From: http://networkedblogs.com/lG2Bn
The Tudor House Museum Reopens After Nearly a Decade
I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview of this restored Tudor House prior to its reopening to the public this month, following nearly a decade’s closure, so I thought I would share with people what I experienced.
At the rear of the garden, where the wall once formed part of the town defences, are the remains of a Norman merchant’s house, romantically referred to as King John’s Palace so visiting the Tudor House gives you a glimpse of Southampton’s historic walls as well as the house itself.
Tudor House was built at the end of the 15th century, in 1492, after Jane William, a widow who owned the three existing medieval properties on the site, married John Dawtrey, Controller of Customs in Southampton, during the reign of Henry VII.
Over its first few centuries (it encompasses over 800 years of history on one site) it was the home of some of Southampton’s most prominent citizens, people who, although not of noble birth were of significance in the area, involved at a local regional and national level in the legal and financial management of England.
As well as John Dawtrey, who created the building, Sir Richard Lyster lived there with his second wife, whose portrait by Holbein is in the Royal Collection. He was Chief Justice of England in the mid 16th century.
Recently, archaeologists have uncovered human remains, a lonely finger, where medieval stone foundations were also revealed. The cellar was filled in approximately 1650/1700 when the house started to go into decline.
After the cellar was filled in a later resident lived in Tudor House who was George Rogers, a successful 18th century artist. Later still a Victorian bonnet-maker Eliza Simmonds also resided in the house.
As early as the 1800s the status of the house began to decline. The coming of the railways in the 1840s and the growth of the new port facilities moved the centre of trade away from the Old Town and by the late Victorian period the House was in serious decline.
Excavations in the garden revealed another medieval house with a huge cellar that no one knew existed situated behind the Cottage; this was the smallest, lowest status building on the site dating back pre 1837.
Perhaps the most important past owner was W F G Spranger, a Justice of the Peace (JP) who bought the house before 1898, rescuing it from near collapse. He renovated it between 1898 and 1911 with the assistance of the architect E Cooper Poole before turning it into a museum by 1911. The Tudor building was recreated as near to its assumed original state as was possible. The ground floor frontage was completely restored. Plasterwork above was removed to reveal the underlying timbers and brickwork. Timbers to support the porch were added. There is however, a possibility that the works done by Mr Spranger actually led to some of the problems the house experienced in the next century. The Corporation purchased Tudor House from Mr Spranger in 1911 for the sum of £4500, which was half what Spranger had spent on its restoration, and in 1912 it became Southampton’s first municipal museum.
In the late 1990s surveys revealed that the structure of the building was deteriorating and it needed substantial renovation to secure its future. A Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3.5m, as well as £1.8m from Southampton City Council ensured the final phase of the restoration could be completed.
The restoration of Tudor House and Garden has been made possible by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3.5m, as well as an additional £1.8m from Southampton City Council which allowed for the completion of the final phase.
The restoration of the Tudor House and Garden was approached in two phases. Firstly, it was made watertight and structurally sound. Some of the oak on the frontage of Tudor House had to be replaced whilst a range of domestic artefacts, were uncovered from excavation work on site, shedding light on daily life in the house.
The most interesting part for me was the discovery of the graffiti and witch marks on the wall of the house which dates back to around 1570 and 1620. At the time, the house stood near the waterfront and belonged to ship owners. There are over 25 ships pictured on the wall, as well as caricatures of people and animals.
After the building was made watertight and structurally sound, the project focused on improving access to parts of the building that the public were unable to access. These included platform lifts to make the first floor fully accessible for the very first time and in areas where the house has no public access, such as the attic and cellar, a computer-generated tour of these areas is now available for visitors to view on the ground floor.
Tudor House has been made more accessible to everyone with a descriptive tour of the house for people with visual impairments and touch tours are also provided.
There is now a newly landscaped garden from the new café, which serves locally-sourced produce. The garden now features a bronze ‘Touch model’ of the Old Town, enabling visitors to get a sense of how the house fitted into the street scene of the town. New fully accessible toilets have also been installed along with some modern technology to help with the visitors’ interpretations of the building:
- Lenticular panels - Visitors will be intrigued by panels which show several rooms in different historical periods with the images changing as you move past them.
- Guida Rotate - Is a brand new piece of interactive technology that allows the user to find out more information about the history of the room it is located in, and the objects within it. The Guide Rotate is a new design of equipment and Tudor House will be the first location in the world to showcase it.
The house is now presented to visitors as a tour explaining the origins, heyday and decline of the House and the start of its current life as a museum.
I would recommend experiencing the “Introductory Show” especially if you have children in your party – I will not say more but I must admit sitting on the benches watching and listening was one of the highlights of the tour round the house (apart from the graffiti which still remains my favourite part of the house).
Other features include the Old Town Model, the stocks and pillory, the air-raid shelter and of course sitting in the knot garden with a drink at the end of the tour finishes the experience of perfectly before the children pester in the gift shop (which I think has something for everyone).
For further information and updates on Tudor House visit www.southampton.gov.uk/tudorhouse or call 023 8083 3007. For regular updates visit the Tudor House Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/4vest9t
Admission
Children under 7 - Free entryAdults - £4.75Over 60’s and FOSMAG members, concessions - £3.75Children 7-16 - £3Free admission for carers accompanying a paying disabled person.
The House is open seven days a week, 10am to 5pm.
To join the Tudor House and Garden emailing or postal list to receive regular updates please either email museums@southampton.gov.uk, call 023 8083 4563, or write to us at Arts and Heritage, Civic Centre, Southampton SO14 7LP.
For further information and regular updates visit the Tudor House Facebook page. http://tinyurl.com/4vest9t
Other Places to Visit and Historical Facts for Southampton
If you like history and still have time why not walk down to the end of Bugle Street and get onto a Red Funnel Ferry (or Red Jet if you are in a hurry and have no car) and go to the Isle of Wight to visit Osborne House and Carisbrooke Castle, along with many other museums.
Alternatively, you can stay in Southampton to visit the Maritime Museum, Merchants House and up to the Civic Centre to see one of Southampton’s best kept secrets – the Art Gallery. In 2012, and if all stays on track, the new Sea City Museum will open. This will include information about the Titanic which when it went down took with it many Southampton residents who made up the crew. Also you may like to visit the Bargate Monument, although not a museum (its more like an arch) it was through here that Henry V marched his men on the way to the famous Battle of Agincourt in France and for American readers you could visit Mayflower Park and the seafront, as it was from near here that the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to America. If you have the time and are able to do so Tudor House Museum will furnish you with a map of the Southampton Old Town Walk which will take you around some of the best-preserved medieval Town Walls in England, with over 90 listed buildings and 30 ancient monuments. There are other walks too such as the QE2 Mile.
If you are making a trip to Southampton and in a car you may like to visit another of my favourites Wilton House in Wiltshire or Mottisfont Abbey both with amazing gardens and beautiful houses to explore.
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