Rachel Knowles's Blog, page 8

Hatchlands Park - a Regency History guide

Hatchlands Park © A Knowles (2014)Hatchlands Park is a red-brick Georgian mansion in East Clandon, Surrey, built for Admiral Edward Boscawen and his wife Frances in the 1750s. The interiors of the house were designed by Robert Adam and the grounds were re-landscaped by Humphry Repton c1800. The house belongs to the National Trust and is leased to Alec Cobbe, a distant relation of the Irish beauty Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, wife of Sir Anthony Browne, the original Tudor owner of the estate. It...

Robert Adam, Neoclassical architect (1728-1792)

Robert Adam attributed to George Willison
Oil on canvas c1770-1774 © NPG 29531Profile
Robert Adam (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792) was a Neoclassical architect and interior designer. He was one of the most influential Georgian architects.

South front of Kedleston Hall designed by Robert Adam Early life
Robert Adam was born on 3 July 1728 at Kirkcaldy in Fife, the second son of William Adam and his wife Mary Robertson. Robert’s father was the leading Scottish architect at the time and Master Maso...

Kenwood - a Regency History guide

Kenwood (2014)Kenwood is a stunning neoclassical villa on Hampstead Heath in London. You may recognise its beautiful white façade from one of my favourite films, Notting Hill, where it is the backdrop for the Henry James film that Anna Scott (played by Julia Roberts) is shooting. It also appears in Mansfield Park (1999) starring Frances O’Connor, and Belle (2014) starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Belle is based on the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804), the illegitimate, mixed-race great niece...

Be More Jane blog tour - an interview with author Sophie Andrews

I first met Sophie Andrews at the Jane Austen Festival 2014 Regency Promenade in Bath. We were both taking part in the parade for the first time and were very excited to meet Adrian Lukis aka Mr Wickham from the BBC’s superb 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It was a real pleasure to see that a passion for Jane Austen and her works had reached the next generation.

Joana Starnes, Rachel Knowles and Sophie Andrews
at the Jane Austen Festival Grand Promenade Bath (2014)I am delighted to be a...

Finding your way around Vauxhall Gardens in Regency London

The Orchestra at Vauxhall from London Pleasure
 Gardens of the 18th Century by W & AE Wroth (1896)Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were a fashionable outdoor entertainment during the Georgian era. You can find out what the gardens were like in my earlier blog: Vauxhall Gardens in the Regency. 
When setting a scene in Vauxhall, I have found it helpful to know my way around the pleasure gardens and to know what features would have been present at different times. The rest of this blog post...

Beddington Park

The west front, Beddington Park from Select Illustrations
of the County of Surrey by GF Prosser (1828)I grew up in Carshalton, Surrey (well, technically it is in the London Borough of Sutton, but I still like to think of it as Surrey), and recently revisited one of the local green spaces – Beddington Park. As ever, when I go places these days, I am looking for the Georgian connection. I knew that there was a big gated house in Beddington Park that was now a school and I discovered that it date...

Killing Napoleon by Jonathan North - a review

On Christmas Eve 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte narrowly escaped being blown to pieces while travelling to the Paris theatre. A cart carrying a barrel of gunpowder was deliberately detonated in a busy street, with the aim of killing the new ruler of France. Several Parisians were less fortunate, becoming innocent victims of the assassination attempt.
In Killing Napoleon, historian Jonathan North gives a thorough account of events before, during and after that dramatic moment in Paris. He explains how...

Vauxhall Gardens in the Regency

Vauxhall Gardens from The Microcosm of London (1808-10)

Image to yourself, my dear Letty, a spacious garden, part laid out in delightful walks, bounded with high hedges and trees, and paved with gravel; part exhibiting a wonderful assemblage of the most picturesque and striking objects, pavilions, lodges, groves, grottoes, lawns, temples and cascades; porticoes, colonnades, and rotundas; adorned with pillars, statues, and paintings: the whole illuminated with an infinite number of lamps, dispo...

Regency Christmas celebrations

Mr Fezziwig's Ball by John Leech from A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens (1920 reprint of original 1843 edition)I have just watched The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) starring Dan Stevens (alias Edward Ferrars from the 2008 BBC adaptation of Sense and Sensibility/Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey). It tells the story of Charles Dickens, a successful writer who is struggling to meet his bills and support his ever-increasing family and desperately seeking inspiration for his next book. Onc...

The Pantheon in Georgian London

The Pantheon from Ackermann's Repository (1814)The Pantheon was a popular venue for public evening entertainments in late Georgian London. It was situated on the south side of Oxford Street where Marks and Spencer is today.
The original Pantheon
The Pantheon was a business venture by Philip Elias Turst who wanted to develop ‘a place of evening entertainment for the nobility and gentry.’1 He raised money for the enterprise by selling shares and employed James Wyatt as architect. Work started in...