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.
Discover Syvret House, a decorated and furnished farmhouse gives a unique window into 1940s rural life, including; agricultural traditions, day-to-day family life, language, religion and the experience of the German Occupation.
It is now part of the Jersey Heritage group, as people can buy memberships and visit Jersey’s historical sites an unlimited amount of times for a fixed price. Tourists love this site as it offers an insight into what life was like during the 15th century.
Living History
At Hampton there are a range of living characters such a housewives and weavers, these characters are there to further help you visualise what life was like 400 years. It was really interesting to see what houses looked like and to learn about ho farms were run centuries ago, in particular how cider as homemade from the apple orchard and the use of horse power.
Furthermore, the weavers talked to us about the history of sewing in Jersey and the laws in which materials had to be made of 3 strings to be sold on the market. They also demonstrated how balls of yarn were made of wool using an old machine, and where original models can be seen. The living history part of Hampton was one of my favourites as we could guide the models and ask they to move and hold different objects, meaning I could take a variety of different photographs.
Way of life in the 15th century
One of the main places to learn about the way of the life in the 15th century was the house in the centre of Hampton, there they had voice overs about life during the and and living with rations whilst we took photographs of older objects such as the metal bath, beds, shoes and the type of food that was eaten. In addition, I enjoyed analysing how different is life is now to that it was like several centuries ago.
I think that it was interesting to learn about the history as it makes us realise how industrialised out world is today, and how back then they had to rely on horse power and no electricity, the real life example of how they used to make cider made this even more fascinating to learn about.
Tom Kennedy and natural lighting
We had time in small groups to talk to Tom Kennedy who demonstrated to us how to properly use natural lighting when taking photographs inside, with the help of (sheets of white and shining plastic) to make sure the light was evenly dispersed around the living history model.
Hamptonne Country Life Museum allows visitors to explore the house and farm which date back to the 15th century, they give an insight into the rural history of Jersey. You can walk through the houses getting to learn about how people lived, you can also walk through the apple orchard and the cider barn which tells you about the history of cider making. You can also meet the Hamptonne claves, lambs, piglets and chickens.
The History
The farm gets 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. The farm has medieval origins and consecutive owners have made marked improvements to the living accommodation. The main buildings are therefore named after the Langlois, Hamptonne and Syvret families, who lived here between the 15th and 19th centuries.
The Characters (Living History)
While visiting Hamptonne you could meet one of the characters who roam around and tell you some of the histories of the farm. You could meet the Goodwyf who can tell you about Hamptonne’s royal connections and give you an insight into her day to day life, including cooking on the open fire, making soap and candles, and preparing herbal remedies and makeup. You might also meet the wool spinners, knitters and dyers who recreate the historic art of hand spinning yarn on a wheel, natural dyeing and the knitting of the fashionable stockings, which formed a mainstay of rural life in Jersey for some 200 years. Or you could meet the blacksmith The blacksmith was an important man on the farm in the 19th century, as he shaped and repaired all things made of metal.
Tom Kennedy
Tom Kennedy is a freelance photographer and filmmaker from Jersey CI, working in the U.K and worldwide. He co-runs the creative photography and film production company Little River Pictures with his wife Annigna Kennedy who frequently stars in his pictures. He works with living history and photographs many characters in their natural environments from their time periods. He uses soft natural lighting and sometimes artificial lighting to capture these moments of ‘living history’
Tom is influenced by “painting with light” and the Dutch Masters paintings of the 17th Century including such masters as Rembrandt and Vermeer.
Cyanotype is a 170 year old photographic printing process that produces prints in a distinctive dark greenish-blue. The word cyan comes from the Greek, meaning “dark blue substance.”
What were cyanotypes used for?
The cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces blue prints using coated paper and light. The process was discovered by the scientist and astronomer Sir John Herschel in 1842. Herschel used the cyanotype process so that he could reproduce mathematical tables along with other notes and diagrams
How to make a Cyanotype print?:
*Cyanotype paper (pre-prepared)
*Glass/acrylic sheet
*objects (Dry leafs,flowers or hands)
The science behind Cyanotypes:
The cyanotype process uses a mixture of iron compounds, which when exposed to UV light and washed in water oxidise to create Prussian Blue images. The technique was invented in 1841 by Sir John Herschel and was popularised by photographer and botanist Anna Atkins.
Anna Atkins:
Born: March 16, 1799, Tonbridge, United Kingdom and died June 9, 1871
English botanical artist, collector and photographer Anna Atkins was the first person to illustrate a book with photographic images. Her nineteenth-century cyanotypes used light exposure and a simple chemical process to create impressively detailed blueprints of botanical specimens.
Anna’s innovative use of new photographic technologies merged art and science, and exemplified the exceptional potential of photography in books.
Anna’s self-published her detailed and meticulous botanical images using the cyanotype photographic process in her 1843 book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. With a limited number of copies, it was the first book ever to be printed and illustrated by photography.
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.
Discover Syvret House, a decorated and furnished farmhouse gives a unique window into 1940s rural life, including; agricultural traditions, day-to-day family life, language, religion and the experience of the German Occupation.
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.
Royal Patents were awarded to those who had provided a particular service to the monarch or close relative. In Hamptonne’s case, this resulted from his loyalty to the Royalist cause during the English Civil War, when he was Vicomte or executive officer of Jersey’s Royal Court. It was in that role that Hamptonne issued the famous Proclamation in St Helier’s Royal Square on 17 February 1649, declaring Charles II as King after news reached the Island of the execution of Charles I.
Hamptonne’s support of the penniless exiled King Charles II resulted in several 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.
Cider apple orchard :
One of Hamptonnes main attraction is the apple cider making and demonstrates how people back then would use the ‘machines’ to turn apples from the orchid into apple cider.
Every year hamptonne has a cider making festival from collecting apples from the trees in the orchids at the beginning of October and then turning it into cider.
To the east of the farm complex is the Cider Apple Orchard, which consists of apple trees chosen for their sweet, bitter and sharp flavours to provide a good balance for cider making when mixed together. The footpath through the orchard takes you into a small area of woodland. Wooded areas at the back of farms provided an important source of wood for fuel and building materials, while also supporting a rich variety of plants and wildlife. Follow the footpath down to the grazing Meadow and, if you wish, continue on the public footpath that joins the National Trust for Jersey’s Toad Trail.
Tom Kennedy:
Tom is a local photographer who mainly takes photographs of the characters at hamptonne, using natural light like they did back then in the 17th century when painting pictures. . He studied photography, film, television and sound at the Plymouth College of Art and Design. He then went on to work in the London film industry for several years before returning to Jersey. Tom is in charge of all camera and sound production.
Some of his work:
Overall the site is square in shape. It includes ranges of buildings built in different periods, arranged around two courtyards. While the farm has medieval origins, consecutive owners have made marked improvements to the living accommodation. 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 requirements of the agriculture workforce, 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.
To the south is Langlois House, which comprises stabling and an undercroft on the ground floor, and a parlour and bedroom on the first floor. At the south-west corner is a twin-arched stone gateway providing access to the roadway. To the south of Langlois House are the pigsties and a spring-fed pond.
To the west is the Cider House or pressoir with its granite apple crusher and press; to the southern end of this row is Syvret House which consists of a kitchen, parlour, two bedrooms and a small cabinet. The House is presented as the home of a tenant farmer around 1948.
The Latin name means ‘dark chamber’ consisted of small darken room with light coming through from a single tiny hole. The light passing through the small hole will project an image of a scene outside the box on the surface opposite to the hole.
Nicephore Niepce:
Born march 7th 1765 in Chalon-sur-Saone France and died in 1833 Chalon-sur-Saone France. He was an French inventor and commonly credited for his photography and a pioneer in that field. He was the first to make a permanent photographic image.
Louis Daguerre:
Born 18 November 1787 and died on 10 July 1851, he was a French artist and photographer recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography. Daguerre explained that the magic of his dioramas resulted from his use of light in the scenes. He claimed to have discovered a system of painting that could transform the appearance of an object by switching between reflected and refracted light, as well as by changing the colour of the light that fell upon it.
Daguerreotype:
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. Named after the inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, each daguerreotype is a unique image on a silvered copper plate. The daguerreotype is accurate, detailed and sharp.
Henry fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot is the father of the negative-positive photographic process, as it is practiced today. Talbot was born in Melway; Dorsey, England in 1800 to a wealthy well established family. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge University; he was deeply interested and knowledgeable in a variety of subjects: botany, art, biblical, astronomy, and ancient language. Talbot was an accomplished mathematician involved in the research of light and optics; he invented the polarizing microscope. He was also politically active and a Member of Parliament. He lived his adult life at this family estate, Lacock Abby, originally built in 1232.
Talbot’s interest in drawing but lack of craftsmanship led him to experiment with capturing and securing an image. In 1835 Talbot had successfully made a photograph of his home, Lacock Abby, which he referred to as “the first instance on record of a house painting it’s own portrait”. He was unaware of Daguerre’s photographic progress in France, and did not publish a description of the process until after the announcement by the French Government of the daguerreotype, January 6, 1839.
Richard Maddox
Maddox is best known for his invention light weight gelatine negative plates for photography in 1871, which enabled photographers to use commercial dry plates off the shelf instead of having to prepare their own emulsions in a mobile darkroom
In 1871, Dr. Richard Maddox developed a way to use gelatine instead of glass for the negatives. A turning point in photography, the process allowed photographers to develop a dry-plate technique rather than the wet plates of the collodion process.
George Eastman
What did George Eastman invent and when?
Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in 1888. Thanks to his inventive genius, anyone could now take pictures with a handheld camera simply by pressing a button. He coined the slogan, “you press the button, we do the rest,” and within a year it became a well-known phrase.
He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester and in London Eastman Dental Hospital; contributing to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the construction of several buildings at the second campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the Charles River. In addition, he made major donations to Tuskegee University and Hampton University, historically black universities in the South. With interests in improving health, he provided funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents.
Kodak (brownie)
What was unique about the Kodak Brownie?
One of the very first cameras to make photography simpler and more accessible to everyone was the Kodak Brownie. It was a fixed shutter speed camera with no aperture control or focusing abilities–and was essentially little more than a box with a fake leather exterior for gripping purposes.
How much did the Brownie camera cost in 1900?
The Brownie camera was offered for $1 in 1900. It sold 10 million units in just five years, a success beyond the company’s wildest expectations.
film/print photography
How are film photos printed?
The paper is exposed to a photographic negative, a positive transparency (or slide), or a digital image file projected using an enlarger or digital exposure unit such as a Light Jet or Minilab printer. Following exposure, the paper is processed to reveal and make permanent the latent image.
You can still get most of your film developed and turned into prints through stores that specialize in photography. The actual services vary across different companies. But there are a number of specialty photography retailers all over the country that will develop colour and B&W film in a variety of different sizes.
print photography
First introduced in the 1880s, film negatives became increasingly popular by the early 20th century and essentially replaced glass negatives by the 1920s. gelatin silver print (silver print) • Introduced in the 1870s, the gelatin silver print quickly became the most common photographic printing process.
How were pictures first printed? The earliest photographs were mostly made on metal plates using Daguerre’s process, commonly known as a daguerreotype. While this process resulted in a stable image, the only way to duplicate an image was to take another picture of the original daguerreotype.
Digital photography
Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The captured images are digitized and stored as a computer file ready for further digital processing, viewing, electronic publishing, or digital printing.
What do you need for digital photography?
Memory/Film If you choose an analog camera, you’ll need film. If you choose a digital camera, even if it has internal memory, you’ll want to get a memory card. There are many different types of memory cards, but the two most common are SD (Secure Digital) and CF (Compact Flash).
What is digital photography example?
Electronic/digital cameras: These capture images/photographs and store them in built-in/integrated storage media cards. Computing devices: Examples include a webcam integrated with a computer/laptop or a scanner that enables the capturing of existing physical (paper/card) image.
Hamptonne is a country life museum that shows the history of the Jersey farmers and culture in the 15th century. It contains different areas for visitors to explore and learn about, including, the apple orchard, houses, bakehouse, playground and animal farm.
History
Hamptonne got its name in 1633 when Laurens Hamptonne purchased the farm. It 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.
Cider Apple Orchard
The Cider Apple Orchard is one of Hamptonne’s most popular attractions due to all the different apple trees which provide a good balance for cider making when mixed together.
Every year, Hampttone holds a cider-making festival where all the apples from the trees are collected at the beginning of October, then turned into cider. The old cider press is used and people come to enjoy the traditional food, music, games and cider.
Living History Characters
Inside the houses and around the farm you will meet different performers acting like the people who used to live and work at the farm in the 15th century. These people wear old traditional clothing and you are able to interact with them and learn more about what it was like to live in Hamptonne. These characters are available from late March through to October and they include: the Goodwife, Blacksmith, Wool Spinners, Knitters and Dyers.
A picture of the goodwife
Tom Kennedy
Tom Kennedy is a local jersey photographer that uses natural lighting in order to create painting-like photographs of the characters and make them seem more natural and like they are in the characters’ time periods. He was influenced by 17th-century painters including Rembrandt and Vermeer.
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.
Discover Syvret House, a decorated and furnished farmhouse gives a unique window into 1940s rural life, including; agricultural traditions, day-to-day family life, language, religion, and the experience of the German Occupation.
Hamptonne is known in Jersey for its homemade cider which is crafted using traditional methods from the 16th century. To the east of the farm complex is the Cider Apple Orchard, which consists of apple trees chosen for their sweet, bitter and sharp flavours to provide a good balance for cider making when mixed together.
Overall the site is square in shape. It includes ranges of buildings built in different periods, arranged around two courtyards. While the farm has medieval origins, consecutive owners have made marked improvements to the living accommodation. The main buildings are therefore named after the Langlois, Hamptonne and Syvret families, who lived here between 15th and 19th centuries. To the south is Langlois House, which comprises stabling and an undercroft on the ground floor, and a parlour and bedroom on the first floor. At the south-west corner is a twin-arched stone gateway providing access to the roadway. To the south of Langlois House are the pigsties and a spring-fed pond. To the west is the Cider House or pressoir with its granite apple crusher and press; to the southern end of this row is Syvret House which consists of a kitchen, parlour, two bedrooms and a small cabinet. The House is presented as the home of a tenant farmer around 1948.
The first photographic camera developed for commercial manufacture was a daguerreotype camera, built by Alphonse Giroux in 1839. Giroux signed a contract with Daguerre and Isadore Niepce to produce the cameras in France, with each device and accessories costing 400 francs.
the Brownie camera was one of the first affordable cameras readily available to the public. the brownie cost £1 pound to purchase in 1901 when it was first manufacture until 1935 when the camera was discontinued. the price is equivalent to £31 in todays money
photography has been used since the mid 1800s to display passion in the hobby and a to be reviewed at a later date. it has become a passion and livelihood to thousand of people all over the world. in 2021 more pictures are taken world wide every minute and during the entire 19th century. this figure truly demonstrates the improvements to photography technology that has become in the last 100 years.
“the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays”
Photography has come a long way in the last twenty years. Now photography is used all over the world to document many things for example, personal experiences, television shows, and research. Photography is an easy way for people do capture their memories and document their lives on a small scale level now that cameras have become so readily available. It also allows people to express themselves using photography as a form of art.
Photography as an Art
Only recently has h[photography began to be considered an art form. Personally I believe that photography has always been an art form as it allows people to express themselves in many different styles and settings. Photography allows people to be as creative and imaginative as they want with very few limits as to what they do and where they can go. This means that anyone who owns a modern phone can become an artist in their own way.
Photography as a profession
Thousands of people all over the world make a living through photography. Whether its through taking and selling pictures through on your own or thorough a company with very high end equipment. Photography is heavily used in documentaries to show the true nature of the world or in heavily populated areas, rich and poor to make clear and document the true stories these places tell. Professional photography is an ambition in younger generations as it it they way forward and the war to make people aware.