceramics in 1882, aiming to develop the best collection of Welsh pottery and porcelain that it could. By 1895 the Museum believed "that these collections are now the best and most representative in existence", and began to shift its attention to other areas of interest, such as English and continental ceramics. In 1896, Robert Drane became honorary curator. He was a passionate collector of Worcester porcelain, and had also selected the Museum's first acquisitions of Welsh porcelain. 2: Creamware teapot with printed and enamelled decoration on the theme of astrology, made by William Greatbatch, Staffordshire, about 1778. Purchased 1902. 3: Slipware dish with double-headed eagle, made by Ralph Toft, Staffordshire, about 1663-88. Purchased 1903. 4: Silver-mounted stoneware mug, enamelled with the arms of Farmer, Fulham, 1706. Purchased 1903. 9: Enamelled pearlware jug, made at the Ferrybridge Pottery, Yorkshire, about 1800. Bequeathed by Ernest Morton Nance, 1953. 10: Basalt stoneware vase with encaustic painting, made by Wedgwood and Bentley, about 1775-85. Given by Mr & Mrs F E Andrews, 1934 11: Earthenware figure of Alexandra, Princess of Wales (1844-1925), made in Staffordshire, about 1862. Bequeathed by Mrs H de C Hastings, 1995 12: Creamware teapot painted under the glaze in blue and manganese, made by Enoch Booth, Staffordshire, about 1743. Given by W J Grant-Davidson, 1994 The establishment of the National Museum of Wales At this time, Cardiff Municipal Museum was also pushing the case for a national museum for Wales, and its own ambition to evolve into that new institution. In 1902 it talked of "the growing national character of its collections" and so began building its collection of English pottery. Medieval to industrial Taking charge of this new collecting priority, Drane quickly assembled much of the English pottery now at the National Museum. The full breadth of the English pottery tradition was represented, from late medieval wares to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stoneware, slipware and delftware and industrially produced wares pioneered in Staffordshire from the middle of the eighteenth century. [Illustration 1-2] Some outstanding objects included: a rare and magnificent seventeenth-century slipware dish by Ralph Toft of Staffordshire [Illustration 3] an important stoneware mug enamelled with the arms of Farmer and dated 1706 [Illustration 4] a remarkable Brislington delftware dish dated 1680, which exposes two Somerset squires who kidnapped a pair of conjoined twins to exhibit them as a money-raising venture. [Illustration 5] The Museum's pride in its achievement was obvious. A report on the Brislington delftware dish in 1905 states 'Very few of these dishes are known to exist, and the Cardiff example is perhaps the best of them.' 5: Delftware dish made in Brislington near Bristol, about 1680. Purchased in 1904 6: Rosso antico stoneware teapot, made by Wedgwood, Staffordshire, about 1810-20. Given by Wilfred de Winton, 1903. 7: Pearlware beer jug, inscribed for John Hughes of Llansamlet near Swansea and probably made by Ralph Wedgwood in Burslem, Staffordshire, or Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, about 1790-1800. Given by W S de Winton in 1904 8: The New Marriage Act, pearlware, believed when acquired to have been made in Swansea but in fact made in Staffordshire, about 1825. Purchased, 1941 Wilfred de Winton The banker Wilfred de Winton was a supporter of the national museum campaign, and later donated his huge collection of porcelain. His gifts of English pottery included an amusing pearlware beer jug moulded with faces showing the progressive stages of drunkenness, its handle in the form of a merman peering into the jug. [Illustration 6-7] At the time this jug was thought to have been made at the local Cambrian Pottery, but is in fact one of many supposedly Welsh pieces in the collection that have proved to be English. [Illustration 8] Ernest Morton Nance In 1953 Ernest Morton Nance bequeathed his collection of Welsh ceramics. Nance was particularly proud of his 'Cambrian Pottery' jug. He believed that its painted views of a pottery were in Swansea. In fact, this jug was also most likely made at Ralph Wedgwood's Ferrybridge pottery in about 1800. [Illustration 9] 13: Slip-cast salt-glazed stoneware slop bowl, made in Staffordshire, about 1740. Given by W J Grant-Davidson, 1994 14: Red stoneware teapot with moulded chinoiserie decoration, made in Staffordshire, about 1760-65. Given by W J Grant-Davidson, 1994 15: Earthenware dish painted in red and gold lustre by William de Morgan, about 1881. Purchased 1994 16: Hand-painted earthenware vase, designed by Frank Brangwyn for Royal Doulton, about 1930-35. Purchased 1972 The collection continues to grow Generations of benefactors have ensured that the collection of English pottery continues to thrive. [Illustration 10] Bequests have brought in extensive collections of lustre pottery (Lord Boston, 1942), mid-nineteenth-century pot lids (Miss E. A. Nicholl, 1981) and Victorian Staffordshire figures (Mrs H. Hastings, 1995). [Illustration 11] In 1994 the gift of W. J. Grant-Davidson, a scholar of Welsh pottery, included interesting Staffordshire pottery, the highlight being an important early creamware teapot of about 1743 by Enoch Booth. [Illustration 12-14] Amgueddfa Cymru also collects modern pottery, and has acquired such examples as a William de Morgan lustre dish and a Royal Doulton vase designed by Frank Brangwyn. [Illustration 15-16] Other modern pieces have come from the Museum's Outreach Collection, for example designs of the 1930s by architect Keith Murray for Wedgwood, and, in particular, from a generous gift from Mick Richards of an excellent collection of Susie Cooper's ceramics. [Illustration 17] The collection is still growing, including acquisitions such as a creamware teapot of about 1765, which commemorates the radical politician John Wilkes. [Illustration 18] 17: Thrown and incised earthenware vase, made by Susie Cooper Pottery, about 1932. Given by Mick Richards, 2003. 18: Creamware teapot celebrating John Wilkes, probably made and enamelled in Staffordshire, about 1763-68. Purchased 2009 Author: Andrew Renton, Head of Applied Art
Christmas Art cart Chris Owen, 22 December 2009 Well, we've been pretty busy on the art cart making wrapping paper, squishy stars, paper-plate angels, pop-up cards and garlands. Everyone who came by stayed a while and made some beautiful things. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take any photographs of your work, so if you made anything and are using it to decorate your house please email me a picture!Here are some of the things that I made as examples and then took home! Happy Christmas and see you all in the New Year!
Calennig Chris Owen, 22 December 2009 On the 30th and 31st of December between 11am and 12.30pm we will be making Calennig gifts(like the one in the picture above!)At 2pm there will also be a chance for you to sing with the Calennig gift you have created. It's going to be so much fun!And if you are wondering what the apple on a stick is all about, here's what Trefor M. Owen has to say in his fantastic book 'Welsh Folk Customs':'The giving of gifts on New Year's Day is an ancient custom once widely observed but more recently displaced by the growing importance of Christmas and Christmas presents. The collecting of calennig (New Year's gift)is a Welsh form of this custom.[...]the collecting of calennig began early in the day and continued until noon. An account published in 1819 describes the custom in the following words: 'New Year is marked by all the children in the neighbourhood forming themselves in little groups and carrying from house to house their congratulations and good wishes for the health and prosperity during the ensuing year, which are symbolized by each bearing in his hand an apple stuck full of corn, variously coloured and decorated with a sprig of some evergreen, three short skewers serve as supports to the apple when not held in the hand, and a fourth serves to hold it by without destroying its many coloured honours.''
Icy St Fagans Chris Owen, 22 December 2009 St Fagans:National History Museum has been closed today due to the poor weather conditions. I went out for a walk to take some photographs and it's very slippery but also so pretty!
