The house was initially built as a hunting lodge then extended by George Armstrong, the armaments and engineering pioneer. Whilst providing the means of conquering and controlling the empire may be a bit dodgy these days there is no doubting his vision and innovation. He was actually trained and practiced as a solicitor before his interest in mechanical matters took over and he founded the manufacturing dynasty that built the mechanisms for the Low Level Bridge in Newcastle and the slightly more famous Tower Bridge amongst many other marvels. .
The house itself is spectacular, perched on the side of a crag (hence the name) but isn’t all that grand in itself, it was mainly a holiday home and place to entertain visitors, once the Armstrongs had purchased Bamburgh Castle they’d a much grander residence! In any case I wasn’t there for the house itself but to see the innovations introduced such as electric lighting (first incandescent bulbs used to light a room), a hydraulically driven lift and kitchen appliances, etc. it was also the first house powered by hydro electricity, something they still do when there’s sufficient water having installed a Reverse Archimedes’ Screw a few years ago.
The electricity came about partly due to Armstrong’s friendship with Joseph Swan, one of my heroes. Most people will tell you that Edison invented the electric light bulb, however he didn’t! In fact several people were working on it independently at the same time. We do know for a fact that Swan demonstrated a sustained light (ie more than a second or so) before Edison. This lead to a patent dispute which was resolved by Swan holding the patents in Britain (and hence the empire) and Edison for the rest of the world. I understand that in reality Swan’s bulb wasn’t suitable for bulk manufacture so they set up the joint venture EdiSwan company to make and sell bulbs in the UK. The original table lamps are still in the house, although these days they have LED bulbs in and have been fitted with modern switches, originally they were turned on and off by lifting them in and out of dishes of Mercury.
Armstrong was a visionary in that, at the height of the coal powered industrial revolution, he was already propounding the need for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, not for “green” reasons but the fact that the coal would eventually run out.
I’m not sure just how far I walked, probably about three miles and much of it was up and down and on some rough ground, so I reckoned I deserved lunch at the tearooms. One notable thing is that, for a National Trust property, they’re quite blasé over health and safety. As examples, the steps down from the house through the rockery are steep and very uneven but you can still use them and to join the 6 mile carriage drive (and it’s well worth doing so) you drive through the archways and across the main courtyard of the house where visitors are wandering about. It would be difficult for them to do anything about either of these but it’s refreshing that they haven’t just closed them off.
The second visit was to Northumberlandia - The Lady of the North or, as she’s generally known, Slag Alice! Many years ago the doyen of North East newsreaders, Mike Neville, did a parody report about a Northern Arts project involving digging holes in the ground and piling up the the waste, well it’s now true, sort of. The pit waste was readily available so Charles Jenks designed a huge sculpture of a lady made by piling it up. Photographically the visit was a bit of a waste of time as I didn’t have a helicopter handy and frankly even looking at aerial photos I have difficulty recognising it for what it’s supposed to be.
If I didn’t know better I’d say it looks more Iron Age than modern day.
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