York Museums Trust Blog

A typical display of boots in J Kidd's window

The latest shop to get a new look as part of the re-development of our Victorian Street, Kirkgate, is J Kidd, the boot maker, writes Gwendolen Whitaker, Curator of History.

Again we have used research to make sure each shop we complete is based on a real Victorian York business. Look out for more blog posts, or visit the museum over the next few months, to see them taking shape.

The shop window of J Kidd, bootmaker

James Kidd was born in 1841 and grew up in rural Melbourne, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. His mother was a dressmaker.

As a young man James moved to Wheldrake, a village on the outskirts of York. He married Amelia in 1865 and lived with his in-laws who were agricultural labourers.

A pair of children's boots in the shop window

Two of the couple’s children were born in Wheldrake, and they went on to have five children although two girls died young. In the 1870s the family moved to York and James set up as a boot maker. He was to stay in business for over 30 years, with his sons as apprentices and later boot makers in their own right.

The business was located on Wellington St, close to the family home and the work of his daughter, Elizabeth, who was a housemaid at a private lunatic asylum.

An advert for another boot and shoe business in York

Another boot shop in York used cautionary verse in its advertisement...

There were very many boot and shoe shops in York. In 1896 there were 137 listed in the Trade Directories. The majority were York-based with a clog maker in the Little Shambles.

Boot makers who advertised showed that there was a huge product range, from Boots & Shoes Made Without Stitches  to French imported silk and satin shoes.

Boot makers like James, working on the streets where people lived, were as important as the corner grocer, somewhere to go for a quick cheap repair of an expensive, essential commodity.

This advert for a corn 'cure' shows the need for a good pair of boots!

The YMT book club is going from strength to strength, writes Gaby Lees, assistant curator of arts learning,  with 16 of us escaping the biting winds and Christmas shoppers, to enjoy a mince pie in the comfort of the Yorkshire Museum last month.

Unlike the pies however, the book we were discussing was not to everyone’s taste. Pompeii by Robert Harris is a blockbuster of a novel, which at times feels more like a disaster movie than a book.

Each chapter was dated and began with a brief, scientific description of the progress of the volcano which we all felt worked well and helped to crank up the tension.  The main characters however were not hugely convincing, and the love story, which held the narrative together, seemed highly unlikely. 

We could not fault Harris’s research, which appeared extremely thorough, and the setting he created was impressive. We could see parallels between the political and financial intrigues in the book and recent political and economic events, but we did not agree with those critics who had suggested that this was Harris’s post 9/11 novel.

 If anything, it seemed more of an indictment of current policies on carbon reduction, highlighting man’s insignificance, and his egocentric view of the world; convinced that he can control the power of Nature.

Of course, we all knew where the story was going, so the author had set himself a difficult task, but everyone felt the ending was quite abrupt and some, the postscript a little saccharine.

So a mixed reception for Pompeii the novel, although clearly this was an event in history which intrigued us all.

Tempest Anderson in Colima, Mexico circa 1900. He is sitting next to a volcanic rock known as a 'breadcrust bomb'.

We went on to look at the photographs of Tempest Anderson. Anderson was born in York in 1846. He trained as a doctor but was a keen traveller, amateur photographer and volcanologist. He documented active volcanoes across the globe and took part in a Royal Society expedition to the Caribbean in 1902 to record the aftermath of volcanic eruptions on St Vincent and Martinique. 

The Martinique disaster had a number of similarities with Harris’s Pompeii. When Mount Pelee erupted on the morning of 8 May 1902, almost the entire population of St Pierre perished.

Despite increased volcanic activity in the weeks leading up to the disaster, local politicians, keen to maximise the turn out to an election on 11 May, had encouraged people to stay in the town. They had promoted its safety so effectively that people in surrounding villages had arrived, swelling the population to around 28,000. Only 2 people survived.

The YMT book club is led by Vicky Hoyle. Each month we also look at relevant objects from the YMT collections.  Every session is free and all are welcome; we just ask that you phone in advance on 01904 650333 to book a place.

The next book is How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall. We will be meeting at York Art Gallery this Saturday, 14 January, at 3pm.

The beautiful and rare Tansy beetle, which is only found within a 30km stretch of York, is to be introduced into the Museum Gardens next year – if all goes to plan! writes Isla Gladstone, curator of natural science.

The Tansy beetle

We’re really excited to be working with the Tansy Beetle Action Group (TBAG) to help protect and understand this iconic York species.

The Tansy beetle is a bright green, flightless leaf beetle. It’s named after the Tansy plant that it eats and lays its eggs on. It used to be more widespread across the UK, but is now only known along the banks of the River Ouse near York. The species is endangered worldwide.

TBAG work to protect the Tansy beetle and research what it needs to survive. One thing they have learned so far is that the beetles can’t find new clumps of Tansy if these are more than 200m away. If the Tansy clump a population of beetles lives on is destroyed or flooded and there isn’t another one close by the population can be wiped out.

The Tansy plant

To prepare for our beetle colony we have planted Tansy and other plants, including Water mint and Sneezewort, in three 2m² square beds.

We’re hoping to introduce the beetle next Spring. This will extend its range and give our visitors an opportunity to see and help protect it.

We’ll be working with volunteers to maintain and monitor the Tansy beds. If you would like to help, please contact Fiona Burton, our Volunteers Manager, at fiona.burton@ymt.org.uk

Our gardeners preparing the Tansy beds...

Work is well underway on the re-development of our Victorian street, Kirkgate, which is being changed and expanded to reflect the lives of real shopkeepers from York, writes Gwendolen Whitaker, Curator of History. 

Epworth's shop window in Kirkgate

The first shop to have received its facelift is Epworth’s Jewellers, which has had its window decorated and redesigned.

The Epworth’s family business began as a pawnbrokers, jewellers and silversmiths in 1831 in Precentor’s Court near York Minster. It was run by husband and wife Charles from Lancashire and Rachel fromDevon.

By 1851 they had six children and four years later had bought another business in High Petergate.

Detail from Epworth's shop window

When Charles died, Rachel ran the business with the help of her children before remarrying. Rachel and her new husband sold their High Petergate business to local pawnbroker Henry Hardcastle.

In 1874 the youngest Epworth daughter, Elizabeth, opened up a jewellery and silversmith business at 79 Low Petergate and four years later moved to Spurriergate.

She ran the shop with her niece and Mrs Emma Owen, a widow and lady of ‘independent means’. Elizabeth traded for 27 years retiring in 1905.

Epworth's Martinmas sale advert

This lovely advert was printed to co-incide with the annual Martinmas Fair, which was a big event in York and took place on November 22.

It started traditionally as a ‘hiring fair’, where workers would go to find work with employers, but grew to become a pleasure fair with stall and exhibitions.

More shops will be completed as work progresses over the next few months. Regular visitors will see some shops close – then open again – as we install new displays and tell the stories of York’s Victorian traders.

Another detail from Epworth's window

Guide Jack Gann mixes up some Georgian mincemeat

The festive season means it’s time for York Castle Museum’s guides to roll up their sleeves and get back into the Kitchen Studio for a bit of Christmas baking.

This year the focus is on historic mince pie recipes, one from Tudor times, one from the Georgian era and an up-to-date meat-free recipe from Nigella Lawson.

Denise Hamilton, deputy senior guide, says: “Staff love cooking in the Kitchen Studio – it is one of the highlights of the Christmas period. We have one guide making the mince pie recipes for visitors to watch and another talking about the old recipes and answering any questions.”

Jack gets a Tudor pie out of the oven ready for glazing

The Tudor recipe, from A book of Cookrye Very necessary for all such delight therin (1584), is made from the usual fruit and sugar, but is mixed with beef mince, an unusual combination these days, but Denise says visitors usually enjoy it.

“People are quite suprised they quite like it!

“Visitors usually want to listen to a bit of history, but then they want a taste  – they enjoy tasting the difference between the recipes.”

Brushing the meaty Tudor pie with a rosewater, sugar and butter glaze

Both the Tudor recipe and the Georgian recipe, from Elizabeth Moxon’s English Housewifry (1764), contain rosewater, a popular ingredient dating back as far as 8th century Arabic recipes and a popular remedy for depresssion during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The final recipe from Nigella Lawson’s 2000 book, How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, misses out suet altogether, adding chopped apples to the mix.

You can come and see the pies being made, and if you’re lucky, get a taste, every Saturday and Sunday from 26 November – 18 December and every day from 19 – 23 December.

For more on Christmas at the Castle, see our website.

The Georgian mincemeat mixture

The Tudor mince pie before being glazed

Medievalist enthusiast Alexandra Beresford, who is taking our Archaeology Studentship at York University, will be investigating artefacts in the Yorkshire Museum’s medieval collection in preparation for the new medieval exhibition for 2012, as she writes here: 

12th Century statues from St Mary's Abbey

The exhibition entitled 1212: The Making of the City will commemorate the 800-year anniversary of York’s independence from the Crown revealing the stories of medieval York and its people as it rose to power.

The objects on display will be at the heart of the exhibition, brought to life through colour, sound and film and (here comes my contribution) accurate interpretive text. In the coming months before the exhibition launches on 7 April 2012 I will be studying in great depth the artefacts that are central to the heritage of medieval York.

Although this will require sifting through documents to find out the origin, date and function of an object where possible, I also intend to get up close to the objects themselves. Research that incorporates first-hand observation adds an important dimension to the understanding of an artefact; the material qualities and the skill of the craftsman, for example, can be better appreciated.

Artefacts that are likely to receive my technical and aesthetic scrutiny during this project will include the famous 12th century column-figures of St Mary’s Abbey and the tantalisingly fragmentary remains of the medieval shrines of St William originally in York Minster, amongst many more.

Who commissioned this piece? What was the political and cultural context at the time? What was it used for? Was it purely aesthetic? Where was it originally and how did it relate to its surroundings? These are the types of questions that I will be asking.

The exhibition will raise huge topics of interest regarding politics, power, religion and civic life and by researching key pieces I hope to contextualise the objects to uncover their purpose and significance in medieval York. As an art historian, I am excited to be part of this project and will enjoy discovering the treasures of the Yorkshire Museum’s medieval collection as research gets underway.

The  latest report from our book club comes from Emma Williams, our learning development officer and features a book inspired by the museum itself:

1950s room at York Castle Museum

A healthy group of seven turned out on Saturday at York Castle Museum to discuss this month’s book.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson sparked a lively discussion with regards to family attitudes, sibling rivalry, keeping up appearances, changing York, war and attitudes to death amongst other topics! 

The group then handled objects from York Castle Museum’s collection such as a Victorian tea set and propaganda documents distributed throughout the Second World War with tips of how to make your food go further with suggested recipes for stale bread and the like in order to reduce wastage (or pig food). 

They were then shown around the museum, looking at certain exhibitions including the 1950s period room that linked to the themes of the book.

The book club will meet again at the Yorkshire Museum on Saturday 10 December 2011 at 3pm to discuss the book Pompeii by Robert Harris.

• If you would like to read more about the writing of Behind the Scenes at the Museum and its links to York read this Guardian interview with Kate Atkinson

As the nights draw in, York Castle Museum’s Dave Cree, pictured, is preparing for this autumn’s torch-lit tours in October.

The tours are run after-hours by Dave and fellow senior guide Denise Hamilton and include stories about the museum buildings and their former life as prisons – including a section on infamous highwayman Dick Turpin – as well as fascinating facts about objects on display and the occasional ‘ghost’ story.

Dave says: “We always stress that this isn’t a ghost walk – it’s more a tour which aims to tell visitors things they might not realise or notice during an ordinary daytime visit.

“We enjoy doing it and we don’t use a script. We meet so many people from different walks of life and usually get a good response and a really appreciative audience.”

The tours take place at the end of October to coincide with the Illuminating York festival, as well as the half-term holiday and, of course, Halloween…

They start with a walk around the north side of the museum, a former women’s prison, including a look at Kirkgate, the recreated Victorian street, where grafitti left by former prisoners can be seen on the walls and one section used to be an execution chamber.

Upstairs visitors find out more about childbirth and fatality rates in Victorian times in our From Cradle to Grave exhibition.

A few ghost stories and reported ghostly sightings are thrown in as well, but Dave always stresses he personally doesn’t believe them!

The second half of the tour takes visitors around the south building of the museum, the former Debtors’ Prison, with a look at prison life. There’s a visit to the former shackling area, stories of executions and the cramped conditions and claustrophobia of life in the cells are brought to life.

The tour culminates with a look at the life of former prisoner Dick Turpin and the stories and legends associated with him.

Tickets for the torch-lit tours, on 28 and 29 October, cost £10 and can be booked by telephoning 01904 650333.

There were 13 of us at the first meeting of the new YMT Book Club, which was held at York Art Gallery this Saturday, writes Gaby Lees, acting learning manager. And we all liked the book.

A Japanese print by Hiroshige from York Art Gallery's collection

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal is somewhat like an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? as it follows four generations of the Ephrussi family through Europe.

The focus of the book is a collection of Japanese netsuke, bought in Paris in the late 1800s, by Charles Ephrussi and then passed down through the family, eventually being given to Edmund (the author) by his uncle Iggy.

Much of the Ephrussi family’s wealth was lost during the turmoil of the Second World War, and this book tells the remarkable story of the nesuke’s survival. We were much taken by de Waal’s eloquence in writing about objects.

As an accomplished, successful ceramic artist he brings a maker’s sensibility to the words he chooses. His descriptions of the tactile quality of objects are really very beautiful.

In writing about the Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries it is inevitable that there are times when this small treasure of a book cannot do justice to the huge political and social changes taking place.

However, by focussing on the story of this set of objects owned by one family, these events take on a different shape. Read it. It’s a work of art. We then looked at a selection of Japanese Prints from the Art Gallery collection.

The YMT book club is led by Vicky Hoyle. Each month we also look at relevant objects from the YMT collections. The next book is Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson We will be meeting at York Castle Museum on Saturday 12 November at 3pm.

For more information visit our website.