LISS1002 The English Country House: A Social History Module Outline International Summer School, July 2016 Basic Information: Module Leader Dr Kerry Bristol, Room 204 Old Mining Building, k.a.c.bristol@leeds.ac.uk, 0113 343 5280 Module Description Country houses are one of Britain s greatest contributions to world culture, but who created them and why? Have they always functioned as containers for art collections or have they had deeper meanings and a wider social impact? Using Yorkshire s worldclass country houses as case studies, this course will introduce you to: The builders of the country house The rise and fall of the great estates The upstairs lives of the men, women and children who lived in the country house and the downstairs world of the men and women who served them The idea of a court style and its regional variations The often difficult relationship between patron and architect The allied arts of interior design and decoration The relationship between the aristocratic great house, the more modest gentleman s house and the villa Credits 10 Contact Hours 2 X 90 minutes classes per day + 3 site visits Timetable Please refer to syllabus Teaching Methods Lectures, Seminar discussions, Visits Assessment: Type Portfolio Deadline Monday 18 July 2016 Penalties for late If the portfolio is submitted late without permission from the Course Leader, it will lose 5 marks for each working day submission or nonattendance after the deadline. Work handed in two weeks late will fail. 1
WEEK ONE 1. Monday 4 July 9:30-11:00 Introduction and discussion of pre-course readings What is a country house? How does it differ from a house in the country? Who built country houses? And why? Elton, Arthur, Brett Harrison and Keith Wark, Researching the Country House (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1992), pp. 18-37 Littlejohn, David, The Fate of the English Country House (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 3-38 2. Monday 4 July 11:30-1:00 Landowners and land-based wealth How did the pattern of land ownership change c.1550-1950? How is the concept of landownership represented within the country house? Airs, Malcolm, The Tudor and Jacobean Country House: a building history (Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1995), pp. 3-22 Christie, Christopher, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), pp. 4-25 3. Tuesday 5 July 9:30-11:00 The Builders of the Country House What motivated the building (or rebuilding) of country houses? How was the supply of money, labour and materials managed? Charles Saumarez Smith, The Building of Castle Howard (London: Pimlico, 1997), pp.1-32 2
4. Tuesday 5 July 11:30-1:00 The Idea of the Architect When is it legitimate to use the word architect when speaking of country house builders? How does the concept of abstract design relate to the emergence of the architect? Colvin, H.M., A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 4th edn (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 15-37 5. Wednesday 6 July 9:30-11:00 Style and the Eighteenth-Century Country House Location: Seminar Room 2.16 Baines Wing What do the stylistic labels Baroque, Neo-Palladianism and Neo-Classicism mean? Summerson, John, Architecture in Britain 1530-1830 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993), pp.251-271, 295-323, 377-409 6. Wednesday 6 July 11:30-1:00 Country House Planning Location: Seminar Room 2.16 Baines Wing What can we learn about a building from its plan? What were the different functions of spaces and what role did they play in defining gender and class? Which spaces were public, which were private, and how/when did boundaries change? Girouard, Mark, Life in the English Country House (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1978), pp. 120-162 7. Wednesday 6 July Visit to Temple Newsam House, Leeds, West Yorkshire Depart Parkinson Steps at 1.15 promptly 3
8. Thursday 7 July 9:30-11:00 Eating and Drinking Location: Seminar Room 2.06A Old Mining Building What social rituals revolved around food and drink? What role did breweries play in the social and economic life of the country house? Paston-Williams, Sara, The Art of Dining (London: The National Trust, 1993), pp. 84-116, 123-139 Friday 8 July Visit to Castle Howard, North Yorkshire 4
WEEK TWO 9. Monday 11 July 9:30-11:00 Cookery Books and Domestic Manuals Location: Brotherton Library Special Collections (to be confirmed) 10. Monday 11 July 11:30-1:00 The Villa Location: Seminar Room 2.16 Baines Wing What were the social functions of the villa? What cultural associations informed the villa - taste, antiquarianism, wealth? Ackerman, James, The Villa: Form, Function and Ideology (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990), pp. 9-34 11. Tuesday 12 July 9:30-11:00 Women What role did women play in the social and economic life of the country house? Arnold, Dana, Defining Femininity: Women and the Country House, in Dana Arnold, The Georgian Country House. Architecture, Landscape and Society (Stroud: Sutton, 1998), pp. 79-99 12. Tuesday 12 July 11:30-1:00 Servants Can the life of domestic servants be seen only as a reminder of the patriarchal and feudalistic values that dominated the social structure of the country house? Hardyment, Christina, Behind the Scenes. Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses (London: National Trust, 1997, pp. 11-27 5
13. Wednesday 13 July 9:30-11:00 Understanding Harewood House How did Harewood House function as a socio-economic unit in the eighteenth century? Why was it built and by whom? Mauchline, Mary, Harewood House. One of the Treasure Houses of Britain (Ashbourne: MPC, 1992), pp. 7-41 14. Wednesday 13 July 12:15-5:30 - Visit to Harewood House, West Yorkshire 15. Thursday 14 July 9:30-11:00 - The End of the Country House? 1 Was the first half of the twentieth century one of doom and gloom for the aristocracy? Why were country houses demolished? Littlejohn, David, The Fate of the English Country House (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 39-56 16. Thursday 14 July 11:30-1:00 - The End of the Country House? 2 Whose history was displayed in country houses after the war? How do modern heritage organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage present the country house today? Do these differ from the presentation methods of private owners? In what ways do you think country houses and their contents should be displayed? Tinniswood, Adrian, The Polite Tourist. A History of Country House Visiting (London: The National Trust, 1998), pp. 181-209 6