Today We Became English (at Sulgrave Manor)



On our way home from Oxford, we stopped at the ancestral home of George Washington. As in the first president of the United States. George was born and bred in America, but his great grandparents (5th generation removed) lived here, in a beautiful place called Sulgrave Manor. 

Sulgrave Manor

And it is here that we became English.

It is hard not to be swell with pride while touring this Manor. Which is amazing. See, while here in England, there are so many beautiful and amazing buildings and places to see. And we stand in awe. But we don't swell with pride. But here, in this very English Manor, this Italian-Polish American and this Welsh-Finnish-German (etc.) American both felt as if we belonged here, like we were standing in a house of our relatives. Like were connected to the people that lived here, like we were connected more than our fellow English tour-mates. And yet we don't have a lick of English blood in us.

And it made us  reflect on what it means to be an American.

Isn't is an amazing thing that a national superpower grew, and stood, out of the ideas of a few? And that people who have ancestors from all over the world, claim it as home. And therefore, can claim, in some small way, this English Manor as the home of one of their own. This may sound like drivel. But it was kind of amazing.

Adam & Jaclyn & George

THE MANOR
Sulgrave Manor is owned and maintained by all American and British citizens (so they say) and is a symbol of the many years (centuries) of peace that have existed between the two nations. It is a museum depicting relics from the Washington family as well as the Tudor Era, preserving the social history of the time.

Washington Family Coat of Arms. Stars & Stripes?

The right portion of Sulgrave Manor is part of the original longhouse. The house would have been about twice as long as it is currently. The building in the left of the picture is the brew house were (alcoholic, but without hops) ale was made-- by the women in the house.



The Grounds

The Gardens

INSIDE THE MANOR
The first room you enter in the Manor is the dining room. And it was colder inside the room than it was outside on the grounds. The floor was made of stone and would have been covered in thresh. All of the doors have raised jams, to hold the thresh acting as the Threshold. The word "table" refers to the legs of the table that hold up the board, or the modern day tabletop, that could be turned over and used as a place to play games. All business that was conducted "above board" was considered to be ethical The room had windows which had ornate stained glass coats of arms in them to symbolize the family and the families the children (there were 11) married.

The Dining Room

 Beyond the dining room was the ladies' parlor, where they spent their time kibitzing, doing embroidery, and playing this Tudor era harpsichord.

Tudor Era Harpsichord

 The kitchen had a huge cooking area (over open fire, of course) and with a bread oven (built into the side of the chimney). The culdrons are huge and everything is placed on a crane to control the distance of the pots from the fire. They say that a child would be in charge of rotating the spit. A job that was so dangerous that the life expectancy of that child was 8 years old.

The Kitchen

 Cooking utensils and other tools (including shot guns) were displayed above the cooking area.

Tudor Era Tools

The house had so many George and Martha Washgington artifacts on display (the most we have ever een in one place), including this work of embroidery done by George Washington's Great Grandmother, John Washington's mother.


GW's Great Grandmother's Embroidery

 The windows of the house seemed to be clearer in person, but here you have it. A view of George Washington's bust from the upper window of the Manor.

George Washington Bust through window of the Manor

 TUDOR HOVEL
As a way of providing English school children who come to tour the house with perspective, a typically English Hovel has been constructed on the land. It depicts how the majority of people in England would have lived during the Tudor Era-- in a hut, without windows, with a fireplace, and likely without an oven. The hovel at the Manor is depicted as a Blacksmith's Workshop as a way of displaying blacksmith tools that were typical of the time. Just think, no windows.... Ick.

Typical Tudor Hovel

Interior of Typical Tudor Hovel