Chastleton House, The Gunpowder Plot and Chicken Sausage with Artichoke Hearts

Chastleton

Although I love stomping around football stadium size houses, there’s a lot to be said for smaller quieter houses steeped in lore.  Like the simple Manor House at Dethick, Chastleton was also touched by a grand intrigue and caught my eye when I saw the Fettiplace name attached to it (and my visit was sealed when I saw that it had a 17^th c kitchen that had barely been touched for 400 years!).

In this case, the estate on which the house was built (between 1603 -11) was purchased by Walter Jones from Robert Catesby, the mastermind behind the conspiracy called the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (a lesser conspirator, Guy Fawkes, became far better known for some reason).   Catesby sold the estate shortly before the plot after taking part in the Essex Rebellion (he was a bad boy, but much loved and admired) and bought his head or at the very least avoided imprisonment by paying an enormous 4,000 marks (£6 million in 21^st century terms). This involved selling most of his assets, including Chastleton to come up with the tariff.

James the 1^st by John de Critz, 1606

Princess Elizabeth, Daughter of James I

His anger at the monarchy’s treatment of Catholics (Elizabeth I was especially intolerant) led to his creation of the Gunpowder Plot that sought to put James I’s 9 year old daughter Elizabeth on the throne as a Catholic Queen.   I wrote about her HERE, and came to be very fond of her the more I knew of her.  She was to become Elizabeth of Bohemia, much loved by Lord Craven.  Craven was a Royalist who defended her and her family with his enormous wealth.  He was not ruined by the Commonwealth and was in fact well rewarded by the restored monarchy… unlike the Jones’s.

Walter Jones

Walter Jones was also a Royalist.  He was fined, ruinously, for his support of the monarchy.  The family never recovered financially and that is one of the reasons the house remains so untouched and gorgeous.  Basic repairs, as opposed to renovations, were all the family could manage in the 400 years they lived there.

When Chastleton was first opened to the public in the 1940’s, descendant Irene Whitmore-Jones would explain the distressed condition of the estate by telling visitors the family had lost its money in the war.  The visitors were sympathetic until they realized she meant the 17^th century Civil War, not WW I or II!

Anne Fettiplace

Before the Civil War reduced their circumstances, the Joneses did rather well in the wool trade.   Jones had married well by marrying Eleanor Pope, a Maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth and niece of Sir Thomas Pope.  Their son Henry married Anne Fettiplace whose family I’ve talked about HERE (yes, they are all related, aren’t they?) in 1609.

Aside from the financial pains inflicted by the Civil War, Walter’s grandson, Arthur fought for the king and after the loss at the Battle of Worcester, fled to Chastleton to hide in a secret room.  The Roundhead soldiers soon followed and demanded to be fed and billeted after finding Arthur’s exhausted mount at the house. Arthur’s heroic and brilliant wife, Sarah, drugged the men and when they were thoroughly asleep, she retrieved her husband from under their sleeping noses.  Arthur escaped from his hiding place and got well away from his persecutors on one of their own horses.

The door to the Priest’s hole is in the corner… the door would have been invisible in the 17^th century.

The interior of the priest’s hole where Arthur hid away

Until Cromwell’s unfortunate fines, the Jones’s had money to build the house and buy some rather lovely tapestries.  It seems the Sheldons,  friends of Walters’  owned the prosperous and respected Barcheston Tapestry Works.  They also married into the Jones family.  To celebrate the match, the Sheldon arms are carved above the fireplace (this seems like a habit –– the Joneses honored 2 advantageous marriages with extravagant mantle carvings).  

You walk into the first hall (the servants would eat below originally, the lords at the slightly raised dais). 

In addition to the hall, there was the rather new innovation… the dining room.  This was cutting edge at the time –– smaller and more intimate (and less drafty) than the great halls of ages past.  It is a lovely room with a simple ‘wedding cake’ ceiling… much of the plasterwork in the house is first rate.

I loved this reception room and the even more impressive wood and plasterwork

The bedrooms are austere but handsome.

 This one is called the Fettiplace Bedroom celebrating an auspicious marriage

Fettiplace arms on the fireplace

another great ceiling

Sheldon Room

Sheldon coat of arms over the fireplace

At the top of the house is the exercise room, wonderful fun with another great ceiling.  Here the inhabitants would dance and play badminton in hard weather.

even the window bays have lovely wrap-around plasterwork

I think the scale and the accessibility make the place so special, that and the National Trust staff…Nicola Dyer who helped me with my visit the wonderful and amazing Neil Ions who answered my questions as I toured the house and shared stories about Chastleton (click HERE for information on visiting).  

But wait, what about the kitchen??  Glad you asked.  The kitchen caught my eye when it was mentioned that the ceiling hadn’t been cleaned since the 17^th century (a bad luck thing) and honestly, it doesn’t look like much has changed there save the stove… and that’s way over a century old.

I won’t lie, I would sell my firstborn for that kitchen… even in the state its in (well, maybe a fridge would be helpful).  The pewter plates on the original cupboard, that crazy stove… all of it is wonderful.

  

Even the floor, burnished for 400 years, is remarkable.

It’s not hard to tell, I’m really in a 17^th century state of mind these days.  After reading old cookbooks last week, I saw so many recipes I just had to try.  I’m so glad I did.

This chicken recipe from Robert May’s Accomplisht Cook really grabbed me.  I didn’t feel like boning and stuffing a chicken so I used chicken breast and made sausages… to me it was all about the really wonderful seasonings and those berries with the artichokes.  It sounds a bit weird but the combination really works.  I was really stunned to see parmesan cheese in this recipe … I imagine it was terribly exotic at the time.  I think you will be surprised at how good it is… the sauce is fabulous.

Chicken Sausage with Artichokes, inspired by Accomplisht Cook (serves 2)

7 ½ oz chicken breast

3 strips of bacon (4 if you skip the suet)

2 T suet

1 hard-cooked egg yolk

2 T parmesan cheese

¼ t mace

1/8 t cloves

2 T chopped fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, parsley—what you can find)

½ t sugar

½ t salt

½ t pepper

2 T suet, lard or butter

2 c chicken broth

2 slices of onion, ½” thick

¼ t saffron

2 T parmesan cheese

1 T chopped fresh herbs

1 cup gooseberries or currants or grapes

4 artichoke hearts, cooked

8 navets (small turnips) cooked

4 slices of good bread, toasted.

Grind the meats, eggs, herbs and spices together.  Put in casings, wrap in chicken skin or roll as is into sausage shapes.

Brown the sausages in lard or suet with the onion.  Remove the sausages and cook the onion until softened, put the sausages back in the pan.  Pour 2 cups broth in the pan.  Add the saffron and artichoke hearts and turnips if you would like and cook a few minutes until the sausage is cooked and the vegetables are hot. Add the berries/grapes and warm.  Add the parmesan and herbs.

Serve with the artichoke hearts and turnips with the sauce poured over all and the sliced bread.

How about a drink?  My great colleague and beverage historian David Solmonson over at 12 Bottle Bar  is hosting a little drink party on August 15^{th on}  and I am getting a head start (but honestly, do I really need an excuse to share a drink??? I think not!).  Since he wanted us to be inspired by the unusual… my inspiration comes in the unusual florals of the julep and the ice inspiration comes from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude… curious bedfellows to be sure but… well there you go!

As I said, Chastleton had Fettiplace ties as a Jones married advantageously into the Fettiplace family.  I wrote about Elinor Fettiplace and her charming personal cookbook HERE.  It was so unusual at the time to have done a book like this.  She was educated and came from a family that prized literacy in the women in the family… extremely rare at the time (she had been married into the Fettiplace family as well… her family had the money, the Fettiplaces had the pedigree).   That her book remained in the family for over 400 years is even more remarkable.  It gave a sort of time capsule to an upper middleclass way of life that was not as well chronicled as the lives of the aristocracy. 

It seems Elinor was a good woman who cared for the sick and gave to the poor and took good care of her household as well (and lived to be 80… quite an accomplishment in those days).  I couldn’t leave Chastleton without sharing Elinor’s julepp recipe that was considered a restorative at the time (and the citrus would have been quite a healthy treat).  Yes, that’s right, a julep recipe.  We think of juleps as an American invention.  We imagine them to be 19^th century or later but here’s a 17^th century julep recipe that is just delicious.  I would have been leery about barley water, but my friend Julianne, who is a drink alchemist, shared oatmeal vodka with me (inspired by no less than Thomas Keller) and it was delicious.  Barley water, when sweetened is delightful.

I imagine her Fettiplace cousins enjoying it at Chastleton House of a hot summer evening before Civil War would change their lives and fortunes forever.

"Take a quart of ffrench barly water, and put thereto of the sirrop of bleuw violets 2 ownces, Red rosewater 4 spoonefulls, the juce of 2 limondes, sirop of the juce of citrons 2 ownces, stir all these together, and when you are dry or in yo’ burninge heate drinke 2 or 3 spoonefulls at a time, as oft as you please"

Fettiplace Citrus Julepp for 2

1 cup barley water*

½ ounce violet syrup or jelly

1 T rosewater or 1 drop Aftelier Rose Essence

juice of ½ a lemon

½ ounce citron syrup**

2 oz rum (or white wine or club soda -- this should be done to taste)

mint, pennyroyal*** and citrus slices for garnish

Freeze mint, pennyroyal or citrus in ice.

Combine the barley water, violet syrup, rosewater and citrus juice and syrup.  Allow to sit for a few hours or overnight to meld the flavors.  Muddle some pennyroyal/mint, add the cubes to the glass.  Pour in the mixture and add the rum/wine to taste)

Put ice into a glass, add a few tablespoons of the syrup and pour in your alcohol or soda to taste.

*Barley water can be made by rinsing 3 T pearl barley. Then cook it in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes with 3 T sugar.  Cool it then strain it.

** This can be made by cooking and pureeing candied citron peel if you have it or combining citron juice (if you can find it) or lime juice and simple syrup.  I pureed 1T candied citron after boiling it in ¼ c water and put it through a strainer.  I added the juice of ½ a lime.

***Pennyroyal in large quantities can be harmful.  Never use pennyroyal oil which is high in the metabolite menthofuran.  You can read about it HERE.  In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter drinks  Kykeon, a drink made from barley, pennyroyal and water.  Pennyroyal tea is used for colds and upset stomachs.  It is not recommended for pregnant women and children.

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