April, 1997
Downton Heritage Site, Yorkshire'…. The cottages were renovated just before and just after the First World War. Here, again, you see the influence of Matthew Crawley. As a result of this, the working tenant farmers were able to stay until the forties. Matthew consolidated two of the farms and paid for the elderly tenants to be taken to York for medical care and a comfortable retirement. Those united parcels of land were planted, crops were rotated, and produced the most profit for the estate, even long after Matthew's death. You'll see them over there; we now grow all the wheat we use for flour and keep bees nearby.
'Next we will go see Dame Isobel Crawley's flower garden. Dame Isobel received her CBE in 1925; that would have tickled Lady Violet had she lived to see it. Dame Isobel remained at Crawley House until her death in 1952, and maintained the garden she had planted in memory of her son for as long as she was able. The flowers now bloom as a memorial to both mother and son, and now the York Horticultural Society volunteer to tend it.'
'Notice the large stepping stones with animal faces on them? Dame Isobel put those in to delight her grandson, George, who grew up to become the last Earl of Grantham. Of course these kept the boy from stepping on any of the garden plots. But, of course, apart from the flowers, the loveliest spot in the garden is the fountain. The swans represent Matthew and Lady Mary, and the little cygnet, George.'
'Matthew and Lady Mary must have loved each other very much….''So beautiful; look how the male broods over his family….''Oh, yes, as far as we know from the surviving letters and the document that became his will, Matthew was deeply devoted to Lady Mary for many years, beginning long before they married. And Lady Mary never married again, though men thought her a great prize. She devoted the rest of her life to George, and when she died, she was laid next to her husband.'
'Is there a memorial to Lady Mary? After all, she never became Countess and it is all so sad.''The memorial to Lady Mary is so famous, one almost forgets that it is in fact a memorial. Of course you must be aware of the famous sculpture, 'The Lovers' Bench' by T. Martin Richmond? It was the last Earl, George, that commissioned it, and since the old oak did come down in a storm prior to this, a beech tree was cast along with the bench, and the two figures, Matthew and Mary.'
'I didn't know that The Lovers' Bench was a sculpture of those two! It's so beautiful...'You mean the original is here at the Downton Heritage Site and a copy is at the museum?''You are right, ma'am. Of course, the little pavilion in the back yard where the original sculpture is is not where Matthew Crawley was said to have knelt down and proposed to Lady Mary, but that is his likeness kneeling before her as she sits on the bench and hers smiling into his eyes. Seeing 'the Lovers' Bench' is a highlight of our guided tour, and we will go there before we see the little village, Crawley House and the family plot.'
