Cotswolds Christmas

A Cotswold Christmas

Notes from A Cotswold Christmas by John Hudson (1988)

Our volunteers have been reading a wonderful festive book, while welcoming visitors to the shop. We thought we would share with you some of their favourite bits about Christmases of old in the Cotswolds.

Even as late as 1913 the butcher used to stock up at the Christmas Fat Stock Fair, while holly and mistletoe seemed to be dripping with berries. Christmas church bells rang out across the Wolds.

Into the twenties and beyond, children enjoyed a stocking filled with oranges and if you were as well-off as the Mitford sisters maybe even a five-pound note.

A hundred years ago in 1916 there was a terribly cold winter, that really chilled the bones, but brought with it the beautiful snow and ice we still like to associate with Christmas time.  Imagine ice skating on the nearby river, or sledging down the hills? Or perhaps you would prefer playing Party games inside to keep everyone entertained?

This Christmas looks like being a grey one rather than a white one, but we wish

Christmas in Broadway

everyone the best festive period.

It’s not too late to buy Christmas cards, decorations, and gifts from our shop, and why not enjoy the exhibition before we close for Christmas (on 21^st December)

Christmas at the Ashmolean Museum Broadway

The Christmas lights have gone up around the village, we are making preparations for Christmas Shopping Evenings and the Christmas decorations are up in the museum. The yuletide season is fast approaching.

In the shop are some lovely Ashmolean Christmas Cards with historic images, Christmas tree ornaments, and lots of things that would make terrific gifts for your loved ones.  We will be open for Broadway’s Late Night Christmas Shopping on Friday 25th November and 2nd December, so come along and see us between 5.30 and 8.30 and enjoy some of the other lovely festival fun around the village.

The Christmas decorations adorning our own Christmas tree in the Introduction Room, are also available in the shop. So visitors can feel a little festive as they are welcomed to the museum by volunteers with the introductory talk, and then purchase one of our cute wooden reindeer decorations as a souvenir.

With the dark evenings drawing in our opening hours have changed, so through the winter we are now closing at 4pm with last admissions at 3.30pm, so come along early to avoid disappointment.

If you are at a loose end why not pop along and check out what’s it in our shop, or join us for late night shopping, and take a last peek around the museum before we close the public from 21st December.

Decorative Dishes in the Museum Shop

The Ashmolean Museum shop has some beautiful things for sale, including pottery by local artist Jacky Mahony.  In this blog post she describes her work – the process, her inspiration, and her design.

Methods

I am inspired by a love of nature and the unpredictable results of high fired kilns. My ceramics use labour intensive methods and simple technologies to explore and represent natural landscapes.

Sprigs

I experiment with taking impressions from wild and garden plants and focus on details such as stem, fruit or seed head. Sprigs like those of Josiah Wedgwood are made from these for use on porcelain.

Horizon Dishes

Inspired by Scottish lochs and Hebridean beaches, my crank stoneware dishes capture distant views. Hand-building and glazing methods allow the plates to form their own shapes and surface qualities.

Raw materials and Copper Reds

I incorporate into my work locally gathered raw materials including ashes often supplied by the sitting room fire. The trace elements produce a complex glaze. I develop my own glazes and discovered that my ‘Ash Crackle’ glaze can produce the elusive ‘copper red’. By reducing the air in the kiln atmosphere the starved combustion process draws oxygen from oxides in the clay and glazes effecting chemical change. With the right glaze ingredients there is a dramatic colour change in copper oxide from green to red. In the volatile atmosphere a pink blush may also transfer to other pots.

These beautiful designs – and more – are available in the museum’s shop, which is open at the same time as the museum: 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday.  Why not pop along and browse