Exploring untold stories of the butlers, servants and scullery maids at Yorkshire's historic Kiplin Hall

Now stories of the servants are to be brought to life through the experience of domestic service, from the cooks to butlers and scullery maids who served in this historic North Yorkshire home.

A new exhibition, opening today, follows their Silent Footsteps in shadowed silhouettes to bring a vivid depiction of the lives they lived and a stark portrait of untold tales.

To curator Alice Rose, this is history as it should be told, shining a light on the day-to-day hidden duties and doings that ensured this grand house’s survival.

She said: “In their lives, the expectation was that staff were silent, invisible in their duties, but all this work was going on behind the scenes.

“In historical records they remain silent, we have some records of staff wages and census records, passing references.

“But we still have not seen their side of the story. Here we use silhouettes to show them almost as shadows of the past. They are a really important part of Kiplin Hall’s history.”

Kiplin Hall, built by George Calvert as a hunting lodge in the early 1620s, has through four centuries witnessed some history.

Through it all the tables were set, fires lit, and curtains drawn before dawn by a silent retinue who were neither seen nor heard but who played a significant role.

There are the intricate details of lives lived, with only subtle hints remaining, such as records of mid 19th century housekeeper Elizabeth Wheatley, who married a local draper John Tutin.

Other stories uncovered tell of when the rules were bent, such as for butler John Alton who, while working at Kiplin for 50 years from 1808, was allowed his own family in an estate cottage nearby.

In 2020, the hall acquired an astonishing bequest of Victorian ‘kitchenalia’ from antiques dealer Annie Marchant, including pots, pans and utensils that would have been used in a Victorian dairy.

Legacy

Now through these objects the exhibition looks to share insights into the lives of individuals, their families and the ties they wrought in community.

And with the hall’s domestic furniture depicted in silhouettes handpainted by local artist Sarah Jarman, it is set against backdrop of shadows to illustrate what would have been.

Ms Rose said: “These were the people responsible for the maintenance of the hall, and for the hall’s way of living. If it wasn’t for them the hall would not be as it is today.

“It’s important to piece these pieces together. With this collection we can start to tell their stories. We can put into the shadows what we know there was, and that is super exciting.”

Exhibition

Silent Footsteps opens today to explore the untold stories of domestic service at Kiplin Hall.

Records remain of staff duties and inventories, hinting at the lifestyles of wealthy owners who would have had ice cream in the 1800s and pies made in copper molds.

Curator Annie Rose said research had begun to uncover a wealth of rich stories: “That’s the exciting thing about history, there is always something new to discover.”

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