MAIDS AND MISTRESSES

Added: (Fri Jul 18 2003)

Pressbox (Press Release) - The Yorkshire Country House Partnership: Press Release


MAIDS & MISTRESSES
Celebrating 300 years of Women and the Yorkshire Country House

A county-wide special exhibitions project 2004

Where did the real power and influence lie in the great houses of Yorkshire?

Contrary to popular opinion, maintaining these huge households was never exclusively a male preserve, very often the social, domestic and artistic identity of these houses was determined by the women who lived and worked in them.

In 2004 a series of interlinked exhibitions across seven of Yorkshire’s greatest country houses will highlight the lives and achievements of the female occupants of these establishments.

These exhibitions will draw on a wealth of new research, and offer a chance for many previously unseen objects and documents to be displayed. Mistresses, cooks, scullery-maids and governesses all played vital roles in the daily routine of a great house. Maids and Mistresses will explore life above and below stairs, examining the role of women as both decision-makers and workhorses. This is a unique opportunity to present the country house in an entirely new guise, allowing the female occupants of these houses to be heard and understood fully for the first time.

The seven complementary exhibitions will reveal all manner of links between these great houses, with attractions ranging from their great art collections to the more prosaic items of everyday life, such as recipe books, linen and undergarments, as well as letters and journals that reveal the inner lives of these great women.

The participating houses are: Brodsworth Hall (Doncaster), Burton Constable (East Riding of Yorkshire), Castle Howard (near York), Harewood House (Leeds), Lotherton Hall (Leeds), Nostell Priory (Wakefield) and Temple Newsam (Leeds). Accompanying the exhibitions at each house will be a full educational programme aimed at schools, as well as various activities and events throughout the year. The exhibitions will open on Saturday 3 April 2004, running until the end of October.

Pioneered through the Yorkshire Country House Partnership, a collaborative research venture between the country houses of Yorkshire and the University of York, and generously supported by grants totalling £265,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, through the ‘Your Heritage’ scheme.

“This project will give a totally new perspective on life in Yorkshire’s country houses,”
commented Ray Taylor, Heritage Lottery Fund Manager for Yorkshire & the Humber. “It will explore a side of them which isn’t generally known but will definitely have a wide appeal and attract new audiences. We hope that people will feel encouraged to visit as many of the sites as possible in order to draw a complete picture of how these households related to one another.”





For immediate release: 18 July 2003


For further details of the exhibition in general, please contact:

Christopher Ridgway, Chairman, Yorkshire Country House Partnership: 01653 648 666
e-mail cridgway@castlehoward.co.uk


Notes for editors:

Brodsworth Hall: Doncaster (English Heritage property)
Tel: 01302 722598
www.english-heritage.org.uk/yorkshire
Press contacts: Nicola Bexon 01904 601 946 nicola.bexon@english-heritage.org.uk
Emma Shaw 0207 973 3372 emma.shaw@english-heritage.org.uk


Burton Constable Hall: East Riding of Yorkshire
Tel: 01964 562400
www.burtonconstable.co.uk
Press contacts: David Connell 01964 562 400 david.Connell@talk21.com
Gerardine Mulcahy 01964 562 400


Castle Howard: near York
Tel: 01653648333
www.castlehoward.co.uk
Press contacts: Nicole Hingley 01653 648 625 nhingley@castlehoward.co.uk
Rachel Jack 01653 648 624 rjack@castlehoward.co.uk


Harewood House: midway between Leeds & Harrogate
Tel: 0113 218 1010
www.harewood.org
Press contacts: Jean Hunter 0113 218 1021 jean.h@harewood.org
John Martin 0113 218 1024 john.m@harewood.org


Lotherton Hall: Leeds
Tel: 0113 281 3259
www.leeds.gov.uk
Press contact: Adam White 0113 281 3259
Debra Kerr 0113 247 8409 debra.kerr@leeds.gov.uk



Nostell Priory: Wakefield (National Trust property)
Tel: 01924 863892
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Press contact: Beck Lockwood 01904 771904; mobile 07901 504877
beck.lockwood@nationaltrust.org.uk



Temple Newsam: Leeds
Tel: 0113 264 7321
www.leeds.gov.uk
Press contacts: James Lomax 0113 264 7321 tnewsamho.leeds@virgin.net
Debra Kerr 0113 247 8409 debra.kerr@leeds.gov.uk