If you liked Downton Abbey, you'l love ...

[kenny]

... the PBS documentary, "The Secrets of Highclere Castle".

It is now streaming on Netflix.

I strongly recommend it.
I even watched it twice.

 

[redwood66]

Ooh thanks Kenny! I will have to put this on my list because I love Downton Abbey.

 

[movie zombie]

added to list.

 

[misskittycat]

You'll probably also like The Paradise. Lovely show!

 

[missy]

Thanks for both those recommendations. Looking forward to watching them.

 

[JewelFreak]

I saw that on PBS. Neat show. There is a similar one about Chatsworth on Youtube. Oh gosh, to live in a place so ancient & so beautiful!

 

[rosetta]

Thanks for the heads up! I've had a personal tour through Highclere castle when we were looking to get married there. It's beautiful. The grounds are stunning.

Chatsworth is something else though. Majestic!

 

[missy]

Thanks for the heads up! I've had a personal tour through Highclere castle when we were looking to get married there. It's beautiful. The grounds are stunning.

Chatsworth is something else though. Majestic!

Wow! A personal tour through the castle. Lucky girl!!!

 

[LaraOnline]

While I've always known I have several convict ancestral lines, I've only recently discovered the 'brutal truth' of one poor girl's experience.
She was a personal maid to a wealthy land-owner, and shipped out to Australia in chains on suspicion of stealing a one pound note, arriving in 1804.
She ended up marrying a man who had also been convicted of theft while working as a personal servant.
He had been sentenced to death at the age of 16, as a theft of two pounds could result in a death sentence.
AFter several years his sentence was commuted to 'Term of Natural Life' and he arrived in Australia on a 'Fever Ship' in 1799. Apparently more than half the convicts died on his voyage, and the ship was pumped 24/7 for the entirety of the journey!

Both of these people were personal servants, they weren’t thugs but were treated very indecently by their own countrypeople who should have had the money and the education to know better.

As a result I have scant respect for the ill-gotten wealth and titles of yesteryear. Which makes me something of a party pooper. Hah!

 

[movie zombie]

Lara, many an "indentured" servant arrived in the early colonization of the US for the same crimes. the term was 7 years of slavery but many died before the end of the term due to bad treatment. sometimes the crime was stealing a loaf of bread to feed to one's starving family.

 

[LaraOnline]

Lara, many an "indentured" servant arrived in the early colonization of the US for the same crimes. the term was 7 years of slavery but many died before the end of the term due to bad treatment. sometimes the crime was stealing a loaf of bread to feed to one's starving family.

Yes the 'loaf of bread' is real! And so interesting to know the convict system was ramping up in the US before you declared independence!

The British 'landed gentry' used the power and social legitimacy of law to create an underclass of slave labour from their very own people. But such is the power of legitimacy, of status, that to this day the convict class are derided as if they really all were villains and thugs!

In the 70s and 80s there seemed quite a lot of cultural interest - although not politicised interest - in the history and contribution of convict in Australian history.
But the convict story has become subsumed by the current greater interest in an historical narrative of white privilege.
Current Australian historical analysis seems obsessed by racially based 'politics of division'.
( in the 90s it seemed feminist readings were the go).

Yesterday I read an article discussing whether slavery was ever legal on the Australian continent....
Without a mention of the convicts lol. (The author was exploring the use of dark- skinned people as cheap or free or bonded labor in agricultural pursuits. No doubt a worthy topic but with the premise of exploring slavery in Australia's history, the lack of mention of convicts was a very notable exclusion. )

Off topic! Apologies! But for these reasons, I'll take 'new money' any day!!

 

[movie zombie]

the indentured servants Arrived here from Britain, Lara.
it was a choice they made to either stay in prison there or take a try at living through the 7 years and then being free to make a way in the new world. it was also a way for the Brits to empty out their jails to make room for more law breakers.

and in some cases it was also merely a contract to be paid off in order to get to the colony in the first place.

this is early 1600's........

eta: and apologies from me as well for thread jack......but history is just so dang interesting and the revisionist history such as Lara described when talking about slavery in the AU is "priceless".......

 

[MMtwo]

... the PBS documentary, "The Secrets of Highclere Castle".

It is now streaming on Netflix.

I strongly recommend it.
I even watched it twice.

Thanks Kenny!!!!

 

[junebug17]

Thanks, I will definitely check it out!

 

[lambskin]

PBS had a series called Manor House which put a modern family back in Edwardian times. It showed how staff and the gentry were treated and what it was like living in a grand house without all of our modern day advancements in food, water, hygiene, and machinery. The staff had it pretty tough but the gentry had their problems as well. You can get the series on AmazonPrime and Youtube and maybe Netflex and Hulu. There was also another show called Victorian House that did the same.

 

[MarionC]

I saw that on PBS. Neat show. There is a similar one about Chatsworth on Youtube. Oh gosh, to live in a place so ancient & so beautiful!

I saw it too and really enjoyed it. But I felt sorry for the couple. What a thing to be saddled with for life; the family inheritance. Even with help, keeping that place together is a full time job and they don't have a large enough budget to take care of it the way it was in the past. Also, I would want to do my own decorating, not have to look at & take care of dusty old stuff that's been there for generations.

 

[missy]

I saw that on PBS. Neat show. There is a similar one about Chatsworth on Youtube. Oh gosh, to live in a place so ancient & so beautiful!

I saw it too and really enjoyed it. But I felt sorry for the couple. What a thing to be saddled with for life; the family inheritance. Even with help, keeping that place together is a full time job and they don't have a large enough budget to take care of it the way it was in the past. Also, I would want to do my own decorating, not have to look at & take care of dusty old stuff that's been there for generations.

I agree with this. My dad always says you want a home just big enough where you can live in every room and not have much of the house go unused. Also, who wants to clean a monstrous sized home anyway. OMG you would need a large 24/7 staff just to keep it manageable. I do not think even Roomba can keep a home this large free of dust and such. Not to mention if you have cats...

 

[kenny]

I see it as a museum first and a home second.
Glad they have income from the TV series and the zillions of resulting tour ticket-paying DA fans.
I wouldn't fly there just for the tour but if in England I'd definitely take the tour.

I would not like strangers walking through my home, and I'd be sure to superglue down valuables like snuff boxes owned by Napoleon.
They must keep the tour together and have monitored security cameras galore.
On DA I recognize what seem like exceeding-expensive hand-knotted rugs so I assume they require the tourists wear disposable bootees.
Maybe they roll out plastic runners you have to stay on.

A tour ticket costs 20 pounds; I thought it would be more.
Here's their website. http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/visiting-us/opening-times.html