This folder contains images with notes on the Historic Homes of Yorkshire, a series of lectures first given to the Hebden Bridge Literary & Scientific Society by Mr. George Hepworth around 1916. An architect by profession, in 1894 he was a founder member of the Brighouse Photographic Society, and became a much sort after photographic artist and lanternist (someone who operates a magic lantern). He achieved wide popularity with his book 'Brighouse, its Scenery and Antiquities'; as only a 100 copies were published it has become something of a collectors item. The lectures take the form of a guided tour of the properties, and the language of the original notes has been maintained.
This was George Hepworth's own introduction to his series of lecturers:
"Yorkshire is rich in old Manor Houses and Stately homes – how rich is scarcely realized until we come across them so frequently in our wanderings. Around these “Homes” linger many legends, shedding over them a glamour of romance, and telling us of the thoughts, ideas and imaginings of the inmates who “lived” and moved and had their being there in a state of society very different to ours.
Thus it is that the men and women of earlier time seem to people these old houses, and often when we go through them, we call to mind the weird happenings and strange deeds done in these old-time edifices about which linger memories of witchcraft and legends of by-gone days as:
'Through the open doors, the harmless phantoms on their errands glide, with feet that make no sound upon the floors'.
Apart from their antiquity and the glamour of their old-world associations, there is about these old homesteads an intrinsic merit of artistic design and good workmanship which all those who value such things can still admire and enjoy. These houses of by-gone centuries possess a quiet dignity and charm of their own, with an agreeable suggestion of homeliness and comfort, they also express the sense if fitness and appropriateness to their use and surroundings, and also give some idea of the character of those who built them and lived at them".
Credits
George Hepworth