The silk farm later produced silk for the late Princess Diana's wedding dress but by that time the farm had been sold and moved to Dorset. It also provided the silk for parachutes used during the Second World War. Guy Hart Dyke at the Lullingstone Castle silk farm In 1937 it had provided the silk for Queen Elizabeth (later to be known as the Queen Mother) at her coronation. Lullingstone Silk Farm, with silk worms imported from China, was established by Lady Zoe Hart Dyke, current owner Tom Hart Dyke's paternal grandmother, in the early 1930s and was the country's first such farm. The silk for which originated in a silk farm in Lullingstone, between Sevenoaks and Dartford. The intricate embroidery upon which had taken 3,500 hours to complete by a team of 12 seamstresses from the Royal School of Needlework. Returning to Buckingham Palace, she wore the newly-made Purple Robe of Estate. In the day ahead of the big occasion, it ferried passengers in the early hours of the morning – buses leaving Thanet just after midnight – in order for them to be able to take up position on the procession route at 4am.Īfter the Queen emerged from Westminster Abbey, she made a lengthy 7.2-mile journey back – a security chief's headache today – in order for as many people in London to be able to see their new monarch (and it's estimated three million people lined the streets). The East Kent Road Car Company (later to be snapped up by Stagecoach) ran daily trips up to the capital for visitors to admire what had been erected, running in passengers from Margate and Ramsgate until June 22. Photographs taken in London of decorations for the Queen's Coronation in 1953. The lights were officially switched on by the Queen as she appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in the evening of her coronation. They included illuminated arches in The Mall linked along the route by long lines of flags mounted with golden crowns. The decorations hung in London to mark the coronation proved a big tourist attraction for weeks after the event. If you came second, then you got a special spoon or a five shilling piece (about the equivalent today of £7). Margate did a similar giveaway, with midwives in the district also given silver cups to award to the four babies (or their exhausted mothers at least) in each area (Birchington, Cliftonville, Garlinge and Margate East) born closest to the point the crown was placed on the Queen's head. The then mayor of the town decided that every child born on June 2 would have an account opened at the Ramsgate Trustee Savings Bank with £2 deposited in each.Ī nice gesture, especially when you consider that's the equivalent of more than £60 today. Bunting was hung in Lydd for Coronation Day Some 12 men helped to get the ox on a spit over the fireplace at dawn and the ox was finally ready for eating by the evening, when 500 villagers joined in the revelry.Īs part of the deal, all the councils of the places approved – Margate also got the nod – had to finance the purchase of the ox and agree that all meat should be distributed for free.Īll of which will have at least warmed those attending a little as the weather was unseasonably cold for June, with rain persisting through much of the day.īabies born in Ramsgate on the day of the Queen's coronation were, literally, quids in. However, permission was given – it was one of just 82 applications eventually approved – and the mammoth task of cooking the half-ton animal began over a fire estimated to burn eight tons of wood. Something even those at the time thought something of a bending of the truth. The rather cheeky Ide Hill team argued they "always roasted an ox for the coronation of a queen". This picture of the Queen lit up Mote Park Maidstone in celebration of the Coronation in June 1953 More than 150 areas applied to be able to roast one of the animals on the day but to do so they had to prove a tradition of roasting oxen existed in the local area for such regal occasions. Which explains why residents in the likes of Ide Hill, near Sevenoaks, were forced to have to persuade the Ministry of Food to allow the village to be one of just a few places permitted to roast an ox to mark the Queen's Coronation. Rationing was only eased, incredibly, in 1954.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |