What a hoot it is to be here!  Somehow it’s as if we never left, though we see plenty that is different.  The visit today to the Huddlestun house, where a Huddlestun still lives and the family history is on display, was simply more than I can describe.  First, the house is now in the hands of the daughter of the woman who showed us around last time.  Kate Fraser and her 4 year old son are now living there, with her husband home on weekends.  He has a business in Reading, near London.  She is quite together about the house, which she loves, and is planning and renovating the house to make it more as it was in earlier years.  We spent two hours touring it with her, then had lunch in her now quite modern kitchen. 

The house is now being rewired, and thus safer from fire.  It’s hard to describe it, so consider these observati ons and then look at the pictures.  The house is basically built of a hard sandstone which is local.  The earliest part, the pele tower, dates to the 14^th century, but there are places that probably predate that.  The house has been added to and gradually revamped as the years have passed.  We saw the earliest bedroom, with a very tall four-poster bed and with a crewl bedskirt and the cover you draw around the bed, under the canopy, whose crewl was done by one of our ancestors.  It’s simply overwhelming.  Kate is using that bedroom as a guest bedroom, and well it should be.  The crewl is lovely,, but one piece of the bedskirt is unfinished.  Such a real issue!  We were treated to a trip up the Pele tower.  The pele tower was built as a means of defense of the house.  It has a spiral staircase up two stories plus, all built of sandstone.  No windows, and only an arrow slit at the very top, just before you exit on the roof.  Around the crenelated top of the tower, there are arrow slits and other places to shoot at the attackers.  When the Scots were ravaging this particular part of England, a number of these towers were built, and the owners lit beacon fires on top of them when the attacks began.  That alerted others in the area that the attack was happening.  In addition, the pele towers were where priests hid when the Cromwell/English reformation attacks were occurring.  The Huddlestun House at Hutton John had a priest hole (the small opening to a space where the priest hid), but it has been lost to renovation.  What is left is a small opening in the wall that is the confession space.  The priest, hidden behind the wall, heard the confession of someone in a bedroom.  It brings home all the difficulties of people who tried to maintain their beliefs, during a time when the state refused to allow that set of beliefs to be professed publicly.

I have been reflecting on the people who left here to come to America, including our progenitor William Huddlestun.  His whole life was spent hiding his beliefs from the government, and then he watched as the government attacked his family’s home, in the English Civil War, and then imprisoned his father for being a “recusant”, (refusing to leave Catholicism) after confiscating all his property.  It is no wonder that those who left the country here were looking for a place where they could worship freely, except that they had no experience with allowing others to worship freely in a religion of which they were not a part.  It helps to understand the complex nature of the population who settled our country. 

Just to finish the discussion today, we also walked some of the land of the Hutton John property.  It included walking through a sheep pasture full of sheep and lambs and lots of sheep droppings.  We walked far enough to be able to see the house from that distance.  It is a most impressive manor house and beautifully landscaped.  Kate will be upgrading some of the landscaping in the next few years, but it is so striking that if you look for Hutton John on Google Maps, you will see the large yews in the front of the house – they are striking! 

More on things tomorrow.  We need lots of rest after a very full day!

Mary

Welcome to Hutton John gate to the old stables with the Hudleston crest.

Hutton John, South Garden

Huddlestun on a stile!  Upper sheep pasture, north of the manse.

With Kate atop the Pele Tower - What an amazing tour and history she provided to us.

A view of the remainder of the surround wall which originally protected the Pele Tower.

View from atop the Pele Tower toward the upper pasture where we walked and climbed the stiles!

View of Hutton John from the upper pasture - the manse is being the evergreens in the centre of the shot.  Note, too, the far fell which is the original west boundary of the property.

The view south from the upper pasture.  Isn't it simply exquisite countryside?  The Ulswater is beyond that first ridge but before the far fell.

Our walk in the upper pasture, with the gamboling lambs.  We won't soon forget our incredible visit to Hutton John, and will remain forever indebted to Kate for her gracious hospitality, allowing us to take up her entire day, grateful for the wealth of history, information, family lore and just fantastic stories she shared with us during our tour of the life of Hutton John.  How lucky the place is to have her energy and industry; how lucky we were to spend the day with her.  Thank you Kate!

Saturday June 9 - Delayed flight (took off 8:30pm - EWR, who is surprised?) but a great day.  Diesel rental car drives well with quirks:  Peugot - we are French in Briton - perhaps we are pushing our luck?  Nevertheless, we are learning this car's language - leave it to Bets for reading the manual - ha!!  Great visit in Lancaster with a lovely pub lunch.  Tour of the Lancaster Castle included being shut in a dark basement 16c prison cell similar to the one our Huddlestun ancestor William died in (it must have been completely horrible (horrid) and way beyond tragic) during the scourge of Cromwell.  We are surrounded by Catholics who lost everything for what they believed while fighting as hard as they could to maintain the life and beliefs they held near and dear.  Civil wars are always the same.  Still, Bets got a feel for the English county court system :  it's still a working civil and criminal court.  We'd hoped to see the Blackledge coat of arms on the civil court wall (going back to 12c) but most likely it was never allowed on the wall since they were known to be ardent Catholic once they became property owners at peerage level (17c).

June 2012 - One day to go, last minute preparations are underway, we are so looking forward to getting on that plane and landing in England!  Make way for ducklings, or something - the weather will challenge our little American feet, but we remain undaunted!  More from across the pond where the enchantment, magic and mystery will all begin...  and unfold....

May 2012 - We continue to gather our research, preparing to embark on what will undoubtedly be a magical journey to the northwest of England, transported back thru time, we know at times at least to the 12th century - who knows how much farther?!  Thanks for joining us....