When Mrs. Isherwood returned later in the week, I was able to see her and confirm with her my new status as a full time live-in housemaid. I would be paid £30 a year. She confirmed that Mr. Isherwood had spoken with her of the situation. I was so pleased that he had remembered and thought it important enough to put it to her, considering how bad his head had been that day.

So on Sunday after church, I packed up my meager belongings, and walked to Marple Hall as a grown up, no longer a student. I was welcomed by Eliza Gerrard who as the next youngest female would share her room with me. And I started a new chapter in my life.

Things progressed, and my jobs at the Hall became more responsible and more difficult. As I was now a full-time employee I had to start my day at five a.m. not eight as had been the case until now. And often I was still working late at night. But I did enjoy my work and got on well with the other servants. They knew I pulled my weight in terms of work, and they weren’t jealous of Mrs. Isherwood’s kindness to me, as she was kind to all of us.

February soon came, and one Saturday Mrs. Isherwood called me into the morning room where she had been going over the menus for the week with Mrs. Hood, the cook.

“Eliza, I know that you have never served as a lady’s maid, but I would like to you take on that job for me temporarily. You see, I am called to Chester as a witness in the Assizes case against the Chartists, and I thought it would be good for you to have an opportunity to be there with me as you and I were involved together in this situation from the start. I will have Matilda give you the basic instructions of how you will need to deal with me over the next day or so. And then we will leave by carriage on Tuesday. The trial starts on Thursday, and I don’t know at what stage I will be called into the witness box, so I must be there and available.”

“Oh, Madam, I have never been to Chester, or even Manchester. I have never really been out of Marple unless you call a trip to Disley that. I would love to go. I will do ever such a good job of being your maid, I promise. But, are you going to speak against Johnny, then?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I am going to speak in his defense. I feel I owe it to him. I know you are somewhat worried by him, as he sent you that threatening note a few months back, but you will be safe with me. I am hoping that he will get off with a minimum sentence, perhaps only just a fine. But we shall see. Now we are going to be staying with my friends the Yorks. They live at Erdigg Hall outside Wrexham, twelve miles south of Chester. But now, go and spend the rest of today and tomorrow with Matilda so you can see how she does her job of being my maid.”

“Oh, thank you ma’am. Do you know how long we will be away? I should tell my parents in case they wonder at my not going home for my half day.”

“I would hope the trial will be over within a day or so, but one cannot count on that. Say that you might be gone up to a week, and then they won’t worry. And if we are back sooner, you can go and tell them that you have arrived back safe and sound, and let your sister know the verdict.”

Matilda, although her nose was somewhat out of joint for not being the one accompanying Mrs. Isherwood, told me that she had been given a holiday while we were gone. She would be traveling in the coach with us as far as Wrexham and then she would go on to Llangollon where she has a sister. She comes from Newton near Cardiff, but that would be too far to go on on this occasion. Mrs. Isherwood would send her a letter when we knew we were due to return, and she would make her way back to Wrexham for the ride back. She was very excited as she had not been to Wales for several years.

She told me that I must lay out the clothing for Mrs. Isherwood to wear each day - making sure it was clean and not wrinkled. If need be, I must find the ironing room at the Hall we were staying in and get anything that had wrinkled badly, pressed. I must lay out her night things, and hand wash her small clothes each day. I must help her brush her hair each night, and help her put it up on top of head each morning. She told me that Mrs. Isherwood was perfectly capable of doing these jobs herself, and it was only occasionally that she was called on to help. But just in case, she showed me how to do her hair, and how to style it in the way Mrs. Isherwood adopted. I would also be in charge of supplying Mrs. Isherwood with tablets if she felt ill, and cosmetics and such she normally used, and I would have a case with the usual creams and lotions. She told me a bit about the Hall where we will be staying, where the servants are treated with unusual courtesy. I no doubt would have a room found for me with the other servants, so she said she would be pleased to hear what I had to report back after the trip of things which were done differently  there.

Joseph Chun, who is the farm manager but also deals with the carriage and horses pulled up at the door promptly at nine on Tuesday, and we started off on what was going to be the journey of a lifetime. I had made some time when I was free the last evening and went to the library to look in a reference book on stately homes to see what sort of place it was that we were going to.

I found out that Erddig Hall was built between 1684 and 1687 during the reign of James II. The North and South wings were added during the 1720s. The owners when it was built were called the Wynne family, but the hall has belonged to the York family since 1733 and up to the current time.

Our trip took us two days. Mrs. Isherwood explained to me that if we had gone by a conventional coach, it would have been much faster, as they would have exchanged horses at various coaching inns along the way. But we are travelling with our coach, and don’t want to exhaust the horses, so we are taking it slowly and having many rest stops. I was so excited by each and every new town and city we traversed that it could have lasted a week and I wouldn’t have complained.

We went south from Marple avoiding Stockport and Manchester. We went to High Lane, and then west through a part of Hazel Grove before turning again south to Poynton, and eventually Macclesfield, where we stopped for our first break. From there we went south to Congleton, and then turned southwest through Sandbach to Crewe and then Nantwich where we had our evening meal and stayed the night. As Matilda was still with us, she dealt with helping Mrs. Isherwood for the night and morning. Soon after eight we went almost due west to Wrexham, arriving at our destination about lunch time. Although the ground was very flat, it wasn’t boring and we covered an enormous area.

When we got to Erddig Hall, I was most surprised, as I think Joseph was, at being directed to the servants’ entrance. But Mrs. Isherwood laughed and said some people even called it The Servants Hall due to the fact that the owners, the York family value their servants so highly, even to the extent of having their portraits painted and displayed. Everyone enters the Hall via the servants’ entrance.
I was very impressed as we drove through the grounds. Although it was only February there were some signs of spring. Mrs. Isherwood pointed out to us that they have a parterre and a yew walk, which of course are just as impressive in the winter, being evergreens. They also have a wonderful collection of ivies. There is also a formal 18th century garden which I know Mrs. Isherwood was keen to have a walk in, and I hoped to be allowed to do so as well. She told us, “The gardens contain rare fruit trees, a canal, and a pond.”

We were welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. York, and as we walked down the long corridor I noticed that what Mrs. Isherwood had said was true. All along the corridor were portraits of the cook, the governess, the laundry maid even. And the building felt so warm. I couldn’t help by comment on it.

“Oh, my dear,” said Mrs. York, “I am so glad you noticed that and feel that it is an asset for a house such as ours. We have installed a Haden warm air furnace. It was constructed 15 years ago now, in 1826 to be exact, and it was erected by James Haden of the firm George and James Haden in Trowbridge. Poor man had to bring all the bits by horse drawn wagon all the way from Trowbridge, as of course there were no railways in those days. It comprises a brickwork furnace built into the space under the stairway on this floor, and of course these lower rooms get the benefit as much as those upstairs.

Our friends at Penrys Castle have now followed our example and installed one of their own. The warm air goes through a duct from the stove which then goes under the space under the ground floor. As we go upstairs, notice the outlet gratings at the entrance of all the doorways on the ground floor rooms. That is partly why we have everyone enter from the servants’ entrance, you know,” she said, “to keep our heat in. It mostly goes to the central and south end of the house. We are intending to install another stove for the other areas of the house soon. However, Mr. York is hoping to see if a furnace made by their competitors will suit us as well or better. So he has ordered that from Musgraves of Belfast.” As we walked along, she opened the door next to the still room and said, “Here it is, our wonderful heat maker itself,” and we all were duly impressed.

As we went through the house I saw the series of bell pulls, mainly for the nurseries it seemed, and there was a poem written on the wood below them.

(I presume this was one of the York’s initials)

I was to find other verses written and posted in other parts of the hall as we went around during our stay.

As we entered the parlour, Mrs. York said she would have her man take Matilda to the station where she would be able to find when she could get a coach to her sister’s home in Llangollon. If there wasn’t a convenient one, she was to return to the Hall and stay the night.

Before I was to be taken to my room, and Mrs. Isherwood to hers, we were given a much welcome cup of tea. Mrs. Isherwood commented on the fine collection of furniture and other treasures we were sat amongst, and Mrs. York said, “I am afraid I cannot throw anything away. I am a terrible hoarder and I don’t just keep the rare and magnificent things, but also the ordinary and everyday ones.”

Mrs. York told me that I would have my room in the attic, where they kept a special room just for visitor’s maids - I wouldn’t have to share - unless Matilda couldn’t get a coach that night in which case I would be sharing with her. And in the ground floor I would find the housekeeper’s room, if I needed anything to make Mrs. Isherwood’s stay more comfortable. Mrs. Isherwood was to be given one of the Chinese rooms, truly an honour as the furnishings are very valuable and rare treasures. She also indicated to us where the drawing room, dining room and the chapel were. They do keep a state bedroom, but that is special for royal visitors only. I would have my meals in the servants hall which was below stairs near the butler’s pantry.

She said whenever we wished, we could go through to the outbuildings and walled garden and grounds which include a blacksmith shop, saw mill, stable yard, carriages, laundry, bake house, and kitchen, and a joiners shop as well as the usual stables.

I was very impressed, which was not surprising considering my ignorance of these things, but I could tell Mrs. Isherwood was impressed as well.