Having spent a fair bit of time immersing in the world of the Victorian poor through Charles Dickens' novels, it was time to visit Dickens' adult home in London, which is now the Charles Dickens Museum.
The inside of the house is very much preserved in the same condition as when Charles Dickens was living there.
Of all the rooms in the house, I found the kitchen to be the most interesting place, which probably has muchg to do with my having to spend most of my time at home in the kitchen! Another eye-opening experience for us was seeing the wash basin in the laundry room that was used to keep the Christmas pudding (as was the practice in the Victorian times).
Two other items in the house also caught our eyes. The first was part of the Marshalsea prison grille, which represented a very traumatic time in Dickens' childhood. The actual prison is long gone (as we saw on the Dickens tour a few weeks ago) but bits and pieces of it still remains in various locations, and the prison is vividly described in a number of novels, most notably in David Copperfield and Little Dorrit.
The second is a simple-looking window that was mentioned in Oliver Twist as being the window out of which Oliver Twist was pushed by Bill Sikes during the burglary.
The window is very small, so one can imagine how scrawny and malnourished the poor boy must have been to be able to squeeze through it!
The inside of the house is very much preserved in the same condition as when Charles Dickens was living there.
Of all the rooms in the house, I found the kitchen to be the most interesting place, which probably has muchg to do with my having to spend most of my time at home in the kitchen! Another eye-opening experience for us was seeing the wash basin in the laundry room that was used to keep the Christmas pudding (as was the practice in the Victorian times).
Two other items in the house also caught our eyes. The first was part of the Marshalsea prison grille, which represented a very traumatic time in Dickens' childhood. The actual prison is long gone (as we saw on the Dickens tour a few weeks ago) but bits and pieces of it still remains in various locations, and the prison is vividly described in a number of novels, most notably in David Copperfield and Little Dorrit.
The second is a simple-looking window that was mentioned in Oliver Twist as being the window out of which Oliver Twist was pushed by Bill Sikes during the burglary.
The window is very small, so one can imagine how scrawny and malnourished the poor boy must have been to be able to squeeze through it!
This has been a fascinating series of posts. I look forward to taking my children to see some Dickens sites in a year or two. One Dickens site that we have visited is St James Cooling churchyard which is mean to be the site of the churchyard in Great Expectations.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about St. James' churchyard in Cooling, so thanks for letting me know, Sarah. I think you'll find many Dickens sites in Kent too, which are probably nearer to where you are. :-)
DeleteThat house is exquisitely preserved. What a great experience. It must really have brought the books to life for you! You got some wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lucinda. :-) It's very good to be able to visit the places either mentioned in the stories or to see where the author had lived. Where such opportunities exist, they certainly make the stories more "real" to us.
DeleteInteresting. You take so many great field trips! I attempted to plan a trip to the tower of London but after finding out it would cost over £70 just for admission (that wasn't even including the travel up there) I realised why we don't go on them very often!
ReplyDeleteI guess I shall just have to enjoy them vicariously through you!
If you have to come into London by the mainline rail, it's going to cost a fortune compared to just traveling around by tube! If we were living somewhere else without the easy access that we currently have, I don't think I'll take as many trips as we do. :-)
Delete