In this interesting talk, Kerry Bristol will discuss the spatial and social planning and organisation of service life at Nostell, West Yorkshire, by three generations of the Winn family.
The Soane Museum Study Group is an open forum for scholars – both established and emerging – to present new research into an aspect of architectural history and/or Soane’s collection.
About the event
Drawing on a rich archive, this talk will explore how service life was planned and organised spatially and socially at Nostell, West Yorkshire, by three generations of the Winn family. Under Sir Rowland Winn, 4th Baronet, the servants divided their time between the old converted monastic buildings on the site and the new house, where the service areas designed by Col. James Moyser and James Paine were planned to reflect the needs of a large family increasingly distanced from those who served them. During the tenure of Robert Adam’s patron Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet, and his Swiss-born wife Sabine d’Hervart, the move into the new house was completed but Lady Winn’s attempts to assert authority were ineffective and her household was fraught with idle maids, inattentive housekeepers and irritated cooks, many of whom were vocal in their dissatisfaction and seldom stayed long in her employ. Nostell then underwent a period of retrenchment following the accession of Sir Rowland Winn, 6th Baronet, whose account books encapsulate service life there at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
