LIFE & STYLE
Chelsea Gold Garden Finds Home in Roundhay The garden which won a gold medal for Leeds at the Chelsea Flower Show last year is to be permanently installed in the ‘Gardens of the World’ section in Roundhay Park. The stunning HESCO Garden 2010 drew gasps of admiration at its amazing 12-foot high central lock gates and mock canal. Produced by the council’s parks and countryside service and sponsored by Leeds-based HESCO Bastion Limited, it was a huge hit. This was the first time in the history of the Chelsea Flower Show that a local authority had won gold in the large outdoor show garden category. “The garden is a phenomenal piece of engineering and design”, said Leisure Councillor Adam Ogilvie. “We are so pleased everyone in Leeds will now get the chance to see it.” The garden is expected to be in place by mid-May. To find out the full history-making story of The HESCO Garden 2010, visit www.leedsatchelsea.com
“THE GARDEN IS A PHENOMENAL PIECE OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN”
THE U FILES
THE LIFE OF A STILL ROOM MAID In 1891 Hester Crump was working at Kirkstall Grange as the still-room maid. Following last month’s article a reader has
provided details of Hester’s likely job description. She had very little status amongst the domestic servants, being regarded as ‘between staff’, having two ‘masters’, the Housekeeper and the Cook.
As you would expect, she was responsible for the ‘still room’. Originally this was a distillery room found in most manor houses and castles throughout Europe and dates back to medieval times. Herbs from the kitchen garden and surrounding countryside were processed into essential oils, then infused or distilled into a wide variety of medicines, cosmetics (soaps, lavender water etc.) and cleaning products such as furniture polishes. However, by 1891 Hester’s role had devolved into assisting in the making of jams, jellies, home-brewed beverages and generally looking after this store room for perishables, such as cakes. None of the other large local houses appear, from the census at least, to still employ still-room maids. Certainly the occupants of Spen Lane Cottages were in no position to employ anyone. Thomas Wood (unemployed blacksmith) and his wife Emma (both aged 58) lived in the cottages along with Elizabeth Crossland, a widow aged 60 living ‘by her own
means’. The cottages are marked on the 1895 ordinance survey map, along with Kirkstall Grange, Weetwood Hall and the Moor Grange, Old Oak and Spen Lane farms. Just to confuse matters the cottages were actually on Horsforth Road, later renamed Spen Road, and not on Spen Lane. As the photograph shows the cottages still survive to this day unlike the farms and the job of still-maid. Doug Kemp www.westparkresidents.org.uk