Life in the 18th Century

This weekend the Scottish Enlightenment class that Jacob and I are in took a class trip to Alloway, Ayrshire and Culzean Castle (pronounced Coo-lane) to see how people lived in the 18th century. We had to wake up pretty early to catch the bus, but it was free and this was the first castle we have seen on the inside so that made it worth it.

We took about an hour bus ride to our first stop, Alloway, the birthplace of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. We talked a little bit about Robert Burns in the Burns Supper post, but something that was not mentioned was that Burns came from very humble beginnings. He was born in a small cottage on a small plot of land that his father rented to farm. 

It looks big enough to house the 6 people of the family, Robert, his three siblings, and mother and father. It would have been a little snug I suppose, but not as snug as I would expect from a tenant farmer in the 18th century. You can think this until you realize that only a fourth of the house was actually used for the family living space. The tiny window on the far side of the house is about all the space they had. In this one room the family did all their cooking, eating, sleeping, storytelling, spinning, sewing, etc. 

The counter where food was prepared and the cabinets that held nearly all of the family's possessions

The bed in which the parents would have slept. The creepy, glowing, baby dresses represent the four children who would have slept on the loft above this bed. 

The large window belongs to the room that was used for entertaining guests. This was also the room were Robert and his siblings took lessons from the family tutor. When Burns gained his fame after publishing his first books of poems in Scots, he was praised as having God-given talent. The elite at the time assumed, because of his background, that Burns had no proper education. While Burns never went to University, his education was a little more intimate than his fellows would have gotten at the local parish school. But Burns embraced the image of uneducated poet nonetheless. He continued to write in the Scots dialect and his humble early life was often contained in the themes and settings of his poems. 

The other two rooms in the house were used for keeping the farm animals. The cows, horses, and chickens would have been let to roam and graze during the day but were brought into the house at night for safety and for providing some extra warmth for the family. The family would have also milked the cows, churned butter and made cheese in this area of the house. There was also a door that opened out to the road that the family would open and sell the products they had made. 

Me taking a yoke upon my shoulders. It wasn't too heavy, but I imagine it would be with two buckets full of milk or water hanging from either end. 

We also visited the Burns museum and a few places that were featured in one of his most famous poems "Tam O' Shanter". It was cool how this little town really worked to bring the Burns legacy to life. 

After lunch we visited the home of a man who was in quite a different financial situation than Robert Burns. Culzean Castle, home of the Kennedy family (Scottish Kennedys not the Irish Kennedys that JFK came from). The Kennedy family had held the title of Earl in this part of Scotland for a few generations before this lovely castle was built in the early 18th century. The Earl commissioned a famous architect at the time, Robert Adam, to build him a house. He gave the architect no budget limit and simply told him to indulge his imagination to the fullest.  The result was a magnificent 58 room castle over looking the sea. Mind you, the Earl was a bachelor at the time and never ended up marrying. This huge house was all built for one man. But future Earls, and later Marquises would bring their slightly larger families to reside in the house. 

The house framed by the "ancient" gate that was actually built at the same time as the house but was made to look like ruins to signify that the family came from "old money" 

The Driveway view

How the Castle looks from its private beach

The first room you walked into was an armory that doubled as a foyer. On the walls hung over 700 pistols all of which had been used by either the British army or by the East India trading company. This largest public collection of this type of used pistol decorated the walls along with countless swords of different kinds. I would have been afraid to lead guest through such a room, especially if any of the guests didn't like me or liked my money just a little too much. =P

Our tour guide then led us through dining rooms and libraries and sitting rooms galore. We walked up a staircase that is said to have been on of Robert Adams finest works. The second floor was the main entertainment floor and had sitting rooms and drawing rooms and dressing rooms to spare. The top floor we were not allowed to see because it held the bedrooms and was now used as a private hotel. So if you ever want to say in a real Scottish castle you can. I am told, however, that the prices are quite steep. 

The beautiful staircase

View from the sitting room

All of the ceilings were exquisitely decorated, also by Robert Adams.

We were given an hour to explore the ground at our leisure. Jacob and I spend all of our time at the private beach. It really would have been impossible to see all of the Castle's grounds in only an hour. We also could have seen the Swan Pond, the Walled Gardens, some Cat Gates, a deer park, or any number of other attractions. It would have been nice to see it all, but the beach took up our whole hour.

One bit of the beach

It was quite an interesting experience to see how these two groups of people lived in the period we are studying. There was quite a contrast, as I'm sure you can see. I think I'd prefer to be in the later group and have a castle, if I got to choose. But we shall see what hand fate deals us. 

Happy Scottish Mother's Day,

Jessie and Jacob