Nostell Priory, Winn Family Archive (WYL1352)
12th – 20th Century
From Soup to Scurvy
Recipe 'To make Ketchupp very good'
On first appearances this recipe book, contained within the household management papers, seems an ordinary leather bound book. However, the beginning half is filled with recipes for different preserves and pickles, wines and cordials, how to prepare and cook meats, and of course desserts. Many are recognisable, but often with a difference, such as a ketchup made from mushrooms, with not a tomato in sight!
The second part of the book is for ‘all things physical’, with illnesses ranging in severity from headaches to the plague, covering coughs, rickets and consumption to name a few. Included are not only remedies for adults and children, but also for animals, and often have detailed instructions as to how to administer them.
Many of these are questionable nowadays, but they are often claimed to have been proven, and there is the occasional recipe that can reportedly cure an assortment of ailments. Take the cordial ‘Aqua Mirabilis’, which not only comforts the stomach and helps palsy in the limbs, but also keeps the heart cheerful, preserves the memory and can bring a man back from the point of death!
The second part of the book is for ‘all things physical’, with illnesses ranging in severity from headaches to the plague, covering coughs, rickets and consumption to name a few. Included are not only remedies for adults and children, but also for animals, and often have detailed instructions as to how to administer them.
Many of these are questionable nowadays, but they are often claimed to have been proven, and there is the occasional recipe that can reportedly cure an assortment of ailments. Take the cordial ‘Aqua Mirabilis’, which not only comforts the stomach and helps palsy in the limbs, but also keeps the heart cheerful, preserves the memory and can bring a man back from the point of death!
Remedy for a horse's cold
Undated and unnamed, we can use the handwriting to date the book back to the 18th Century, and the likelihood that it belonged to Lady Sabine Winn, the wife of Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet. Of Swiss descent, she moved to Nostell Priory after their marriage, and suffered from varying illnesses. Within her personal papers are individual recipes as well as a list of the medical uses of different plants, however many are written in French.
The remedies dedicated to horses in the recipe book may be explained by Sir Rowland’s longstanding interest in them, which led to the building of a riding school in the grounds. This interest was also shared with his son, the 6th Baronet, who kept his racehorses in the stables at Nostell.
View the collection on our online catalogue and to find out more about the house itself visit The National Trust.
The remedies dedicated to horses in the recipe book may be explained by Sir Rowland’s longstanding interest in them, which led to the building of a riding school in the grounds. This interest was also shared with his son, the 6th Baronet, who kept his racehorses in the stables at Nostell.
View the collection on our online catalogue and to find out more about the house itself visit The National Trust.
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