One of the delightful things about the festive season is the transformation it brings to London’s museums, and the most dramatic changes of all take place over at the Geffrye Museum Of The Home in Hoxton.
The museum, founded in 1914, occupies old almshouses along Kingsland Rd – its main galleries contain domestic interiors from various periods of British history. Starting in the early 1600s, the rooms run in chronological order through the centuries all the way up to the most recent addition – a 1990s flat with a ‘loft’ bedroom.
At Christmas time each of the rooms gets a make-over, so that visitors can see how we celebrated the festive period in years past. In the 1600s for example, rooms would be adorned with very simple arrangements of rosemary and bay, and Christmas Day celebrated in a middling London household would probably involve a family feast with musical entertainment.
In the 18th century things have only got slightly more elaborate – laurel wreathes have appeared by this point and people might tuck into a meal of roast beef followed by plum pudding on the big day itself.
Come the 19th century everything changes – Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert brings with him his German customs and fashionable society, and then everyone else, quickly copies the Royal Family. Thus the mid-Victorian parlour shown at Christmas time is absolutely familiar – a tree covered in baubles stands in one corner and Christmas cards appear on the mantlepiece for the first time.
One lovely Victorian tradition which we’ve forgotten is remembered in one of the rooms – the celebration of Twelfth Night on 6 January. An elaborate cake would be baked with decoration worthy of a modern-day wedding cake, and somewhere within it was baked a bean and a pea. Everyone in the household, above and below stairs, would receive a slice of the cake and whoever was given the slices with these items in them would be King and Queen for the day. All the other members of the household would then be required to wait on them – thus a situation could arise where the master of the house fetched and carried for the lowliest footman!
Looking at the rooms that take the visitor through the 20th century it’s interesting to note how little has changed since we adopted those 19th century German traditions, although if you’re of a certain age you’ll note the paper chains which appear in the 1960s room. I remember decorating the lounge with these when I was a little boy, and it’s a shame that in this fast-paced world we no longer have time to sit down and make them…
The Geffrye Museum Of The Home is a lovely place to visit, particularly at this time of year. Admission is entirely free of charge but they do welcome donations – although the museum acquired a new wing in the ’90s they need further funding for a library and learning rooms which are due to open in 2015.
The quickest and easiest way to get to the Geffrye is to make your way to the London Overground – the museum sits directly behind Hoxton station.
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