How far are current interpretations of Newstead accurate reflections of what it may have been like in 1871?
Newstead Abbey has an extensive and diverse history, dating back to the 12th Century when it was built as a priory for Augustinian monks. Over the last nine hundred years, Newstead has been the possession of several different families, home to the famous poet Lord Byron, and most recently a tourist attraction. The house is presented, as it would have looked like in 1871, when the Webb family was residing there. The Webb family lived in the house for seventy years, after which it was donated to Nottinghamshire County Council and was opened to the public. Consequently the house has retained its Victorian heritage and gives tourists today an interesting insight into the lives of a wealthy, upper class Victorian family.
To a certain extent current interpretations of Newstead Abbey accurately portrays what it may have been like in 1871 for the Webb family. Although the house has a strong Byronic influence, we know from Augusta's book, Livingstone and Newstead, that Emilia Webb and her husband William had an interest in the poet, Augusta writes, "one of his [William Webb's] chief aims was to increase both the Byronic and historic interest of the place." Emilia Webb encouraged visitors to view the assortment of artefacts and curios associated with Byron, that she had collected, prompting her daughter to write, "[she] seemed much less mistress in her own house than caretaker for Byron's. It is chiefly owing to Mrs Webb's care on her first arrival at Newstead that every relic connected with Byron has been so religiously preserved. She regarded this as an obligation and a duty to the poet's admirers."
The decoration in the house has largely remained unchanged since the Victorian era, and purposefully reflects the style of this period. In the rooms that are on display to the public, meticulous detail has gone into recreating the decor and furniture of the Victorian period. In the Plantagenet room I saw the original animal skins and hunting paraphernalia on the walls, collected from William Webb's trips to Africa. The dining hall has the original oak panelling and stone fireplace, installed by the Webb family, that would have been there in 1871. A lot of the furniture, such as the oak dining table and chairs, are original pieces from the house. Other items of furniture, that were lost over the years, have been replaced with authentic Victorian pieces, which blend in with the Victorian style of decor. The nursery has an austere feeling, and is decorated the way it would have looked in 1871 - a sparse amount of furniture - a rocking horse, a single bed for the governess, a toy box, unheated, with religious needlepoint pictures as decoration. The kitchen is an accurate reflection of a typical country house kitchen, a large room with a high ceiling and high windows, furnished with three different ranges of different temperatures, a long pine table, a wooden dresser, pots and pans and an ice box. Throughout the house is original flooring and wall decoration, such as the stone flag flooring in the kitchen and wooden flooring in the governess's room. Paintings are the ones that would have hung a hundred and fifty years ago - depicting hunting scenes, or the one of a man wearing a pink silk suit in the Plantagenet room that shows his wealth. Internally the decoration is an accurate reflection of the 1870s.
Newstead Abbey has an extensive and diverse history, dating back to the 12th Century when it was built as a priory for Augustinian monks. Over the last nine hundred years, Newstead has been the possession of several different families, home to the famous poet Lord Byron, and most recently a tourist attraction. The house is presented, as it would have looked like in 1871, when the Webb family was residing there. The Webb family lived in the house for seventy years, after which it was donated to Nottinghamshire County Council and was opened to the public. Consequently the house has retained its Victorian heritage and gives tourists today an interesting insight into the lives of a wealthy, upper class Victorian family.
To a certain extent current interpretations of Newstead Abbey accurately portrays what it may have been like in 1871 for the Webb family. Although the house has a strong Byronic influence, we know from Augusta's book, Livingstone and Newstead, that Emilia Webb and her husband William had an interest in the poet, Augusta writes, "one of his [William Webb's] chief aims was to increase both the Byronic and historic interest of the place." Emilia Webb encouraged visitors to view the assortment of artefacts and curios associated with Byron, that she had collected, prompting her daughter to write, "[she] seemed much less mistress in her own house than caretaker for Byron's. It is chiefly owing to Mrs Webb's care on her first arrival at Newstead that every relic connected with Byron has been so religiously preserved. She regarded this as an obligation and a duty to the poet's admirers."
The decoration in the house has largely remained unchanged since the Victorian era, and purposefully reflects the style of this period. In the rooms that are on display to the public, meticulous detail has gone into recreating the decor and furniture of the Victorian period. In the Plantagenet room I saw the original animal skins and hunting paraphernalia on the walls, collected from William Webb's trips to Africa. The dining hall has the original oak panelling and stone fireplace, installed by the Webb family, that would have been there in 1871. A lot of the furniture, such as the oak dining table and chairs, are original pieces from the house. Other items of furniture, that were lost over the years, have been replaced with authentic Victorian pieces, which blend in with the Victorian style of decor. The nursery has an austere feeling, and is decorated the way it would have looked in 1871 - a sparse amount of furniture - a rocking horse, a single bed for the governess, a toy box, unheated, with religious needlepoint pictures as decoration. The kitchen is an accurate reflection of a typical country house kitchen, a large room with a high ceiling and high windows, furnished with three different ranges of different temperatures, a long pine table, a wooden dresser, pots and pans and an ice box. Throughout the house is original flooring and wall decoration, such as the stone flag flooring in the kitchen and wooden flooring in the governess's room. Paintings are the ones that would have hung a hundred and fifty years ago - depicting hunting scenes, or the one of a man wearing a pink silk suit in the Plantagenet room that shows his wealth. Internally the decoration is an accurate reflection of the 1870s.
