I walked over to the local Abington Park Museum today and took a few photos to share with you. As it less than a 10 minute walk from my in-law’s house here in Northampton, I have visited it several times. There has been a house on this land since the late 1000s, but what I am very interested in is the fact that William Shakespeare’s last direct descendent, his grand-daughter, Elizabeth, lived and died here in the 1600s. The museum is free, open to the public, and owned and operated by Northampton Council.
I’m sorry for the blurry images in some, but there was a lot of light bouncing off the glass in front of everything and I’m not a great photographer, so…
The entrance:
Whilst the room above has been furnished to mid-18th-Century fashion, you can get a good idea of what it would have looked like earlier. The next image is from the Leather exhibit, which is full of Northamptonshire leather items. The trunk and the flasks/pouches shown are from the 1600s, and the gorgeous sedan chair in the background in 18th-century.
Next, there was a lovely leather doublet from 1550-1600. Look at its fine condition:
A 17th-century seal container/holder:
They had two gloves from the 17th-century. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that these are very beautiful!
Not 17th-century, but they have an amazing exhibition of WWI and we found one of my husband’s ancestors on the list of those killed from the Northamptonshire regiment. Louis Harold Orland. Chilling.
Passing through Victorian and Edwardian sections on the first floor, we move into more 17th-Century/18th-Century stuff! Woo hoo!!
This staircase is my favourite. Here I am in between a real Kneller (left) and a Lely (right)! Woo hoo!
Sir Godfrey Kneller:
Peter Lely:
This is an early 17th century chest:
Back outside the museum, in Abington Park, there are loads of beautiful flower displays throughout.
Including this Garden for the Blind, which my husband remembers fondly as being a wonderful place to smell flowers and hear the babbling sound of water flowing. The picture below simply doesn’t do justice to this multi-sensory garden.
That’s it from me for today. Tomorrow, we will have photos of the Church were Shakespeare’s grand-daughter was buried! 🙂
<3, Andrea, the Seventeenth Century Lady x
