On a bright sunny day in September, our humans took us to visit Cherryburn, which is a small farmstead in the northeast of England, owned and managed by the National Trust. This was once the home of a famous wood engraver called Thomas Bewick.
We didn’t know what to expect – The National Trust have developed a 3-paw print system which is designed to inform dog owners about what they should expect when they visit a property. Cherryburn is a 1 paw property, so we thought that we were going to have to wait in the car whilst our humans explored. Luckily it was a cool day. But you can imagine our delight and relief when we discovered that we were able to fully explore the property with our humans. In fact, there was such a lovely warm welcome for us, and we were invited to join our humans for a tour and a chat about this delightful little property.
Thomas Bewick’s family farmed the land around Cherryburn from around 1700. In fact, his grandfather, also named Thomas Bewick managed the small Mickley coal mine in addition to his smallholding.
When Thomas’s parents, John and Jane Bewick, took over the tenancy, they continued to mine coal to supplement their meagre income which they earned from farming and rearing livestock.
At the front of the house, we saw a small building where the pigs, poultry and doves were actually kept. The animals were housed on three different levels. – doves at the top, pigs at the bottom and hens safely in the middle and so it is called a poultiggery. You probably would only hear that word up here in Northumberland!
John and Jane had lots of children and Thomas Bewick was their first- born, closely followed by seven others.
I have no idea how all of those children could have been raised in such a tiny house. Admittedly, the double bed which is folded away during the daytime does save space. Apparently at bedtime, all of the small children were tucked away into drawers underneath it - but how did they all fit in when they got bigger? It must have been quite cosy! I certainly made myself quite at home lying on a mat in the corner of the room. I could live here!!
Nevertheless, I think that Thomas must have had a happy childhood. He certainly was
a bit of a wild child. He loved the great outdoors and probably knew every square inch of the countryside around him. He fished in the streams, and he climbed trees, and had an enormous passion for life. However, he was a very reluctant scholar and, he hated school so much that he got himself expelled. He was sent to Ovingham school which was overseen by the local vicar where he continued to wreak havoc and play truant. This was usually to avoid punishment for some misdemeanour or other.
At the age of 14, he became an apprentice to Ralph Beilby who was the son of a Durham silver engraver and was the only practising engraver in Newcastle upon Tyne at the time.
However, Thomas loved his home at Cherryburn so much that he would return home every weekend - walking fifteen miles along the banks of the Tyne to do so. He used to like to sleep with his head out of his window so as to feel closer to nature.
Thomas even made the journey home when the river was in full spate, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to cross it. It was worth it to him just to be able to exchange news with his family across the water.
At one time, he did venture down to London in order to further his career, but he didn’t stay long. He just couldn’t stand the hustle and bustle, noise and pollution of the great metropolis, and he came home.
And, when we trotted around the small buildings and looked out across the beautiful Tyne valley, we could completely understand why. It is so peaceful here. Below the house, there is a quiet bench where we all sat for a while and watched and listened. The only sounds that we heard were grasses swaying in the breeze and cascades of autumn leaves tumbling down around us – truly magical – I am sure that Thomas loved sitting here too!
Although Thomas was not destined to be a great scholar, he was destined to be a truly gifted engraver – not of metal – but of wood, and his wood block designs were astonishingly detailed.
Thomas discovered that if he used wood that was cut across its grain rather than along it, the resulting wood was much tougher. This meant that he could cut into it to different depths and when the ink was applied, it was also absorbed to those different depths. As a result, every detail of the engraving could be displayed in myriad shades of grey.
The beauty of Thomas’ work was appreciated by everyone both in his lifetime and still today. He published several important books of his engravings, the first of which was entitled “A History of Quadrupeds” and comprised 199 engravings of four legged beasts from around the world. – It was such a popular book that at least eight editions were published.
He followed that with two superb volumes of engravings of birds. One of them - “A History of British Birds” was the book which was being read by Jane Eyre in the book of that same name written by Charlotte Bronte.
Bruno and I were fascinated by a display cabinet in one of the rooms which contained several stuffed birds. I wonder if Thomas Bewick used these as models for his work.
Thomas died in1828 – at the age of 75 and two years after he died, in recognition of all of his work, the tundra swan was renamed after him and ever afterwards, it has been called the Bewick Swan.
Thomas’ greatest masterpiece was probably that of a Chillingham Bull - the only truly wild breed of cattle in the UK. He was so inspired that he created his largest ever engraving complete with a full decorative edge – However, its large size meant that it was very fragile, and it wasn’t long before it broke under the pressure of the printing press. Since then, it has been clamped together - but without its beautiful edging!
There were lots of examples of Thomas’ work to see in the print room and gallery. A lovely volunteer lady was on hand to demonstrate how the printing press worked – she was very good, and our humans were enthralled – Bruno and I just lay down and relaxed.
When Thomas died, he was buried in Ovingham churchyard – a place where he is said to have hidden from his teacher, the vicar, in order to escape punishment after having been especially naughty!
We had a lovely morning at Cherryburn. Everyone was so welcoming. It may be a tiny property without any significant walks, but it was just so lovely exploring this delightful place with our humans – I think that Thomas himself would have approved!!
…. And we would award it 3 paws - for our inclusivity!
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