Sound and Music

Article rebloged from www.museum-id.com

From today (21 May 2009), the National Trust’s Barrington Court in Somerset will be the first of the National Trust’s historic properties to offer a new form of interpretation – through the atmosphere of sound in an empty house. 

Social climbers, sugar magnates, farm animals and wartime schoolchildren have all at one time made Barrington Court their home. Now through the echoes of chickens clucking in the hall, to dance band music in the jazz age and haunting voices of evacuees, visitors will be taken on a voyage of discovery through a fascinating house.

In 1907, the semi-derelict Tudor house Barrington Court was being used by a farmer to house his chickens when it was bought by the National Trust and leased in 1920 to the Lyle family who renovated it. More recently, until earlier this year, it was used as a showroom by a furniture company, but is now empty for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Richard Higgs, Barrington Court’s Property Manager, said:

“Barrington Court was the first country house to be acquired by the National Trust which had previously concentrated on preserving the natural landscape. It is fitting then that the property should be the first again to challenge perceptions about how a heritage home should be displayed to the nation. The architecture and interiors of Barrington are striking but in a house that has no furniture or collections, it’s really powerful to use different senses to discover how those spaces were used in the past. We want visitors to close their eyes, or keep them open for that matter, and imagine the history of the rooms, where sound can be a more evocative, powerful and fun way to explore these stories.”

Among those who’ll be the first to hear the new presentation is 74 year old Nigel Giles whose voice is used as an ‘echo’ of the house. He was one of the children whose school was relocated to Barrington Court from Kent in 1939 to escape the bombing. “My ID is still on a shelf, ’20 Gil’,” said Nigel. “It’s amazing it’s lasted all this time. It was where our clean clothes were kept, and that was the rack where mine were folded. It was a room where matron kept her potions, lotions, and aspirins, and where she’d darn our socks. We weren’t allowed in unless we were having something dispensed.”

To enable visitors to record their thoughts about the new interpretation, a dedicated phone will offer the chance to give their reactions, tell their own stories and even memories of Barrington in days past, and to comment on how the house could be used in the long term.

Richard Higgs added: “We know our approach isn’t the safe option. There may be some people who question what we’re doing, but we’re up for the debate. We really want Barrington to stimulate discussion and generate interest and suggestions about its future…and perhaps the future of other National Trust houses.”

Barrington Court is near Ilminster, Somerset TA19 ONQ. ‘Echoes of History’ will run from Thursday 21 May until Saturday 31 October, 2009. For more information about Barrington Court see www.nationaltrust.org.uk/barrington