Scenes From Dennis Severs’ House

Over the past year, it has been my delight to work for the Spitalfields Trust at Dennis Severs’ House, devising the new Dennis Severs’ Tour and rehearsing the actors, Joel Saxon and Lisa D’Agostino who are hosts. Here I present a few vignettes of the life of this celebrated house in Folgate St.

If you would like to visit over the festive period , please check www.dennissevershouse.co.uk because cancellations mean tickets can become available at short notice

The Dining Room at Christmas

‘Mrs Jervis prefers a roast swan at Christmas. It suits her aristocratic sensibilities as it was a favoured dish in the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, particularly when skinned and redressed in its feathers and served with a yellow pepper sauce. Sometimes she serves it stuffed with a series of increasingly smaller birds, in the style of a turducken.

Mature swans have little subcutaneous fat and their flesh is exceedingly dry, making them a tough and entirely unsuitable meat. Consequently, eating an adult plumed swan was more of a statement than a culinary treat. Mrs Jervis chooses a cygnet hatched in June, plump and tender by December, as the perfect Christmas meat – still tender and fatty.’

The kitchen dresser groans under the proliferation of jellies, puddings and pies at this time of year

Lisa D’Agostino has been hosting tours since November

‘At twenty seconds to midnight on 31st of December 1899, the old house holds its breath. Miss Isabel Jervis waits by her fire. She is all alone now. She gazes at Queen Victoria’s portrait and she wonders what the twentieth century will hold. Next morning, when she opens the shutters, the streets are silent and empty.

When Victoria died in the arms of her German grandson, the Kaiser, at Osborne House, the Lord Chamberlain knew what to do. As long as there were remnants of a silk industry in Spitalfields where the fabric of her wedding dress was made, the Queen wished that the black crepe for her funeral pall was woven there too. And it was.’

Joel Saxon has been hosting tours since the house reopened in the summer

‘Now our journey to the heart of the house arrives at the private place that holds its owner by night, the master’s bedchamber. Here society ends and intimacy begins. At the centre of the room stands the grandest upholstered four-poster bed imaginable, hung with braided damask.

Here Edward and Elizabeth Jervis conceived their children. They wedded at Christ Church on 2nd June 1761 and shared this bed throughout their marriage. They were the first generation to do so, for theirs was a love match.’

‘Mrs Jervis wore no underwear, just a shift of fine linen, then silk stockings and garters to hold them up. Next came her stays of whalebone, that we should call a corset, and then her hooped petticoat, also with whalebone and cross ties to maintain the oval shape of the dress and not allow it to become circular. Finally, Mrs Jervis could put on her dress, which came in three pieces, first the skirt, then the stomacher followed by the bodice. There were no hooks or buttons to hold it all together, so pins would be used and a few discreet stitches where necessary. As a finishing touch, lace sleeve ruffles were added and a lappet upon her head. Shoes and a fan completed the outfit.’

‘Here we enter the boudoir – a powerfully feminine space where fresh, soft colours prevail. The room is as warm as toast. A newly installed hob grate has been fitted to the fire to accommodate coal and it burns more efficiently than ever before. The ladies are halfway down the stairs, but their chairs are still warm and their tea is still steaming in their cups. The chairs encourage a more relaxed posture and the daybed offers an unspoken invitation to recline. How tempting it is to remove our shoes? Just in from the past, we are more than glad to meet such comfort.’

‘Admire Mr Jervis’ punchbowl – ‘punch’ is the Hindu word for five which is why there are always five ingredients. Oddly enough, when someone punches you in the mouth it also has five ingredients.’ (Photograph by René Stoeltie)

All photographs by Lucinda Douglas Menzies except when credited otherwise