Christmastide in the Poldark Novels #2

Two years ago was my first post about Christmas in the Poldark novels but I only went through the first four books ending with the epic Christmas of 1793 in Warleggan! That blog was also full of inspirational recipes that hopefully some people tried. See November, 2016 blog.

It has been great fun going through the novels looking for Christmas celebrations. Some years little mention of  Christmas is made, others fortunately for us, details were made known.

Christmas, 1794 in The Black Moon... Clowance has been born and her Christening takes place on Christmas Day.  Caroline came to visit on Christmas Eve and stays the night.   She is Clowance's godmother. Dwight is not there because he is in a French prison. They supped late, and went to bed early because of the cold. It was so cold the Christmas carolers didn't come. Demelza had mince tarts and ginger wine ready for them.

In the morning they find it has snowed a great deal but Ross decides it is safe enough to go to the church. Nearly everyone in the neighborhood is there including Jud who is indignant they named a cheel (child)  Clarence! Years later Clowance tells Lord Edward Fitzmaurice about an old man in Cornwall who still calls her Clarence...........

Dr. Choake attended the christening and Ross asks about his Aunt Agatha. He decides to go see her and Demelza sends Caroline with him thinking no harm will come to him if she is with him. This starts his weekly visits to his ancient Aunt. Until the Warleggans are back in residence at Trenwith!

Christmas scene. The song they were singing:

Mincemeat Tarts Recipe

1/2 orange, squeezed & zest
1/2 lemon, squeezed & zest
2 c. golden raisins
1 c. currents
4 tart apples, I used Granny Smith, diced, unpeeled
1 c. diced candied orange peel
2 c. apple cider
1 3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg & cloves*
1/2 tsp mace
recipe also called for powdered coriander but I didn't have that
Brandy, Bourbon or Whiskey to taste... I did about 3T Brandy, more would have been even better!
Rum or Sherry to taste

Add the orange & lemon juices & zest to medium stainless steel stock pot. Add raisins, currents, candied peel, core, but do not peel the apples..chop up small dice, and cider. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the mixture is fairly dry, about 15 minutes. Add sugar & spices and simmer 10-15 minutes longer or until thick. Stir in Brandy. This made approximately 5 cups. Half was used for 48 tarts.

*fairly strong in the spice taste. I like it. My husband thought it too much. Might want to go lightly. You can always add more.  Recipe adapted from Visions of  Sugarplums by Mimi Sheraton, 1996

Shortcrust Pastry Dough (so much better than just pie dough)

4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c.  butter (cold)
4 T confectioner's sugar
2 egg yolks

Add sugar to flour, then cut in butter until it resembles coarse meal, add egg yolks and then
ice cold water to mix...add a little at time, enough to form a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

This can be made into pies, which has a top, or tarts, which I made open face. Uncover the dough, knead a couple times to make sure it is all incorporated. Flour surface and roll out to 1/4". I used a 2" fluted biscuit/scone cutter. I sprayed the pan with baking spray. place dough in the pan. Place about 1 Tablespoon in each mini-tart and bake at 350 until dough is nicely browned. About 30 minutes. WATCH THEM.

Left to right - mixture cooking on the stove top, to placing in tart pan, to individual tarts. These traditionally are made with a top crust or a pastry star on top...

In The Four Swans we have Ross and Demelza and both children bathing on December 21st. "The water was icy to get in but the air delicious to come out into, and while they rubbed themselves with towels the low sun peered over the sea, casting long cadaverous shadows of themselves across the silent beach. Then indoors, giggling and still damp, to stand before the fire and sup bowls of steaming soup and sip toddy. It was Jeremy's first taste of spirituous liquor and it went to his head and he lay on the settle shrieking with laughter while Clowance gazed gravely at her brother thinking he had gone off his head."

Christmas, 1798, The Angry Tide finds Dwight alone at Nampara. Caroline has left Cornwall after the death of their daughter. Although the Poldarks were a bit sad, Demelza had a party and for a time made her heart glad.  The Blameys arrived from Falmouth with their five-year-old son and James, Verity's step-son.

James was the great success.  While it was still daylight he played lions with the children, and when it was dark he told them stories of wild days at sea and storm and battle that held them goggle-eyed.

The day after Christmas they gave a children's party. In the series it was Dwight who was there, not the Blameys. He and Ross go for a walk and  Ross tears down the offensive fence at Trenwith! The chapter ends with Ross and Verity having a serious conversation. Verity realizes all is not quite well at Nampara and Ross says: "But now and then you do not have all the control of your feelings that you should have - and then thoughts and feelings surge up in you like - like an angry tide. And it is hard, sometimes it is hard to control the tide."


Here's a recipe for a meat pie, perhaps like the one Demelza made for Ross in season one? I just loved that scene. She was so pleased he liked her efforts (and the genuine blush Eleanor had was so cute!) and like a wise husband, throughout the novels, Ross always says he prefers her cooking.

The Youtube video of that scene: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/202732420704705633/

Prudie has recovered her "skillage!"

The Tale of the Pork Pie.....

I have many, many recipes books from Cornwall and thought I would try one called Truro Pork Pie. Just so you know, I have never made one of these and like pasties, aren't a "thing" in the US as far as I can tell.

The hot water (in this case milk) pastry dough is a dream. Goes together well, used warm, not cold. I have done some research and there is a difference between the way these were made historically and today it seems.

According to Jas Townsend & Son, a purveyor of historic goods who has done many great Youtube videos on historic foodways, the dough is allowed to rest for at least four hours or even over night. But the modern method you use it while still warm.

I was determined to make a meat pie that looked like the one Demelza made for Ross in season one.

My Pork & Apple Pie

 Demelza's Pie

My friend in Cornwall, Elaine Pluckrose, told me about a recipe from the BBC and it has a very good video!  I will provide the link here with the recipe too. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipe/raised-pork-pie

I did make something more successful and that was an Apple Chutney.  The original recipe, Truro Pork Pie, called for chutney or pickled walnuts as an accompaniment.   I had a recipe for chutney that I wanted to try.  I think it is good and can accompany several meats.

Apple Chutney

1 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

5 c. finely chopped apples

1 c. golden raisins

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp mustard

1/2 tsp garlic (optional, I didn't use)

Bring vinegar and sugars to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium and add remaining ingredients.  Simmer until mixture thickens about 30 minutes.

Makes about 4 1/2 cups. Cover and refrigerate. Should last at least a couple weeks in refrigerator with all the vinegar and sugar!

Near Christmas 1812 (The Miller's Dance) Demelza delivers a son named Henry (sometimes called Harry). Ross sends a letter to Clowance...........  ".......... So I can tell you I live hopefully - not optimatically, for that would be foreign for me too - but hopefully, that our  Christmas will be a happy one after all.  Come home soon. We do not need you but we want you. Tear yourself away from Verity and rejoin us.  As ever your loving Father."

********** SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE TWISTED SWORD******

The Twisted Sword takes place in 1815 and is one of the most exciting and also devastating of all the books. I cry every time I get to the part where Ross finds Jeremy on the battlefield......... So naturally Christmas that year would be half-hearted because Jeremy won't be there.

It's Christmas Eve, a mild grey day. "The library is decorated with holly and ivy and ferns and a few early primroses, as was the parlour." They also decorated Sawle Church. Cuby, Jeremy's widow was with them because her baby was due soon and she promised to come to Nampara for her lying-in.

It wasn't too cold for the carolers to come. They sang the Dilly Song, Noel and Joseph Was An Old Man.

Again, mince tarts and ginger wine are mentioned.

On  Christmas Day they attend church and the Rev Odgers (who must be ancient by now!) read from Psalms...... "Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help." And then Psalm 22, Verse 20 (same as opening page of the book) "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog," Demelza put her hand quietly into Ross's. His hand closed on hers.

After church they went to Killewarren to spend Christmas with the Dwight and Caroline Enys and their two girls, Sophie and Meliora.

"They had bought Caroline a piece of fine French lace, Dwight a neckerchief, and silk pinafores for the girls; the Enyses had a pair of wine goblets for Demelza, riding gloves for Ross, a finely crocheted child's bonnet for Cuby, a book of songs for Bella, a toy horse for Harry that however much it would always swing upright again."

Because of the children they dined early, and laughed a good deal and ate consumedly and drank good wine and generally made merry, though there was ice underneath, ice that clung around the heart. Shut out thoughts of other Christmases, other shadows on the wall.........Life was to be lived - it had to go on. Chiefly for the sake of the young, but even for themselves, it must go on.... Do not think of Jeremy lying in the cold Flanders clay."

At 6:30 Henry was fretful so they left for home.... As they go home Ross, ever the introspective man he is(!) thinks about how little has changed (the topography) from the time he rode this way in the  Autumn of 1783- thirty-two years ago - returning from the American War to find his father dead, Nampara in ruin with Jud and Prudie drunk in his father's old box bed.

And  Cuby goes into labor delivers a girl the next morning named Noelle.  Little Henry saw her and said "smaller'n me" with a strong Cornish accent!

In Bella, 1818-1820, Christmas is glossed over but as we near the end of the book we learn that there is to be a  Christmas party at Nampara.  Demelza said, "I am planning this Christmas party. It would give us all such pleasure - in return. Ross and I and Bella are leaving for home next Thursday. Christopher will  come down with Edward and Clowance on Saturday. Dwight and Caroline will certainly join in with their children. Then my daughter-in-law Cuby - who I think you have never met - with my granddaughter, will certainly be there...." (Demelza says this to Mrs. Pelham, whom Bella lived with in London).

The year is 1820. Unfortunately we do not get to experience this  Christmas in the book. Ross, Demelza and Bella are coming back to Cornwall after her successful appearance in Romeo and Juliet, so the Christmas party is only discussed.

However, before Winston Graham died, he wrote a short story called Christmas at Nampara, 1820 and it lies in the Royal Cornwall Museum where his papers are stored. There are three short stories that would be a great small volume to print. So let's hope it happens!

The three short stories:

*Meeting Demelza is out-of-print... listen to it being read on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyaA1klDxgg

*Jud The Horse Dealer was published in a magazine and is hilarious!

*Christmas at Nampara, 1820, never published. The book ending to Bella we didn't get... ends nicely, ties up remaining questions.

 Merry Christmas from me and the Nampara Poldarks! I am beyond sad that it seems season 5 will be the last series.  Perhaps after a break the cast will come back and finish the series? We can hope. We will always have the books to enjoy over and over again.

Thanks for reading!  On Christmas, give a toast to Ross & Demelza with your favorite tipple,  be it Ross's Brandy or Demelza's Port and thank them for all the entertainment they have given us these last years. For me, I like to think they are still at Nampara, sitting by the fireplace sipping their favorite beverages.


Bonny Wise

PS. If you liked this, please take the time to leave a comment... I really like that :-)

The Real People and Places in the Novels of Cornwall

I found the Novels of Cornwall only after seeing season one of the current Poldark series and then I couldn't believe I had never heard of the books!  Now I cannot imagine not knowing about them.

As I began to read the books,  I wondered about the people and places.  Winston Graham did an extraordinary job of interweaving the real places and people into the Poldark novels and the lives of Ross and Demelza and their friends and children.

You may remember I did an entire blog about the Poldark Trail in London.  If you have not read that, it was posted in  August, 2016.

While in Falmouth in June, 2016 I found a great book called The Great Cornish Families, a History of the People and Their Houses.  So much of what I will relate here will be from that book.

So let's begin with The Bassets of Tehidy.  The first one came to Cornwall in the Conqueror's time and the last one sold the family house, Tehidy, in 1916.  What a grand home it was!

Tehiddy House, Cornwall. The Seat of Francis Basset, Baron De Dunstanville" (1757-1835). 1832 engraving by John Thomas after T. Allom

This would have been what it looked like when  Ross and Demelza visited it I am sure.  The extra "d" makes sense as to how it is pronounced.  I thought it was -  Te hi De but its Te Hid e.  Here's a bit from the book about Francis Basset: made the Grand Tour as befits the heir of an affluent family.  He continued his father's work at Portreath, and wrote a whole parcel of political treatises ranging from relations with France to the state of Cornish agriculture.  Francis, like most other landed gentlemen of the day, was also an enthusiastic borough-monger.  For some years he battled with Lord Falmouth over the right to Tregony and Truro, eventually agreeing that Falmouth should have Truro, and Basset, Tregony. He fought a duel with Sir Christopher Hawkins, another borough-monger over Parliamentary controls.   They fired two shots each missed, and retired satisfied.... In 1796 Pitt made him Lord de Dunstanville.  The new lord, enjoyed a "princely income" from his mines, and did much work for the welfare of miners.  He was a liberal patron of literature and painting, an early patron of John Opie, the great Cornish painter (remember in the series George had Francis' painting taken down at Trenwith saying to Elizabeth he would have their portrait painted by Opie) , and a pall-bearer at his funeral in 1807.

In 1918 the house became a hospital for tuberculosis sufferers. On 23 February 1919 the house was destroyed by fire but by January 1922 had been completely rebuilt.

My picture I took of Lord de Dunstanville at St. Michael's Mount

No wonder Demelza was nervous at the thought of hosting the Basset's at Nampara! Afterwards they laughed about the funny stuff that happened like a server's thumb in the soup and then licked it!  And a mince tart was dropped and rolled under Dwight's chair..  Ross was very complimentary of the food. "It was all splendid.  A lavish meal would have been pretentious.  They could  not find better food in the county nor better cooked, and that was what mattered. " The menu included: Pease Soup, Boiled Tongue, Roasted Turkey Hen with chopped bacon, (her special) Raspberry Jam Puffs, syllabub and mince pies. Claret was bought from Mr. Trencrom, and they also had Geneva, brandy and Demelza's favorite: Port.

Boscawens, The Lords Falmouth

The name Hugh Boscawen dates back to at least 1578 and continues up to the Poldark novels in the late 1700s.  The Boscawens played no part in mining  operations; they simply leased rights on their land to the adventurers. Their home is Tregothnan. Probably the most famous was Edward Boscawen, "Old Dreadnought" or "Captain Ned." He was known as Pitt's great admiral.  Hugh's third son, George Evelyn (1758-1808) would be the one Ross Poldark knew.  As a soldier he was present at Lexington in the American War of Independence. Two years later he was pacifying a mob of angry miners in Truro.

Tregothnan- Home to the Boscawen family, Tregothnan is a living and working private Cornish estate, with a rich history dating back to 1334. The name ‘Tregothnan’ literally means ‘The House at the Head of the Valley’ and is still a private family home today. Today Tregothnan is a botanic garden and has the only tea plantation in the UK!

The Goldophins or Godolphins as George and Ossie Whitworth  are always going on about!

Again the name goes back to the 1500. The spelling was changed to make it easier to spell and probably pronounce.  The family made their fortune from metal which raised them to eminence from Tudor to Georgian times. Early members of the family were soldiers and have a good deal to do with the fort on St Mary's in the Scillies having built a castle above Hugh Town in the late 1500s.

Star Castle

Living near horse country (Bluegrass commonwealth of Kentucky) I associate the name with horses.  The second Earl of Godolphin, Francis (1678-1766) was devoted to horses and brought the famed Arab stallions to England from whom race horses descend.

The Goldophin House is near Helston, but the earldom became extinct in 1766 and the house associated with them was nearly demolished in 1850 according to my book. But look what is left! Must have been huge.

Now a National Trust property, open to the public and rentals.  Near Helston.

I started this blog ages and ages ago and with series 4 just starting I noticed people were asking questions about the names and places. Perhaps there will be a second half of this later.

Enjoy!
Bonny Wise, I am
Inspired by Poldark


PS I have just recently returned from a Group Tour I organized to Cornwall to go see where Poldark is filmed!

We were celebrities! TV, newspaper & magazines interviewed us...