Friday Funnies

Animal crackers are not what they were years ago as far as price goes, but at least they're no longer caged on the box artwork.

In 1902, Nabisco (the National Biscuit Company) introduced Barnum's Animals.The crackers snack was based on P.T. Barnum’s popular circus and featured a colorful red and yellow box with illustrated animals in cages like train cars used to transport them. Before this, crackers were typically sold unpackaged in bulk from barrels or large tins.

Barnum’s crackers were cut in over 53 animal shapes. Over the years, children have bitten heads off lions, tigers, camels, kangaroos, zebras, elephants, sheep, tigers, camels, rhinos, hippos, zebras, bears, giraffes and more. While the exact animals in a box varies, rabbits nave never been included as they are not circus animals. The monkey was the only animal wearing any clothing, a pair of pants, but no reason was ever given.

Original 1902 Barnum's Animal crackers box

Back then, a box of animal crackers originally cost 5 cents. In the 1960s to 1970, individual or multi-box deals were commonly priced around two boxes for 25 cents before climbing to a dollar or more in later decades. In the late 20th (1970-1999) to early 21st century (2001-2020), single 2.13 oz boxes were in the $1.50 to $2.50 range. Prices have changed and now, a single box can go for $3 or more.

Recent price of a single box at a local CVS store

Did you know that Nabisco originally intended for the string to be used for hanging the box as an ornament on a Christmas tree? children could hang the empty box as a decoration after it was emptied. It later became a convenient way for them to tote their snacks. Around 8,000 miles of string is used annually for the boxes; over 40 million boxes are produced each year.

Animals are now uncaged on boxes

After 116 years, Nabisco uncaged the animals in 2018. They’re no longer shown behind bars in cages, but pictured roaming in grass. That change came after PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) pressured the company citing cruelty inflicted on circus animals.

Now you know a lot more about what may have been one of your favorite childhood snacks. I know they were one of mine.

Thanks for your comments on recent posts about our Yorkshire Dales trip. There's more to come in future posts. However, I'm taking a blog break for the next couple of weeks as we’re now on a(nother) adventure cruising the Snake and Columbia Rivers on an American Cruise Lines riverboat cruise.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

Fall is proving to be our long-distance travel season

Bolton Was Always a Castle

Bolton Castle has always been a castle, unlike Castle Howard in the previous post.

Bolton Castle in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England

Bolton Castle is a 14th-century castle located in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, England and the nearby village of Castle Bolton takes its name from the castle. Bolton is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument which signifies structures of exceptional architectural or historic interest that receive the highest level of statutory protection in the UK.

Bolton is considered to be one of England's best preserved medieval castles. Despite being damaged in the English Civil War (1642-1651), much of it survived. It's never been sold and remains in the ownership of Scrope family descendants.

Bolton Castle was built between 1378 and 1399 by Sir Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron of Bolton. The Scropes were one of the oldest established Norman families in Britain and by the 14th century they were very powerful and extremely wealthy. A license to build the castle was granted in July 1379. The cost of construction is believed to have been about $25,000 in current U.S. dollars. 

In 1536, John, 8th Baron Scrope supported the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion against the religious reforms of King Henry VIII. Scrope fled to Skipton pursued by the King's men. In retribution, the king ordered Bolton Castle to be torched, causing extensive damage. Within a few years, some of the damage had been repaired and Sir John regained his seat in Parliament.

Restored bed chamber of Lord Scrope

After the 1630 death of Emanuel Scrope, 1st Earl of Sunderland, without any legitimate children, Bolton Castle was inherited by Mary, the eldest of his three illegitimate daughters. 

Bolton is a prime example of a quadrangular castle and features four rectangular corner towers. While typical of the period, its rectangular towers don't extend far beyond the curtain walls. (A curtain wall is the main defensive perimeter wall of a medieval castle that encloses the inner courtyard, running continuously between projecting towers.) The physical footprint of Bolton Castle measures about 187 feet by 131 feet.

The castle was built with defense in mind. It has opening that enabled objects to be dropped onto attackers below. Private apartments were on the upper floors. 

As interesting as the castle’s history is to explore, its interior is not easily accessible for those with mobility issues due to its spiral stairways and uneven surfaces.

Internal access doors were protected by a heavy, vertical-sliding grating or gate made of wood, iron, or a combination to block the entrance of the castle. 

Members of our tour group in Mary Queen of Scots bedroom

Bolton Castle was considered an appropriate location for Mary, Queen of Scots to be imprisoned after her defeat at the Battle of Langside in 1568. It is believed that Mary, along with her retinue of 51 knights, servants and ladies-in-waiting stayed in apartments in the south-west tower. According to available information, Mary was allowed to wander the grounds, and she often went hunting and also learned to speak English while confined to the castle grounds. It seems like she didn’t have too difficult a confinement at Bolton.

Restored great hall. Bolton Castle

While a great deal of the castle remains in ruins, several rooms have been restored as period pieces with interesting features. These rooms include old kitchens, dungeon, nursery, armory and great chamber. Of course, these restorations have helped make the castle more attractive as a tourist destination.

Bolton Castle hedge maze

The property has extensive grounds with a maze, herb garden, wild flower meadow, rose garden and a vineyard. The surrounding Bolton Estate historically spanned thousands of acres. Past estate records noted upwards of 12,000 to 15,000 acres of moorland, woodland and agricultural lands.

Thomas Peter Algar Orde-Powlett and wife, Kate, owners of Bolton Castle

The castle is currently owned by Thomas Peter Algar Orde-Powlett, 9th Baron of Bolton, who inherited after the June 2023 death of his father, Harry Orde-Powlett. Unlike Castle Howard in the previous post it's not lived in by family members at the current time; however, they do live on the estate in other housing.

And, like Castle Howard, Bolton Castle has been used as a filming location for various movies and TV shows, including Ivanhoe, Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, Heartbeat and All Creatures Great and Small.

Like so many these ancient structures, Bolton Castle is foremost a tourist attraction and is also occasionally rented out for events like weddings. It's open from April to October. However, annual visitor numbers for Bolton Castle are not publicly published by the estate or national databases. It’s a privately owned and commercial heritage site.

A Man’s Home is His Castle

Even though the word castle is in the post title, this building is not actually a castle; however it is a home.

Castle Howard, Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, England

Despite its name, Castle Howard was built as a grand 18th-century English Baroque country home, not a true medieval fortress or castle. But, it was built on the site of the older and ruined Henderskelfe Castle, a medieval fortress that came into the Howard family line in 1577 through marriage.

A castle isn't a castle when it's built for status, comfort, or show, not military defense. Many 18th to 20th-century stately houses were built with crenellations (notched walls), towers, or battlements to look medieval, without any real military capability.

Full scale model of Castle Howard

Castle Howard is located in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, 15 miles north of York. It's been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years passed down through generations and has always been a private residence recognized for its dramatic Baroque architecture, richly layered interiors and world-class art collections. 

Baroque is a dramatic and highly ornate style of Western art, architecture, and music that flourished from the early 1600s until the 1750s. Originating in Rome, the style was heavily promoted by the Catholic Church to inspire awe and emotional devotion. European monarchs used its grand scale to showcase their power. 

Charles Howard

Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle had it built as a status symbol. He wanted a magnificent palace-like estate to assert his family's prominence and prestige in the British aristocracy and to showcase the wealth, power and political ambition of the Howard family. Construction began in 1699 and took over 100 years to complete and spanned the lifetimes of three Earls. 

John Vanbrugh

As a member of London's fashionable Kit-Cat Club, a prominent early 18th-century English dining and political club in London, Howard commissioned his friend, and fellow club member, playwright John Vanbrugh, an amateur architect.

Vanbrugh, who had never built anything before, recruited English architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, a leading supporter of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-17th and early 18th centuries to assist in construction. It began in 1699, but took over 100 years to complete and spanned the lifetimes of three Earls. The central block and dome were done by 1706. The central block and dome were finished by 1706. The exterior was largely finished by 1725 before the deaths of the architect and the 3rd Earl.

Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor created a Baroque masterpiece that included England's first-ever masonry dome on a country house (destroyed in a 1940 fire and later reconstructed). Work began in 1699 and spanned over a century until 1811. Later additions, like the Palladian West Wing, were designed by Sir Thomas Robinson.

The dome gave the exterior a unique silhouette. On the interior the dome’s height added to the openness of the Great Hall with columns, carvings, frescoes and connecting spaces. Exterior facades contained coats of arms and statuary. 

The 3rd Earl also commissioned a vast landscape featuring monuments, lakes and formal gardens in the surrounding Yorkshire countryside.

The mansion spans thousands of square feet with 145 rooms. The entire estate spans nearly 9,000 acres and features over 200 listed structures, formal gardens and lakes covering over 1,000 acres in addition to a separate 120-acre tree arboretum. 

Built from east to west, the house took shape in under 10 years. By 1725, when an engraving of the house appeared in The British Architect, most of the exterior structure was complete and its interiors opulently finished.

When Vanbrugh died in 1726 the house was incomplete; it lacked a west wing as attention was focused on landscaping the gardens.

The long gallery at castle Howard

It was unfinished when the 3rd Earl died in 1738. The house was completed by Carlisle’s son-in-law Sir Thomas Robinson in 1801-11 with the addition of the long gallery. 

The final appearance of the house bears only a partial resemblance to the idealized view. Instead of two identical wings the house has two wings that don't match for an asymmetrical appearance.

1940s fire at castle Howard collapsed the dome

In November 1940, a major blaze erupted at Castle Howard during WW II while the house was being used as  girl's school. Fanned by strong winds, the fire destroyed 20 rooms in the basement and upper levels and gutted the dome, which collapsed into the Great Hall as the largest architectural loss. Nearly a third of the building was left open and exposed parts of the building received a temporary roof and new windows.

Through the efforts of George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle and his daughter, Lady Cecilia, the restoration of Castle Howard was completed to restore it as a family home and major heritage attraction. 

The iconic 70-foot-high dome was completely renovated after 20 years. The dome is Castle Howard’s defining architectural element. 

From 1960 to 1962 the dome was rebuilt and redecorated. Once again it remans the most striking features of the house.

In 1981, the Garden Hall was rebuilt in conjunction with the filming of Brideshead Revisited. Restoration work and maintenance is ongoing throughout the estate, ranging from masonry and roofing projects, the gardens, lakes and waterways, to smaller objects like statues, paintings, books and textiles.

Castle Howard is owned by the family company Castle Howard Estate Limited. It's  managed and lived in by the Hon. Nicholas Howard (great-grandson of the 9th Earl of Carlisle) and his wife, Victoria. The total market value of Castle Howard is not publicly documented. 

Nicholas and Victoria Howard

The Howard family fortune, anchored by the estate and its world-class art collection, is estimated to be at least 100 million U.S. dollars. 

Castle Howard may look somewhat familiar as it's been used as a filming location in films and TV shows. The Netflix series, Bridgerton (2020) used the house and grounds as Clyvedon Castle, the country home of the Duke of Hastings. Both the iconic 1981 TV series and 2008 feature film of Brideshead Revisited used Castle Howard as the Marchmain family home, Brideshead. The 2013 BBC mystery, Death Comes to Pemberly, used interior and exterior locations. The 2015 TV series, Victoria, used the house as a stand-in for Kensington Palace.

The house is open for tours from spring to autumn and decorated each winter for Christmas. It attracts over 250,000 visitors a year. 

Another post this week will be about an actual castle we visited on this tour.

Yorkshire Dales & Ribblehead

The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys (dales) in the Pennines, an upland range in England. They are located in north-central England and mostly protected as the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The park was established in 1954 and spans North Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Lancashire over 841 square miles (2,179 square kilometers). 

A view of a Yorkshire Dales valley

They're located in north-central England and mostly protected as part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The park was established in 1954 and spans North Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Lancashire over 841 square miles (2,179 square kilometers). The area is renowned for striking valleys, drystone walls, and rolling green hills. 

As readers of this blog know, we recently returned from a 9-day tour of the Yorkshire Dales in the UK conducted through NH PBS (Public Broadcasting System). The trip was inspired by the PBS Masterpiece series All Creatures Great and Small centering around the rolling green valleys, stone-built villages, and actual filming locations.

Other TV shows and movies also have been filmed in the Yorkshire Dales including: Emmerdale, The Yorkshire Vet, Wuthering Heights, Calendar Girls, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The word dale, like dell, is derived from the Old English word, dæl. It shares this historical origin in the Nordic/Germanic words for valley (dal, tal) and occurs in valley names across Yorkshire and Northern England.

One thing you will notice when touring in the Yorkshire Dales are the miles and miles of dry stone walls. According to  online sources, there's over 5,000 miles (about 8,000 kilometers) of these walls, which are locally referred to simply as walls or field boundaries in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This iconic, mortar-less structures are the largest man-made feature in the Dales landscape. 

The construction of a dry stone wall is as straightforward as it sounds. This very traditional method of building structures from stone doesn't use mortar or cement to hold stones together. The stability of the walls comes from carefully selecting, shaping and interlocking the stones. The stone walls have traditionally been used for the boundaries of fields and churchyards or as retaining walls for terracing.

A herd of cattle in the Yorkshire Dales

Much of the Yorkshire Dales is rural and used for agriculture. Residents live in small villages and hamlets or in farmsteads. Sheep breeding and cattle rearing remain common. To supplement their incomes, many farmers have diversified, some now provide accommodations for tourists. A number of agricultural shows are held each year. During our tour, we attended the last one of the season in Pately Bridge. 

There are over 600,000 sheep in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, but these numbers have been declining. as farmers face steep increases in fuel, feed, fodder and medication costs. The average age of a British farmer is around 60. 

Tighter financial margins have led many traditional hill farmers to downsize or transition from sheep. Lamb and mutton demand in the UK has dropped over the last few decades. Also, trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand have eliminated tariffs and expanded import quotas, increasing competition for domestic sheep farmers in the UK market.

A flock of sheep in the Yorkshire Dales

Sheep outnumber humans (23,500 to 24,000) by roughly 30 to 1. The county of Cumbria has the most sheep in England, with an estimated 984,325 sheep across more than 3,000 holdings or farms. North Yorkshire has about 845,598 sheep across 3,169 holdings.

Young Swaledale sheep at Pately Bridge agricultural show

The classic local breed is the Swaledale sheep, known for its curved horns (on both ewes and rams) and distinctive black-and-white face marked with white around the eyes, like spectacles. 

Swaledale sheep are known for their ability to thrive in exposed locations with no need for fences. They can endure harsh, cold winters and forage on rough moorland and high-lying fells. These sheep are farmed for lamb, mutton and coarse wool used for carpets, rugs, and insulation. The well-recognized symbol of the Yorkshire Dales National Park features a Swaledale sheep head. 

There's no official number of villages in the Yorkshire Dales and counts vary depending on boundaries and if they include small hamlets and scattered farmsteads. Regional guides feature 67 total cities, towns and villages in the region. The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority notes that 24,000 people live across a scattered network of small market towns, individual farms and historic stone-built villages.

There's no definite winner as to which Yorkshire Dales village is the most picturesque. Several locations are widely celebrated as the best spots in the Yorkshire Dales. Among these is the village of Grassington with its honey-colored stone cottages, a bustling cobbled market square, independent shops. It's famous as a primary filming location for All Creatures Great and Small. We visited Grassington on the first day of our tour during the annual 1940s weekend.

Ribblehead Viaduct (not the Harry Potter one)

The Ribblehead Viaduct or the Batty Moss Viaduct is a landmark Victorian railway structure in the Yorkshire Dales National Park famous for its dramatic engineering and monumental scale across a harsh landscape. It's the longest and the third tallest structure on the Settle-Carlisle line standing 104 feet high and supported by 24 massive stone arches. (A viaduct is a long, high bridge-like structure with a series of arches, piers or columns that carries a road or railroad over low ground, valley or gorge.)

Landscape of the viaduct area

Designed by John Sydney Crossley, chief engineer of the Midland Railway, it spans 1,312 feet across the boggy Batty Moss and was built between 1869 and 1874 using mostly manual labor, a workforce of up to 2,3000 railway workers. Over 100 men died during construction from brutal weather, accidents and diseases. By the 1980s, heavy weathering and high maintenance costs led British Rail to propose closing and demolishing the line. A massive public campaign successfully lobbied to save the structure, leading to its monument protection. 

Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland

It's often mistaken for the Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland famous in Harry Potter films. The Jacobite Steam Train, known as the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express, crosses this viaduct four times daily during peak summer season. A good reason for a future trip to Scotland.

Visiting the Yorkshire Dales is well worth the experience especially if you enjoy dramatic natural landscapes, outdoor walking, historic structures and charming villages. However, due to time constraints, our tour presented limited opportunities for detailed exploration of this beautiful landscape.