Saturday Snapshot: Cragside Again

Published on by Margaret

Following on from last Saturday’s snapshots of Cragside here are a few more photos.

There were many other visitors when we were there and it was difficult sometimes to get a good photo and I had to be quick before someone moved in front of my camera. So, some of my photos are a bit out of focus and rather dark. (It’s amazing that you can take photos in National Trust properties – in the past it was strictly forbidden. I asked one of the room stewards why they allowed them now and he explained that because you can take photos on mobile phones it was impossible to stop people. It’s good to take your own photos, but actually there are much better ones than mine in the guidebook.)

The first room we saw was the kitchen. As you can see the area is fenced off. It’s not very big but there are also sculleries and larder and cellar storage beneath the kitchen, with a ‘dumb waiter’ to carry food and equipment up and down. The Butler, Housekeeper and Cook each had their own areas.

In the next photo you can see the spits with joints of meat in front of the range.

There is a dishwasher. Rather primitive compared to the modern models this dishwasher has wire compartments for crockery, a motor turned it whilst hot soapy water was squirted into it from a boiler. This had been invented in 1886 by a wealthy American, Josephine Cochrane whose servants had chipped her fine china.

None of the rooms at Cragside are very large, apart from the Drawing Room, and I could imagine being comfortable in most of them, such as the Dining Room. It has a lovely inglenook fireplace with stained glass windows designed by William Morris.

The windows either side represent the Four Seasons. the photo below shows two of the windows – Spring and Summer.

I still have more photos, but these are enough for one post. (Click the photos to see a larger view.)

Cragside is open to visitors from today. I  would really like to go there again this year, there is so much I didn’t take in and I only had a brief look at the grounds.

See more Saturday Snapshots on Alyce’s blog At Home With Books.

21 thoughts on “Saturday Snapshot: Cragside Again”

  6. What an interesting place, reminds me of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, regarding unique inventions. We weren’t to take flash photography there.

    I especially like the stained glass windows in your photo.

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  7. Thank you so much for the armchair travel. 🙂 I love it. The dishwasher is amazing. I didn’t know there were any such things in the late 1800’s.

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  13. Such a different time and way of living! I loved learning that it was a woman who invented the dishwasher. 🙂 Bless her!

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  20. Those are terrific shots, thank you for sharing them with us.
    I specifically liked, in a salivatory kind of way, the hanging meatslabs — and plus, as soon as I scrolled down and saw the stained glass windows I said to myself, “That is William Morris” before even seeing the confirmation in your comment, regarding them. Aren’t they beautiful? I am a huge fan of William Morris — the tapestries, the architecture, and his writings–> [The Well at the World’s End is amazing, as is Notes From Nowhere and pretty much all of his poetry] — I even think of myself as somewhat of a Morris aficionado.
    Cheers!

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  21. Hi Margaret,

    The National Trust are definitely taking a much more liberal stance with their properties and land. They are actively encouraging families with children to picnic and play in the grounds, whilst many of the properties around here, have special ‘dressing up’ rooms and ‘play areas’ for the children.

    We are very lucky, in that we have quite a large amount of NT properties around the area, so our membership fees are always a good value for money investment.

    We were at Lacock Abbey just the other week, as a friend of mine had an exhibition of sculpture in the grounds for the week. Dave always enjoys his visit, at its starting point, of the Fox Talbot Museum, where all the old cameras and developing equipment are on display.

    Always one to appreciate a good candid shot, he would love your photos. I especially like the stained glass, it is always my favourite thing to look at, although I am a little biased, as my uncle has his own stained glas design and manufacturing workshops in California. His claim to fame is that, before the family left for the US, back in the early 1960’s, Doug made and installed a new stained glass panel in a window at Canterbury Cathedral. He is now in his 80’s and still designing and installing his own work. I have none of his artistic talents, which is really frustrating.

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