{"id":19532,"date":"2021-12-29T00:42:36","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T05:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=19532"},"modified":"2021-12-29T00:51:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T05:51:37","slug":"episode-490-eywood-court-compared-to-downton-abbey-one-is-real-the-other-is-good-historical-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=19532","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 490 EYWOOD COURT compared to DOWNTON ABBEY..(one is real, the other is good historical fiction)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
NOTE TO READERS: Over these Episodes i have made several references to Eywood Court;  Lately Marjorie and i have<\/div>\n
been watching the Downton Abbey stories on Netflix and were struck with the similarities to Eywood Court where my <\/div>\n
grandfather was once the head gardener.  So here is the story in a little depth with comparisons to the Downton Abbey series.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

EPISODE 490   EYWOOD COURT compared to DOWNTON ABBEY..(one is real, the other is good historical fiction)<\/p>\n


<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Dec. 23, 2091<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\"EPISODE<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THE RUINS OF EYWOOD COURT (demolished in 1954)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
How do I start a story that has more twists and turns than a maze in a British Country House garden?<\/div>\n
The story of Eywood is just that.  Twisted.  Confusing. Heart warming.  Profane.   Do I start in 1812 with Lord<\/div>\n
Oxford going for long walks while Lord Byron is having sex with his wife  Lady Lamb\u2026sex over and over for weeks on end\u2026October<\/div>\n
and November 1812.   Sex can be a big motivator.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
No. ” Keep it simple in the beginning Alan or you will lose your audience.\u201d  Good advice given to me decades ago<\/div>\n
by Doug Koupar who was my producer on CBC Radio.  \u201cIf you don\u2019t get attention in first few words, you will never<\/div>\n
get attention because for most people their attention span is 1 minute\u202660 seconds. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Test: What got your attention in the first paragraph?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Unfortunately Lord Byron\u2019s many love affairs with other men\u2019s wives was unknown to me when I decided to search<\/div>\n
for Eywood Court.   A picture of that grand English country house hung in the kitchen of my grandparents farm<\/div>\n
in Erin Township, Wellington County, Ontario. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
By chance I was wrapping up a job in Ireland.  Wednesday September 7, 1960. just completed a<\/div>\n
survey job on an ancient mine site on the south coast of Ireland.  No doubt my boss Dr. Paterson expected<\/div>\n
me to fly back to Canada with our equipment straightaway.  I had other plans..  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Why would I do that when one of the great mysteries of our family was near at hand.  Could I find Eywood?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cEywood? Did you say Eywood, Alan?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cyes, Eywood\u2026not Heywood or Haywood\u2026but Eywood.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOdd name for an English Country Estate?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2018\u201cVery odd.  Even researchers get it confused.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDifficult.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMade even more difficult after the huge Eywood mansion had<\/div>\n
been demolished\u2026.some say the last standing walls were blown<\/div>\n
up after all the contents were sold at auction. Tragic.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NOTE TO READERS: EYWOOD AND DOWNTON ABBEY HAD MANY THINGS IN<\/div>\n
COMMON. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 ON WED. SEPTEMBER 7, 1960, I DID NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT<\/div>\n
THE TERM COUNTRY HOUSE MEANT.  ALL I KNEW WAS THAT EYWOOD COURT<\/div>\n
EXISTED SOMEHWERE IN HEREFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND. AND I HAD A FEW DAYS<\/div>\n
TO SEARCH FOR IT BEFORE FLYING BACK TO CANADA.  WAS THIS SEARCH <\/div>\n
A WILD GOOSE CHASE?  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Irish Diary, Dublin, Ireland, Wed. September 7, 1960<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cArose late and had hell of time to get to the Ferry on time.<\/div>\n
Persuaded taxi to scream through the streets of Dublin to make <\/div>\n
connection with Irish Daily Mail boat.  Caught train to Herefordshire<\/div>\n
\u2026travelling blind.  May as well get off train in city of Hereford.<\/div>\n
But what then.?  Where am I going?  The platform emptied and I just<\/div>\n
stood there.   I did have one clue.   Polly Griffiths had written to grandma<\/div>\n
all her life.  She lived with her son Cyril Griffiths on Lower Wooton Farm.<\/div>\n
Big deal.  Where the hell is that Farm?  Then a kind of miracle happened.<\/div>\n
One man wakling by noticed my confusion and asked:<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 \u201cCan I help?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, I am looking for Lower Wooton Farm.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat would be Cyril Griffiths, I suspect?\u201d<\/div>\n
Yes, I know the family\u2026I am their bank manager.?<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere is the Farm?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSome distance from here near Almely and Kington, can<\/div>\n
I give you a lift?\u201d<\/div>\n
(By pure chance I had found the needle in the haystack\u2026the banker drove<\/div>\n
me to Lower Wooton Farm which was hidden away on a country road<\/div>\n
a long distance from Hereford.)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Left to right:  Unknown person, Cyril Griffiths, Nancy Griffiths, David Griffiths, with :\u201daunt Polly\u201d  seated at front.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
LOWER WOOTON FARM  (A designated historical 16th century farm house where the Griffiths lived in 1960)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
CYRIL AND NANCY GRIFFITHS\u2026tenant farmers on Eywood at Oatcroft Farm<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Cyril, Nancy, Polly Griffiths and their son David greeted me with<\/div>\n
open arms.  They knew me from grandma\u2019s letters.  David was <\/div>\n
a few years younger than me but we bonded immediately.  Nancy<\/div>\n
bedded me down in a grand bed in their large 16th century farm<\/div>\n
house\u2026a heritage farm designated to be saved.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Thursday, September 8, 1960:  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I was first up.  What a beautiful sunshiny day? David took me around<\/div>\n
the farm and then we helped his father Cyril de-beak turkeys so they<\/div>\n
would not peck each other to death.  Then we drove to Eardisley a quaint<\/div>\n
little 16th century village with ancient houses featuring frames of timbers<\/div>\n
and then bricked in and painted white\u2026called black and white village\u2026hard<\/div>\n
to describe.  Then drove on to an auction in Leominster.  Back to Lpwer<\/div>\n
Wooton for country farm dinner.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Seemed like a full day but not so as Cyril drove me to Eywood Court<\/div>\n
in the evening.  I should say the ruins of Eywood Court because the mansion<\/div>\n
house had been demolished in 1954 after anything saleable was sold at auction<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
All that remained standing was the Greek pillared entranceway.  Very<\/div>\n
sad.  Demolitions were happening all over England in the 1950\u2019s and 1960\u2019s.  Most owners could not<\/div>\n
afford the maintenance and the taxes.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The strangest thing about this visit was that all the other buildings on the<\/div>\n
Estate remained untouched.  The heart had been removed but the<\/div>\n
body remained.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This was underscored when we walked up a shaded laneway\u2026unused<\/div>\n
for a long time\u2026to Eywood Garden where Granddad had been head<\/div>\n
gardener sixty years ago.  Henry Mills bought the walled gardens at the<\/div>\n
auction.   He had been a young boy working for granddad years back.<\/div>\n
Remembered granddad well. \u201cHe planted these trees and espaliered the<\/div>\n
nectarines in the north wall green house.\u201d  We even toured the \u2018cottage\u2019<\/div>\n
where mom (Elsie Freeman) was born.  Called a cottage but it was bigger<\/div>\n
than the farm house in Canada.  many glass green houses most of which<\/div>\n
were derelict.  Lots of broken windows.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There was something touching about the way Henry Mills remembered <\/div>\n
granddad and grandma\u2026as if they were family.  He inferred the same about<\/div>\n
Cyril and Nancy Griffiths who were tenant farmers on Eywood before<\/div>\n
the auction sale.   Kindred spirits.  The Griffiths were tenants at Eywood while Granddad Edward<\/div>\n
Freeman was an employee in charge of a crew of gardeners.  Part of the<\/div>\n
large complicated humanity of an English country estate.  Exactly the same<\/div>\n
as Downton Abbey with one difference.  Eywood Court was real.  Downton<\/div>\n
Abbey is fiction\u2026good, accurate historical fiction.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We have visited the tumbledown ruin of Eywood many times since my 1960 visit.<\/div>\n
There is much more to the story.  I have struggled with this story.  Where should<\/div>\n
I start?  Deep in the past when Eywood was created?  Perhaps a chronology of<\/div>\n
the owners of Eywood?  Maybe I should extricate the personal connections and<\/div>\n
use a third person voice\u2026i.e. drop the use of \u201cI\u201d and replace it with a more dispassionate<\/div>\n
voice?  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In the end, I felt most comfortable telling the story of Eywood as I experienced the<\/div>\n
story.   Using the thread that is my personal journey in life to lead readers<\/div>\n
deep into a very disturbing yet emancipating event that<\/div>\n
had been happening all over England and Scotland from the end of World War I<\/div>\n
to that Wednesday evening, September 7, 1960, when I stood among the <\/div>\n
bricks and rubble of what was once a grand country mansion.  Eywood Court.<\/div>\n
The Demolition of a way of life.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This is Part One of that story, Episode 490.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cGive me the numbers!\u201d That demand was made years ago when I had a small role as<\/div>\n
co-author with John Ricker and John Saywell creating a text book for Ontario<\/div>\n
schools.  \u201cGive me the numbers!\u201d, Cut the crap.  Get to the kernel of the matter.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I got the numbers for Eywood.  Found the needle in the haystack.  Found a document<\/div>\n
once held by a person at the Eywood auction.  A scribe who noted the price Eywood<\/div>\n
sold for a public auction.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cGive me the numbers1\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEywood sold for 5,400 British pounds serling.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat does that number mean?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIn 1954 the 60 acre centre of the Eywood Estate went to the highest bidder for 5,400 pounds.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow much is that in today\u2019s terms\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cToday the British pound is worth #1.73 Canadian.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow much is a 1954 British point worth today?<\/div>\n
\u201c1 pound in 1954 is worth 33.45 pounds today.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThen how much did the Eywood Estate sell for in today\u2019s figures?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGive me the numbers!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou could buy the estate for $356,400 Canadian dollars.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt means the whole heart of the Eywood Estate sold for a pittance\u2026the price of<\/div>\n
one of the cheapest houses in Toronto\u2026less than $400,000 dollars.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
BUT WHAT DID BUYER GET?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\"EPISODE<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
WHAT THE BUYER GOT FOR $356,400 (value of his 5,400 pounds in today\u2019s currency)<\/div>\n
1) The huge manor house<\/div>\n
2) All the interior fittings, much in mahogany<\/div>\n
3) Gardener\u2019 House<\/div>\n
4) 3 staff cottages<\/div>\n
5) Extensive farm buildings<\/div>\n
6) 60 acres of land\u2026the grand park<\/div>\n
7) Woodlands<\/div>\n
8) Rotodendron gardens<\/div>\n
9) Two small lakes, the Titley and Garden Pools<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NEXT EPISODE\u2026SEE WHAT THE BUYER GOT FOR MUCH OF THE EYWOOD<\/div>\n
ESTATE IS STILL STANDING.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOTE TO READERS: Over these Episodes i have made several references to Eywood Court;  Lately Marjorie and i have been watching the Downton Abbey stories on Netflix and were struck with the similarities to Eywood Court where my  grandfather was once the head gardener.  So here is the story in a little depth with comparisons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}