The Broad Gate: A Ludlow House and its Inhabitants

IF 0.1 Q3 HISTORY
S. Price
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This beautifully presented volume is an account of a unique building – the last survivor of Ludlow’s medieval town gates which forms a distinctive feature at one end of Broad Street. Considerably extended in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, its core comprises a pair of D-shaped stone towers either side the gateway, part of a circuit of town walls built at the end of the thirteenth century to protect the townsfolk from the Welsh. As the gate’s military function declined, Ludlow Corporation was faced with finding new uses. For a time, the space above the gate was let as a school and other parts for storage, but it was not until the end of the seventeenth century that the property was converted into a house. This volume traces the post-medieval history of the Broad Gate through to modern times. The stories of the families who have occupied the building – the Steads, Sprotts, Kinnersleys, Lloyds and Richardsons – reveal a succession of doctors, lawyers and bankers who initially leased and eventually acquired the freehold of the building. The occupants belonged to long established gentry families in the Midlands and Wales and, like others, chose to settle in Ludlow in the eighteenth century bringing ‘a more sophisticated world to provincial Shropshire.’ Valerie Thomas skilfully identifies the common themes that link these families, the source of their wealth, social status, ambition, and contribution to the structural history of the Broad Gate. Between these family stories are chapters on eighteenthand nineteenth-century Ludlow which provide a wider context to the social changes which led to the creation of an urban elite. Ludlow offered a short but fashionable season, having the essential elements to attract visitors – a theatre, racecourse and assemblies, only lacking curative waters of a spa. A hallmark of this study is the author’s adept inter-disciplinary approach bringing together all kinds of written evidence – especially deeds, family papers, diaries, and probate material – with the physical evidence of the building and material possessions. The description of the built-in eighteenth-century bureau in a first-floor closet, a room she tells us was ‘more likely to have been a private space belonging to the mistress of the house’ is enhanced by her quotes from literary references. During the house’s restoration when various small ovens in the kitchen walls were uncovered, Peter Brears, an authority on the history of cookery, advised on their significance. His carefully drawn watercolours show how these features worked. Ludlow has been well served by historians and building experts, both nationally and locally, especially the Ludlow Historical Research Group whose publication on the houses of Broad Street set new standards in presenting the results of the study of whole streets. Thomas shows how its occupants created a fashionable miniature country estate in an urban setting. The inter-disciplinary approach, combined with the author’s expertise in setting her findings in a wider context, results in a major contribution to the social history of provincial town life.
《宽门:勒德洛之家及其居民
这本精美的书讲述了一座独特的建筑——勒德洛中世纪城门的最后幸存者,它在布罗德街的一端形成了一个独特的特色。它在18世纪和19世纪得到了广泛的扩展,其核心包括大门两侧的一对D形石塔,这是13世纪末为保护市民免受威尔士人袭击而建造的城墙的一部分。随着大门军事功能的衰退,勒德洛公司面临着寻找新用途的问题。有一段时间,大门上方的空间被出租作为学校和其他存储部分,但直到17世纪末,这处房产才被改建为房屋。这本书追溯了从中世纪后到现代的宽阔之门的历史。Steads、Sprotts、Kinnersleys、Lloyds和Richardsons等家族的故事揭示了一系列医生、律师和银行家,他们最初租赁并最终获得了这栋建筑的永久产权。居住者属于米德兰和威尔士历史悠久的贵族家庭,和其他人一样,他们在18世纪选择在勒德洛定居,为什罗普郡带来了“一个更加复杂的世界”瓦莱丽·托马斯(Valerie Thomas)巧妙地确定了将这些家庭联系在一起的共同主题,他们的财富来源、社会地位、抱负,以及对宽门结构历史的贡献。在这些家庭故事之间,有关于18世纪和19世纪勒德洛的章节,这些章节为导致城市精英阶层产生的社会变革提供了更广泛的背景。勒德洛提供了一个短暂但时尚的季节,拥有吸引游客的基本元素——剧院、赛马场和集会,只缺少水疗中心的治疗水。这项研究的一个标志是作者熟练的跨学科方法,将各种书面证据——尤其是事迹、家庭文件、日记和遗嘱认证材料——与建筑和物质财产的物证结合在一起。她告诉我们,一楼壁橱里内置的八世纪办公室“更有可能是家里女主人的私人空间”,她引用了一些文学参考资料,这一描述得到了加强。在房子的修复过程中,当厨房墙上的各种小烤箱被发现时,烹饪史权威Peter Brears就它们的重要性提出了建议。他精心绘制的水彩画展示了这些特征是如何发挥作用的。勒德洛得到了全国和地方历史学家和建筑专家的良好服务,尤其是勒德洛历史研究小组,该小组关于布罗德街房屋的出版物为展示整条街的研究结果树立了新的标准。托马斯展示了居住者如何在城市环境中创建一个时尚的微型乡村庄园。这种跨学科的方法,加上作者将研究结果放在更广泛的背景下的专业知识,对省级城镇生活的社会史做出了重大贡献。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Midland History
Midland History HISTORY-
CiteScore
0.10
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发文量
38
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