Curate Your Own Adventure

We spent most of today at Beckford’s Tower and Museum with the unbelievably amazing Dr Amy Frost from the Bath Preservation Trust. Her absolute wealth of knowledge will be tapped into over the next three days as she joins us again tomorrow for the Royal Crescent and Thursday for the Museum of Bath Architecture. For today, the focus was on heritage conservation, specifically buildings. After an in depth tour on the tower and a spiel on UK heritage laws and practices we broke into groups and completed our own building survey.

I’ll start by summarising the tour of the tower. William Beckford had the tower built in 1826 with construction work finishing in 1827. One year later, all interiors were added to the building. It was built on the cusp of architectural change between Neo-classicism/Greek revival and Picturesque. This essentially means it looks like something drawn out of Ancient Greece with painting lookalike features. Greek revival has clear connotations of democracy and power and offers a visual statement of wealth. Beckford had the tower built to serve as a place of escape. It also stored some of his incredibly extensive collection that he amounted during his various travels and trade. He was a very interesting character to say the least.

After a quick look at the building from the outside we were directed into the two-room museum. The first room provides a biography of Beckford including his family’s involvement in the slave trade and subsequent wealth. What was really interesting to hear is that, as Frost described, being a small museum means they can explore dark history and push the boundaries of their displays confronting audiences. Frost emphasised that their role was to tell the facts to the best of their ability and acknowledge what happened in the past not shy away. I respect this attitude so much in a museum context.

In the first room of the museum was a model of Fonthill Abbey. This building stored most of Beckford’s collection. I will say the quality of his collection surpassed George IV, a King renowned for having his own exquisite collection. Anyway, the model is only one of two in the world in that it is an original architectural model from the 19th century that has survived. The second room contained more of his furniture and paintings.

The most interesting part of the tour was our discussion on how heritage is interpreted and conserved in the tower. There is no replica furniture etc in the rooms. All of it is original and has been sourced from private collectors who purchased the pieces at auction after Beckford’s death. This was used as a segway into a discussion on how important the term significance has become in English heritage. No matter what the state of a place, if it is significant it should be preserved. This term has also obviously become important in Australian heritage vernacular as well.

What underpins all processes of English heritage from assessing significance to preservation work is this idea of constructive conservation. Not only should a building be researched, but also, observations should be documented and taken into consideration. Frost prepared a wonderful hand out for us on the basics of conservation in the UK and how to conserve on a shoestring budget. I will include a picture of the conservation principles below.

The part we had hands on experience with was surveying a site. In groups of six we were allocated a building section and had to write our observations and furthermore, what we think had caused it and why. Our group had the south wall and all our observations were noted whilst standing in a 19th century cemetery. The true heritage experience. We noted things like rust on the windows, cracked stones, and water damage. Presenting to our whole group led us to investigate further why such decay had occurred. It was a fantastic learning experience and we came to appreciate what can be achieved on a shoestring budget.

After hiking up and down the 154 tower stairs we left Beckford Tower for a free afternoon in Bath. Such an amazing hands on morning that provided an in depth introduction to conservation.

Today was the first day of the Open Palace Programme. This morning we embarked on a guided tour by the Mayor of Bath’s Honorary Guide, Phil, around the city centre. The theme of the tour was the historical and architectural evolution of the city. Lasting just over 2 hours, it provided a great introduction to the city and covered a significant amount of information.

After a quick stop at Bath Abbey we continued on to talk about the city of Bath as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What is particularly interesting is that the entire city is inscribed on the list – not just the Abbey or the Roman Baths. There are around thirty-three reasons why the city was listed and I was very glad our guide provided a summary. Firstly, it has been listed due to the Roman and 18th century remains. As I discovered in the Roman Baths yesterday, there is quite a significant amount of Victorian architecture, even within the main bath itself, that has been wonderfully conserved. Secondly, Bath was one of the first cities in the world designed to look beautiful. Lastly, the city was designed to be a centre of social activity, a site of leisure especially in the 18th century. Click on this link for more details: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/428!

Personally, I found the most interesting part of Bath’s history was when it was foremost a health/medical centre. Those suffering specifically from Devonshire or Somerset palsy could spend six months in Bath to relieve their symptoms. Unlike other areas of the United Kingdom that preferred beer to water (more clean), Bath preferred cider. To make cider taste sweet, it was processed with lead which does apparently act as a sweetener. Drinking a lead-infused beverage is obviously not very good for your health and could lead to a variety of illnesses. By spending six months drinking copious amounts of water and bathing in hot water for hours each day, you could leave the city feeling a lot better than when you arrived. Throughout the tour, the significance of the water and hot springs was highlighted at each stop revealing it is literally the lifeblood of the city.

There were two other highlights: the Royal Crescent and the Circus. The former was designed and built by John Woods the younger and represents how it was fashionable in the 18th century to feel attached to the countryside. No matter which building you were living in, you were guaranteed a view of the fields outside. Today, it is more like a view of the other buildings in Bath. The Circus, on the other hand, was built to reflect a new awareness of the ancient Roman presence in the city. Three layers of Corinthian, Ionic and Doric columns mimic those on the Colosseum.

I have mentioned before I enjoy guided tours because you can access more information if necessary by asking the guide etc. It’s also a great way to explore a city effortlessly. I like tours that focus more on the stories of a city and its personalities. Phil did a great job of adding that information at almost every stop ensuring the tour contained social, as well as architectural, history.

There are so many stories that can be drawn from the tangible heritage in this city. We will be learning more about the Bath Preservation Trust tomorrow on our visit to Beckford’s Tower and Museum. Here, we will gain some hands on experience at conservation and site analysis. It was a lovely way to spend our first morning of the tour and I am now more excited than ever to hear and learn more!

This is going to be a really short blog post on the Museum of Bath at Work!

The Museum of Bath at Work is a cross between a museum and a recreated factory. It reminded me a lot of living history houses which make you feel as though you are walking through a still inhabitable space. The museum tells the story of the Bowler family who operated a thriving engineering and mineral water business. When the business, originally on Corn Street, was closed down, its contents were rescued. Utilizing photographs, parts of the factory and offices were recreated in a new location and became a museum. It is divided into 13 sections each with its own focus. The first 6 stops were dedicated to engineering feats with, for example, a metals workshop and pattern making room.

Whilst I can appreciate the wonders of engineering, I pretty much strolled through the rooms to get to the factory. It was so cool inside! Mineral water bottles and boxes were stacked everywhere. Machines that were used to fill and cap the bottles were also just laying around. The audio guide was quite essential in explaining what was in the space and the stories behind the objects. Otherwise, you are looking at a room of objects with only a couple of panels.

I love the aesthetics of old factories and this one definitely topped my list. The bottles were so beautiful and the machines were all so fascinating. My favourite room was called “essence”. It displayed a whole range of bottles that each held a different flavour to add to the mineral water. The different shapes and colours all looked so beautiful together. It reminded me a lot of old medical bottles that individually are pretty amazing, but, when displayed together are a work of art.

It was also interesting to learn about the process of how softdrinks were originally made and what challenges faced manufacturers. These included things as simple as as how to seal a bottle to prevent the gas escaping. One of my favourite stories from the audio guide was about one of Bowler’s daughters. Some softdrink bottles were designed so that they had a marble stopper inside. When the bottle was filled, the pressure from the liquid would keep the marble in place acting as a seal. This, however, did lead to bottles exploding if filled too much. Unfortunately for the daughter, a bottle exploded and left her blind in one eye. A reminder of how Workplace Health and Safety is painstakingly bureaucratic, but, incredibly important.

I felt as though I had traveled back in time to the 1800s and had stumbled into a factory. Although segments were roped off, it was still quite open. Interesting way to spend an afternoon in Bath if you want to see some business, manufacturing, or working life history!

What a truly amazing experience at the Roman Baths. I arrived nice and early and found myself to be the only person in line. Not only this, but, when I went to the free tour meeting spot an hour later it was just me and a lovely couple from London. So I essentially got a free private tour and could ask as many annoying questions as possible. It really does pay to wake up early! This blog entry will cover the museum, the main bath itself, the audio guide, and the guided tour. I’ve never experienced so many forms of interpretation in one place so it was definitely an interesting morning.

To get to the lower level of the bath you must walk through a museum. As well as panels and object labels, you could also listen to an audio guide. I did find myself only listening to the guide for the more impressive objects and relying on panels for the others. The museum covered life in Roman Bath from funerary practices to symbols in the temple and everything in between. There was also a section where you could walk above the ruins of the city. Highlight objects for me were the Roman Curse Tablets that have been inscribed on the Memory of the World UK UNESCO Register in 2014. If someone, for example, stole your blanket whilst you were bathing, you could write a curse on a piece of lead, give it to a priest to bless, and throw it in the water. If it floated, the curse would be projected back on to you. Some of the curses on display included one to whoever stole a cape and one suggesting possible culprits to help the Gods find the wrongdoer.

Similar to the fashion museum , I was really impressed with the signage. After each exhibition space was a panel showing you what you had seen and where you were heading. It contextualized each space nicely and provided a great overview.

After the museum you can then exit to the main bath. It is an impressive area and I strongly recommend you circumnavigate the entire bath entering into the little side rooms. One takes you to the chambers for undressing and applying oils. They are all quite well preserved. What the audio guide adds to this area is explaining the archaeological evidence so I do recommend listening in at this stage.

After an hour, I went on the guided tour. Our guide, Eugene, was awesome and had the patience of a saint. The highlight of the tour was hearing how the bath complex was uncovered in the Victorian era and how up until 1968 you could still swim in the water. Today you are strongly advised against that. But, we were told that some people do try to jump from the top level into the water and end up breaking their legs or arms. It is a very shallow bath. The uncovering happened like most archaeological finds. Something totally unrelated happens that leads to the discovery. From what I can remember there was an issue with a spring that had to be fixed and the more they dug down, the more history they uncovered. Thankfully, it is now wonderfully preserved and conserved for the public to view. I didn’t, however, read anywhere what conservation efforts are being carried out today.

I have visited the baths before, almost a decade ago now. I definitely discovered a lot more this time and experienced more of the site than I had before. It was great to be able to combine the interpretation techniques together and see what was missing from what and which had the information that suited me best. Out of all of them, I think the tour was the highlight. Being able to have that interaction with some knowledgeable individual could not be replaced by a guide or panel. Tours run every hour from 10.00 am on the hour and since they are free you might as well join! Since I am a tour guide at a heritage location in Sydney, no bias here…

This museum has been at the top of my “must visit” list for years. For those of you who don’t know, I have been volunteering both directly and indirectly with the Australian Dress Register since 2014. This work has really sparked my interest in textile collections from both a collection management and conservation perspective. I believe that every textile can tell a fascinating story reflecting a time period, personality, society, or all of the above. I had planned on visiting the museum tomorrow but I was so excited I went there as soon as I got off the train. The exhibition I saw was: A History of Fashion in 100 Objects. There is a small entrance fee, but, trust me, the exhibition is worth every cent. Included in the ticket price is an audio guide that can be used throughout the entire museum.

With the audio guide in hand, I entered into the exhibition space and so began two hours of pure joy. Almost every garment in the 100 objects exhibition had an audio guide number. Yes, I listened to all of them. Whereas so many audio guides are the cause of congestion, each stop on this tour was 2 minutes maximum. This meant people were moving around and not standing in one space for too long. It was quite busy when I visited but I never felt as though it was overcrowded.

The exhibition itself is arranged in chronological order from a Tudor linen shirt to contemporary fashion pieces. There is, therefore, an overall narrative focusing on how English fashion has changed and how style has evolved. The exhibition caters to a range of visitors in that you can follow the entire narrative from start to finish or you can walk through at your own pace selecting what to look at more closely. I saw great value in following the narrative and building my knowledge from one garment to the next. Then again, I did find myself skipping pieces and coming back because I was distracted by something stunning in the distance.

The signage in the exhibition space is wonderful. To start with, you are warned that the exhibition is dimly lit etc for conservation reasons. It is great to see this information being presented to the public! About a third of the way through there is another sign directing you to a small exhibition that deviated from 100 objects. The Behind the Scenes exhibition displayed some more garments, but also, how they are stored in the collection. Some of the dresses were massive and I was wondering how they are best stored. My questions were answered. Speaking of signs, there are no thematic panels in the exhibition space. Rather, each individual garment has its own individual significance explained and this, in the context of the exhibition, works very well.

I am going to be really picky here and I am sure it was considered, but, I would have loved some digital technology incorporated into the exhibition. At the Australian War Memorial select uniforms were accompanied by an iPad that allowed for a 360 degree view. Some of the garments in the 100 objects exhibition were so detailed it would have been great to zoom in and inspect it closer. This thought only came to me after I had exited the exhibition so perhaps it would not have made a massive difference at all.

Reflecting on the exhibition, I have so many highlight objects I don’t know where to start. I did have a favourite – a linen waistcoat from 1610s. Besides from the fact that a textile from the 1610s has survived, it is such an exquisite garment. The colours of the tapestry embroidery are still so vibrant and all the pale pink silk bows are intact. What makes this piece particularly interesting is that its original owner may be known – Lady Alice L’Estrange. It is amazing to think that someone, whether L’Estrange or not, was wearing this waistcoat when King James I was monarch. Considering this, its condition is incredible.

Another highlight were the baby’s first shoes. They are so adorable and showcase such intricate embroidery. Seeing them in a group had much more of an impact than if they were displayed separately. The pair directly in the middle are so delicate-looking! I also like how shoes for every season are represented.

My other highlight objects can be seen in a gallery below. Happy viewing!