About the museum

Hamptonne Country Life Museum gives the visitor a unique insight into the rural life carried on in Jersey for centuries. Dating back to the 15th Century the house and farm are perfect for discovering the rural history of Jersey.  Explore the different houses which make up Hamptonne, find out more about Jersey’s history of cider making in the cider barn and wander through the cider apple orchard and meet the Hamptonne calves, lambs, chickens and piglets in the traditional farmstead. 

The Hamptonne name

The Hamptonne farm complex takes its name from Laurens Hamptonne, who purchased it in 1633. The property is also known as ‘La Patente’, as is the name of one of the roads that passes it, after the Grants by Letters Patent received by its owner Richard Langlois in 1445, and by King Charles II to Laurens Hamptonne in 1649. 

Hamptonne’s support of the struggling and exiled King Charles II resulted in 2 grants – One preserved the integrity of the property in perpetuity – it could not be broken up into parts (partages) and split among family members, but would be inherited by the eldest child. Another permitted Hamptonne to rebuild the ruined Colombier (dovecote) originally granted to Richard Langlois. In normal circumstances, such buildings could only be built by Jersey Seigneurs (Lords or holders of a fief.). The Colombier is located to the south-east, slightly beyond the current boundaries of the Museum. This may not have been a source of local popularity for Hamptonne.

The houses and courtyards of Hamptonne

The Hamptonne site’s shape is square. It has many different buildings and houses constructed in different periods. The farm has medieval origins, but as the centuries have continued, owners have made improvements of the living quarters. The main buildings are therefore named after the Langlois, Hamptonne and Syvret families, who lived here between 15th and 19th centuries.

When you exit the shop, you enter the North Courtyard along the side of which runs the Northern Range – a row of 19th century farm buildings constructed to meet the specifications of the agriculture industry, its vehicles and horses. It include a Labourers Cottage, Coach House, Bake House & Laundry, and Stables. Facing the Stables is a glazed barn in which important farming devices and implements are displayed. There is a walled vegetable and herb garden to the east, beyond which is the Hamptonne Playground and Cider Apple Orchard.

Further on, to the south there is Langlois House. This building is comprised of a barn, with cows, and stables on the lower level. Above the animal barn there is a parlour and also a bedroom. In the south west corner there’s an arched stone gateway that allows access to the road.

To the west is the Cider making house or ‘presser’ with a granite apple press and crusher. This is where cider is made every October, a key part of Hamptonne’s heritage. To the south end of this row is Syvret house. This house is presented as the home of a tenant farmer in 1948, with many interactive stories in certain areas of the house. It consists of a kitchen, parlour, two bedrooms, and a small cabinet.

Cider Apple Orchard

To the east of the farm buildings is the orchard. Within this orchard there are many cider apple trees, which are renowned for their sweet, bitter and sharp flavours to use within cider making. There is then footpath that guides you through the orchard, towards a small wooded area. Within the farm’s fully working era, the wooded area would have provided an important resource for collecting wood. This would have been crucial for fuel as well as building materials, as well as wildlife. The path then continues to the grazing meadow, where sheep or cows often reside. Every year, there is a cider festival at Hamptonne farm, remembering the ancient way of making the drink, with Jersey’s heritage at its heart.

The Goodwyf and other characters

The goodwyf, during the 16th century, was the housekeeper of Hamptonne house. She looked after the house of her master, Monsieur Laurens Hamptonne. duties included cleaning, cooking, and tending to the fire. She makes soap, herbal remedies and makeup and candles.She was very respectful of her employer, as he was a well educated and respected man. She is captured in pictures with a sullen facial expression as in the era of her employment women posed for hours in neutral facial expressions.

Furthermore, the characters of two ladies working on the spinning wheel and loom recreate the ancient art of spinning wool on a loom. They speak about Jersey’s involvement with the exportation of stockings during the Tudor era, the laws imposed around it at the time, and how it helped Jersey’s economy.

Tom Kennedy

Tom Kennedy is a Jersey photographer, who is influenced by the Dutch Masters paintings of the 17th century, including Rembrandt and Vermeer.

His work with living history characters focuses on the use of natural soft lighting, sometimes with the help of a little artificial lighting. He uses subtle light to create beautiful soft shadows on his subjects’ faces, capturing them in their natural environments from the time period of the characters.

This image taken in 1936 known as “Migrant Mother”, became one of the most iconic photos in history as it came to symbolise the poverty and hunger endured by American’s during the Great Depression.

The image was taken in a migrant camp and appeared in the pages of a newspaper in March 1936, the face of the mother surrounded by her children with the anxious yet resilient expression on her face portrays just how many American’s suffered during the great depression. The lack of colour in the photograph also adds to the depressing mood of the photo. Viewers of the photo feel nothing but sympathy for the mother and her children, creating a powerful effect.

Photography is the art of capturing and processing light using a sensor or film. The action of photography itself is capable of changing people’s perceptions of people and the world. A photo can have a deeper meaning and tell thousand important stories.

Photography as an art

From the moment Photography was invented in 1839 to the middle of the last century, had raged a heated debate on whether it is a form of art, or simply a way of using an optical-mechanical contraption to document reality.

Photography can be described as a language which documents words as pictures, which can be used artistically just as languages from around the globe can.

Photography as an art form came from advancements in technology which allowed photographers to manipulate their images to fit their artistic expression. Many techniques were used by photographers to make their photos surprise or shock their viewers.

Photography as a science

Through photography, students can learn about the science of light and lenses and relate that to how the eye works.  They can also learn the science of shutter speed and how that affects images. They can study photographs that show things we cannot see, things like the surface of a planet and even a strand of DNA.

The development of film was also only made possible by science, without the chemicals used in film development, it would have never been possible.

PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE ART, APPLICATION, AND PRACTICE OF CREATING DURABLE IMAGES BY RECORDING LIGHT, EITHER ELECTRONICALLY BY MEANS OF AN IMAGE SENSOR, OR CHEMICALLY BY MEANS OF A LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL SUCH AS PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM.

Photography is often used to capture moments throughout time, save a memory, and can also tell stories. Whether the photo taken is of a person, place, or object the photo will be stored and saved unless deleted or forgotten. When you take a photograph and share it with others, you’re showing a moment that was frozen through a picture. This moment can tell someone many things, from the environment to what people are doing.

When taking a photo, you need to think about specific angles, lighting, whether the camera is in focus, how far you zoom in or out, and if you are capturing the moment in landscape or portrait.

There are seven different types of photography which you can learn and practice to build a strong foundation for your photography career. These different types are, sports photography, photojournalism, still life photography, fashion photography, editorial photography, portrait photography and architectural photography.

Photography is many things, mainly it is capturing a moment in a still image. photography can be used to document, remember and generally symbolise meaning, emotion and change.

Many factors come together in order to create a successful image such as, lighting and balance. Changes in important photography factors can completly transform a photo from one image to another. These factors vary depending on the location and scene of the image.

photography has altered the way the world works, from sharing basic pictures on social media, to heart wrenching images from a battlefield, photography has changed the way we see, understand and feel about things.

Hamptonne Country Life Museum is a unique insight into the rural life carried on in Jersey for centuries. Hamptonne was originally a completely working farm from 1663, it gained its name from the original owner,  Laurens Hamptonne. Through Hamptonnes buildings, you can find 2 different time periods, the farm area being based around the medieval times and the courtyard being based around 19th century.

Hamptonne is well known in jersey for its cider production and also annual cider festival ‘La Fais’se de Cidre’. They make their cider the ‘old-fashioned’ way with a horse pulling the machine.

Hamptonnes history is lived through the actors who work there. The actors get into the clothes of people from the time, in the outfits they would’ve worn to do their jobs. Two of the actors were dressed as traditional wool spinners, we were spoken through some of the history of jersey and wool products production which used to be a big market in jersey.

during our visit to Hamptonne, we looked around the farm and took pictures as we went a long. this taught me to adjust my ISO to be able to capture the correct lighting. we also met with a photographer called Tom Kennedy. Tom is a freelance photographer who is highly involved with Jersey Heritage he also runs a production company ‘Little River Pictures’. Tom talked us through information about lighting, placement and many other things about producing a successful photoshoot. We communicated with the lady we were photographing and also experimenting with different heights and angles. Tom also introduced us to a portable light reflector, which helps control the lighting when outside of a studio.

We were introduced to the art of cyanotypes, one of the earliest forms of photography. We began by gathering sticks, feathers and other random natural objects that we found across Hamptonne. Producing the cyanotypes was a very exciting experience as we had to work quickly and plan what we were going to do before hand.

Photography, at its core, is a still image that captured a moment in time. Whether it’s a place, person or an object, photography freezes whatever is in front of it’s lens and stores it away until it’s either deleted or viewed by the eyes of many.

It’s often used to preserve moments in time, ensuring they won’t be forgotten and often portrays the world in a certain light, withholding information when necessary in order to present a message.

In order to do this successfully, a variety of elements have to come together and balance each other out such as lighting, angles, if the photo taken in portrait or landscape, whether the photo is blurry or not, how zoomed in the photo is etc. However, how these elements are used can vary depending on the type of photo being taken i.e.: Concert photography is less likely use high angles compared to still life photography.

There are many different types of photography including, but not limited to: portraiture, landscape, street, documentary, fashion, sports, architectural. Each sub-genre of photography make us see the world in a different light due to their diverse topics despite them all being the same at their core [photos].

Photography’s functions

Photography has many different functions, this can range from; recording history/memories, creating art, changing the way the human eye perceives images, creating companies advertisements and making us experience emotions that move us and make us think/see things differently.

Photography as an art form

Photography being used as an art form grew from technological developments where images where now able to be manipulated by photographers into ways that fit their artistic expressions.

Using photoshop, etc photographers are able to completely change the way an image can be perceived by their audience and how they want people to interpret it by experimenting with different lenses, cameras, films and how they frame or time a shot.

Photography as a science

Photography is an art and science but scientifically, the camera which creates the art also helps us to capture and teach us understandings which may or may not be visible to the human eye as they are too small or far away.

This can include:

– The action for the light sensitivity which is needed to produce pictures.

– How the images may be fixated through the camera, object or person.

– The process of how light helps to create the picture.

The difference between the study and practice of photography

Studying photography means to gain basic knowledge about photographic elements and techniques. It is where you will learn about photo composition, camera use/maintenance, how to use a darkroom and digitally editing and processing. 

To practice photography means is creating art through application and creating images by recording light well. This is done either electronically by a camera or on a phones camera, chemically by using light sensitive materials like photographic films. Practicing photography helps us to document memories/history throughout life, recreating events, change how people see things, etc. 

Hamptonnes background

Hamptonne is a country life museum which shows Jerseys history which carried back as late as the 15th century. There are many different houses and a farm, with various animals, which make up Hamptonne, along with the Cider Barn where a festival is held around the middle of October every year, where fresh cider is made from the horses crushing the fresh apples from the Orchard.

Things that you are able to do at Hamptonne

– Explore the Orchard and see the various farm life around the site.

– Meet characters in their houses/places and hear stories or history about them.

Hamptonnes History

The name ‘Hamptonne’ came from Laurens Hamptonne who purchased the site in 1633 but the site may also be known as ‘La Patente’ named after the road it is on.

Royal patents were awarded letters to those who had provided a particular service to the reigning monarch (King Charles II at this time) or a close relative. For Hamptonne this came from the owner Richard Langlois loyalty to the Royalist cause during the English Civil war, when he was the executive officer (Vicomte) of Jerseys Royal Court.

Hamptonne had gained a lot of support from King Charles II which they received several grants: To preserve the integrity of the property, meaning it couldn’t be broken into parts/split amongst family members and only inherited by the eldest child, permission to rebuild the ruined Colombier which originally was granted to Richard Langlois but located outside the museums boundaries, etc.

The Houses and Country yards

Hamptonnes shape is square which includes all different types of buildings which were made during different time periods and found over 2 country yards. The farm has mainly medieval origins, but improvements to the living conditions have been made over the years. The main buildings are named after the Langlois, Hamptonne and Syvret families who lived there during the 15th to 19th centuries.

After you exit the gift shop, you enter a north courtyard where a row of 19th century farm buildings were made to meet the requirements for the workforces vehicles and horses. It also includes a labourers cottages, coach house, bake and laundry house and stables. Opposite it a glass barn is found which holds various farming devices and to the east there is a walled vegetable/herb garden with a playground and orchard further on.

To the south you find Langlois House, which holds stabling and a under croft on the ground floor with a parlour and bedroom on the first, and a house for pigs and a pond. Then at the south-west corner you’ll find a stone arched gateway which leads to the road.

To the west of the site is Cider House (pressoir) with a granite apple crusher and press. then to the far south end of the row is Syvret house which has a kitchen, parlour, 2 bedrooms and a small cabinet. This house is shown to be what one would have looked like of a tenant farmer around 1948.

The Cider Apple Orchard

To the far east of the farm is where you’ll find the Cider Apple Orchard where many trees are found and hold apples of sweet, bitter and sharp range of flavours which taste when when mixed together for cider. A small footpath at the end can lead you into a small woodland, which use to be an important source for wood, fuel and building materials with a great range of plants and wildlife with a National Jersey trust toads trail which carries on the footpath.

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/whats-on/hamptonne-country-life-museum-living-history

Tom Kennedy

Tom Kennedy is a photographer and film maker who’s pictures are inspired by ‘Painting with light’ through inspiration of Dutch Masters paintings in the 17th Century such as Rembrandt and Vermeer.

https://littleriverpictures.com/photography

Here are some examples of his work: