Visit to the home of historical pageantry
This last weekend me and Paul finally visited Sherborne: the home of historical pageantry. As even the most casual observer of our website must know, it was in this small Dorset town in 1905 that the first historical pageant was held. Many different parts of the town still bear the imprint of this original event. We arrived on Friday night, and had time to look around the Pageant Gardens, laid out using the substantial profits of the pageant; we noticed that nearby roads also had Pageant in their name.
On Saturday morning, Rachel Hassell, the archivist at Sherborne School, kindly showed us around this magnificent building - which featured recently in the film 'The Imitation Game', as the school of Alan Turing, just one of its many famous alumni. The School was a vital part of the pageant in 1905, featuring heavily in the first episode, when Ealdhelm declared Sherborne a place of learning in 1705, and thus founded the school; the tenth episode in 1550, which showed the school receiving its charter; and the finale, where the schoolboys sang the Carmen. Louis Napoleon Parker, the pageant-master, had been a music teacher at the school between 1877 and 1892.
Me and Paul were particularly taken with the stunning chapel, which had several nods to the pageant - my favourite of which was this stained-glass window. If you look closely, you'll see that St Ealdhelm is based on Canon Frederick Brooke Westcott, who had played the Saint in the pageant. Westcott had been the headmaster of the school 1892–1909; this window was a memorial following his death in 1918. There was also opportunity to do some pageant poses in the same place Westcott had all those years ago!
The Stained Glass Window in Sherborne Chapel
Canon Westcott in Costume
A Plaque for Parker
Paul inspecting archival material
Alan Turing's OBE
In the afternoon we gave a joint talk to the Dorset and Somerset Family History Society about the pageant, and the movement it inspired over the next hundred years - with particular reference to other pageants in Dorset, such as the West Dorset Pageant in 1911; the Spirit of Dorset in 1939; and the Bridport Royal Charter Pageant in 1953. We finished with a reference to the British Olympic Opening ceremony - from Sherborne in 1905 to a global audience in 2012! After our talk, Barry Brock, of the society, and Rachel jointly gave a really interesting update on their project to identify the 900 pageant performers - a fascinating use of family history methods.
L-R: Tom Hulme, Paul Readman, Rachel Hassall, Barry Brock
Paul fielding questions
In the evening we had fish and chips in front of the spectacular Abbey, topping off a fantastic day of pageant-fun!
Tom Hulme