Suddenly beautiful on the cliff after this morning's torrential rain. #Southbourne #Bournemouth #Dorset
5/5 What's brilliant about Mary Leapor's poem is that she helps us see the hidden labour - right here and halfway across the world - that pays for this splendour. (And she makes us laugh.) Tragically, Mary died aged just 24 of measles. Discover her story in my book: www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...
So proud of my wonderful daughter Ellen, who has won first place in the under-18 category of the prestigious Music at Beaulieu Award. She's won funding towards her musical training and enjoyed playing in a special concert last night ❤️
4/5 Although Mary depicts the old Edgcote as a crumbling and dilapidated old pile, she's wary of the new 'improvements' - especially the landscaping of the gardens and loss of the green and nature she loves. It's all made possible by the fortune made by Richard Chauncy through the East India Company
2/5 Housemaid and poet Mary Leapor worked at Edgcote House in the mid 18th century. She was actually sacked by master Richard Chauncy because ‘her fondness for writing verses… displayed itself by her sometimes taking up her pen while the jack [the spit] was standing still, and the meat scorching’.
3/5 Mary Leapor's poem 'Crumble-Hall' is inspired by her time at Edgcote House. It takes us below stairs, to see the invisible labour beneath the great country house. It's funny, witty and radical. But Leapor was actually writing about the earlier Edgcote House, just before this new house was built.
Why not have a look at my book, A History of England in 25 Poems? 25 diverse voices, from the eighth century to the present day, all offering perspectives on what it means to be #English, and what #England might be... www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Writer, historian, professor. Director @chppc.bsky.social and @vch-home.bsky.social. #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems (Penguin Allen Lane, 2025): a Book of the Year in The Times, FT & BBC History Extra. Find me in my beach hut.
https://www.catherineclarke.info/
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
Catherine Clarke
This is the history of England told in a new way: glimpsed through twenty-five remarkable poems written down between the eighth century and today, which connect us directly with the nation’s past, and...
If you buy the house you have to buy @cathamclarke.bsky.social's book too, I don't make the rules
'Netherfield Park is let at last!' Well, Edgcote House (Netherfield in the 1995 Pride & Prejudice) is for sale! In my book #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, I uncover its stories, including the below-stairs world of a poet who was a housemaid. #JaneAusten #history 1/5
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/8...
8 bedroom detached house for sale in The Edgcote Estate, Edgcote, Banbury, Northamptonshire, OX17 for £45,000,000. Marketed by Savills Rural Agency, London
'Netherfield Park is let at last!' Well, Edgcote House (Netherfield in the 1995 Pride & Prejudice) is for sale! In my book #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, I uncover its stories, including the below-stairs world of a poet who was a housemaid. #JaneAusten #history 1/5
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/8...
8 bedroom detached house for sale in The Edgcote Estate, Edgcote, Banbury, Northamptonshire, OX17 for £45,000,000. Marketed by Savills Rural Agency, London
This creative-critical project is finely researched and deeply moving. It was a privilege to see @katewilcox.bsky.social develop this wonderful work and I recommend this short piece to everyone. #history #family #creative #WW2
Catherine Clarke
Recent @ihr.bsky.social MA student and Library Services Manager @ihrlibrary.bsky.social, @katewilcox.bsky.social, has won the Phil Batman Family History Prize (Centre for Regional & Local History, University of Leicester). Discover her powerful and moving project: blog.history.ac.uk/2026/06/crea...
blog.history.ac.uk
Kate Wilcox, Library Services Manager at the IHR, recently completed the IHR’s MA in History, Place and Community. Here, she shares her experiences of developing a critical-creative research project.
