Back to 1647

And there it is. On new years day I finished the house I've been having an on and off relationship with since I came to England. It looks nothing like I first imagined. It's so much better then that.

So now they have all taken their belongings with and moved into their new house, the little people of 1647. There's a core family of 4 adults and 4 children and then there's the alehouse woman and the two guests. 

I wanted to make this one come alive, like a snapshot of one moment, so for the first time ever these are all glued into position and have, at least a try for, actual facial expressions.

The reason there's so many people in it is because I wanted to have it feel really crowded and, to me, homely as I imagine these Tudor houses to be. So step in!

It is the year of our Lord 1647 

On the first floor there's the alehouse 'the Green Barrel' and it's people. There's the landlady and in-keeper mistress Kenshaw, a headstrong widowed Italian of 45 who likes arguing and drinking with her cat into the small hours. Shouting with her is the dinner guest,a glover from down the street with puritanical ways, who wants a refill and at the other table sits a guest with a slightly more interesting story..maybe?

Caught in between ,on her way out to get some toads legs and butter, is the family's youngest daughter Rachel. She is 6 and blind on one eye from coal burn as a baby but she is the cleverest of the children and will one day step into her aunts spellmaking shoes..

A floor up lives the Ashworth family. Rachels older sister Judith who is 9 likes to sleep late and play the lute and will be the one who goes up in this world. She watches her younger brother play a game as enthusiastically as he does everything. Zachary is 8. He is the prettiest and wittiest and for the latter he is his mothers favourite.

'Look at this!' he shouts into the other room as he spins the toy.

His mother opens the window to throw some pamphlets out but turns to look. mistress Ashworth is a society lady turned revolutionary by marriage. Once her eyes were opened and her voice spoke out there was no turning back.

 Bare feet she walks to not wake up her brother-in-law who sleeps in the bed. The family business is printing and engraving..but he has come back so recently she is careful of him seeing what they print on the side. 

This is a levellers house after all.

When coming home from the wars on the continent after being wounded the younger of the Ashworths met a different life. His parents were now both dead, their house sold and he moves in with his brother and his wife, their 3 children and sister-in law on top of the Green Barrel. After long gazes and stolen nights sitting on the staircase he proposes to miss Susanna Molyneux and swish! they now have a little baby. Baby Benevolence.

Running up the staircase you meet a draughty passage and a large door without handles. Inside the room is hot and steamy and slightly strange smelling. Susanna Ashworth is stirring in the cauldron and tastes. Almost done.

A few years younger then her sister she is happy not to be the mistress of any household but get to indulge in her passion; potions and concoctions! Though some say she seems a bit witchy she makes her own money selling medicinal cordials to wealthy clients who, dispite her running away with her sister 10 years earlier, trusts her far more then the average wise-woman. She is kind and headstrong..and the children's favourite. 

'Leave the bread!' she shouts at her brother-in-law.

 

In the room next to her is the landlady's cat Chissle lusting after some fresh rabbit meat.

Rocking her baby to sleep is her brother-in-law. The older Ashworth brother sneaks some newly baked bread before heading out again. He is determined, adventurous, charming and a brilliant engraver, which came in handy when getting into the newly popular printing market after the world was turned upside down.. With the green ribbon safely hidden inside the doublet he likes coffee and pipes and is, at times, as vain as his wife. 

And so, she holds the family together and he holds her together. 

Now it's time to leave.

Follow the Ashworths out into the turbulent streets of the civil war. And do not forget which side you are on!