Britain – September 2019

http://www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN (^35)
housekeeper and her staff were able to get to those rooms
very quickly, up one little  ight of stairs – you think
you’re way behind the scenes and then suddenly through
a little discreet door, you’re in one of the most lavish
rooms in the house.
“It wasn’t random,” Dr Graham continues. “If you
go back to a Tudor house or an older house, it is going
to be ramshackle and dif cult to  nd your way around.
Here it is very organised and symmetrical: everything
has been thought through.”
At the end of the tours, which take place every
Wednesday from April to October, you come down the
butler’s staircase where you can see a big row of bells,
much like in Downton Abbey, which gives some idea of
the machinations that go into running a house like this.
Though the divide between the owners of big houses
(and their important guests) and staff was often clear,
sometimesrelationshipswereknowntocrossboundaries.
Inthe1820s,highsocietywasshockedwhen
septuagenarianSirHarryFetherstonhaughofUppark
House,in WestSussex,fellin lovewithhisyoungdairy
maid(some 50 yearshisjunior)andmarriedher.Thestory
goesthatonhearingyoungMaryAnnBullocksinging,
SirHarryproposedtoheronthespot,saying:“Don’t
answermenow.Butif youwillhaveme,cuta sliceoutof
thelegofmuttonthatis comingupformydinnertoday.”
WhenSirHarry’smuttonarrived,theslicehadindeed
beencut,andthemarriagesubsequentlytookplace.
Despitecreatingquitethescandal,it wasnevertheless
a successfulmarriage,lastinguntilSirHarry’sdeath
in 1846.Perhapsat theageof 71 SirHarryfeltit was
timetoputhisbachelordaysbehindhim.
LadyFetherstonhaughthenfoundherselftheowner
ofa vastestate,whichbythe1850stotalledsome5,149
acresandemployed 203 workers.Whenshedied,in
1874,MaryAnnlefttheestatetohersister,Frances,
whothentookontheFetherstonhaughname.
Today,thesumptuousinteriorsoftherst-oorrooms
remainresolutelyGeorgian,whilevisitorscanexplorethe
servants’quartersin thebasement,suchastheStillRoom,
wherepreservesweremadeandthenishingtouches
ough the divide between
owners and sta was often clear,
sometimes relationships were
known to cross boundaries
Top to bottom:
Uppark’s light-
filled dairy; the
kitchen in the
basement; the
handsome exterior
PHOTOS:
© NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/JAMES DOBSON/ANDREW BUTLER/OSKAR PROCTOR