Quex Park - Part 2

As suggested in the last post, what a surprise we had on entering the museum - not about cotton at all but this gentleman,
Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
He was the epitome of a Victorian explorer who explored Africa and Asia between 1887 and 1939
He was also a big game hunter and there were 5 galleries displaying his collections
This post is not to discuss the current thinking on this kind of lifestyle but it was a fact of life in days gone by

I have captured only a few of the 500 stuffed animals on display here. On walking into the first gallery it was a 'wow' factor as all the animals looked so real and we were not expecting it.

Apparently behind the scenes there is an even bigger display

Apart from anything else it was amazing to think that this was the lifetime's work of one man but also the people that built the so life like displays and the backing murals

At the end of this post you will see some information to show that this became a scientific project in recent years as DNA from these animals has helped with a breading programme to save the rarer animals from distinction

A model of a typical African village of the time

Model of a Fulani Cavalryman from North Cameroon & horse 1931

Masks made from animal skins that enabled humans to get closer

Powell-Cotton's personal guns

There was much, much more than I have shown here - just a taster

The Major’s travels through Africa unearthed a wealth of artefacts, including thousands of photographs dating back to the early 1880s and home movie footage from as early as 1927.

There may only be 500 animals on display, but behind the scenes lies an even bigger collection of animal samples. Four and a half thousand skeletal specimens and six thousand skins are stored at Quex House.

As the collection expanded, The Major began to catalogue his specimens. Each animal was measured, labelled and even the lines of latitude and longitude where the animal was found, were recorded. It became less or a sport and more of a science.

In the 21st Century, the Major’s activities may be deemed far from tasteful or politically correct. The Major however, unknowingly left behind a legacy that at the expense of the animals of yesteryear, is a vital conservation tool for today’s endangered species.

DNA

ontained in the specimens of Quex House is a vast genetic record, DNA. In 1997 the museum put this genetic information to use. Using Giant Sable Skulls and hides, collected in Angola in 1921, the team were able to take samples of DNA.

The samples proved that South African researchers had found a number of pure Giant Sables. The DNA was the proof the team needed to begin a breeding program designed to save these creatures from extinction.

"You are able to get a genetic blue print of the Giant Sable. It’s a remarkable depository of DNA in that it allows taxonomists to study animal information over time." 
John Frederick Walker - US journalist and author of "A Certain Curve of Horn".

DNA from Quex House was to prove vital once again, when the museum got involved in the Quagga project, five years ago.

Conservation

The Quagga is an extinct form of Zebra. The Cape Mountain Zebra was a close sister Quagga and through the DNA samples from Quex House, scientists are now able to breed Cape Mountain Zebra that are similar to Quagga in all aspects except their DNA.

At first glance, The Major’s collection of stuffed creatures may appear distasteful and would certainly be frowned upon were he still hunting today. The legacy he left however, has provided a key role in conservation work today.

So the creatures residing in Quex House can rest assured that their untimely death at the hand of the Major is now helping to save future generations from extinction.

From here it was lunch in the lovely tearoom before visiting the house which was interesting too - next post.

Quex Park - Part 1

We arrived at Quex Park a couple of weeks ago when staying in Kent. We knew nothing of the place except that there was a house and garden and something to do with a cotton museum
Could not understand this as all cotton imported into this country was processed in Lancashire in the North of England


Well the museum was certainly not what we expected, the museum being the Powell-Cotton museum - the name of a person!
Bear with me and I will get there in the next post as I need to do this visit in three parts
For this post we will take a walk around the gardens

On arrival we stop here for morning coffee

How stately the peacock looks

The back of the house that I will take you round in part 3

Even old and discarded tree trunks look artistic

The Victorian Walled Garden

that was quite a sun trap when it eventually showed it's face

So, into the museum in the next post and I am sure you will be surprised as I was!

Unity of Nations

Folk from 7 different countries having afternoon tea together in my garden yesterday

Home made scones with strawberry jam and double cream,
Butterscotch chip cookies and ginger squares

Our church is hosting different groups of people from Youth with a Mission for a year. They live in a bungalow on site and were thrilled to experience English afternoon tea in my garden

Notice as we were in the garden and there were children around I did not set up with china cups and a teapot

The countries represented apart from our own were

Chilli, Canada, Korea, Australia, Denmark & Switzerland

These young people are over here praying for and serving our town amongst other groups who are doing the same in other London Boroughs

How Blessed we are

Whitstable, Kent

Only just over an hour from home so before landing at our holiday destination we nip to the coast and visit Whitstable.

We make the Castle our first stop on a grey, drizzly and overcast day  

The earliest mention of this site in the history books is in 1588

when a copperas works was founded on this site below where the castle now stands. Copperas was for a time a sought-after mineral extract used to fix dyes in cloth and the licence to mine it was given by Queen Elizabeth I.

Throughout the centuries the castle was lived in by various business and/or political folk until 1935 when Whitstable District Council bought it.

It is now a community facility hosting weddings and business meetings, conferences and classes etc. 

The Victorian Tearooms where we had lunch

before walking along the top of the cliffs

with our binoculars we could just about see our home county of Essex on the other side of the Thames estuary

Can be seen easily on a clear day

As we walk down Tower Hill into the town we pass this pretty house and garden before entering the town and coming to 

and yes one has to squeeze in their gut and walk sideways

The Town of Whitstable grew from the main road to Canterbury, now known  as the  high street, and the alley ways developed as local residents  needed greater access to the sea. The multitude of alleys also served  as convenient escape routes for smugglers, as Whitstable was, like most  Kentish coastal towns, awash with the  illegal trade in tobacco and spirits,  as well as people during the Napoleonic wars. Once known as Granny Bell's Alley, due to the fact that a grandmother  of sixteen children lived there, the reason for its present title quickly  becomes clear as you try to pass through it! The walls on each side  loom high and dark as the alley bottle-knecks at the Island Wall end.  According to history, the alley way may also have got its name from  a game local boys once played with a potentially very unamused  overweight policeman who was unable to pursue them through this  confined space.

A pretty cottage and garden as we walk along to the see front

where we see one of the old Thames barges returning with some sight see-ers

Time to make our way to Rifleman Cottage where there will be tea and cakes waiting for us