We’ve all heard the stories, the myths, the rhymes of King Henry VIII’s infamous second wife Anne Boleyn (Bullen), the beheading of a Queen that shocked the Tudor court in 1536. However, this blog is not a mere biography of her life, as we all know her story and how it ended. This blog is dedicated to a mansion in a small rural town in Norfolk who believes their estate was the birthplace of Anne Boleyn in 1501 and back in the early 1900s celebrated this occasion with a pageant called the ‘Masque of Anne Boleyn’. The money raised was going to be used to restore the local church, which was ultimately the main purpose for organising the masque.
The estate who held this spectacular pageant was Blickling Hall, a stunning Jacobean mansion on the outskirts of Aylsham, which is now owned by the National Trust, but was once owned by the Boleyn family. The current hall that stands there today was built on the ruins of the property owned by Thomas Boleyn, (Anne’s father) (1), so there is no surprise that Blickling Hall was chosen to stage a play dedicated to a Queen .Iit was the perfect backdrop, as not only does the hall have the strong family links but also made use of the hall’s exterior splendour and eerie aura. It is widely speculated that the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunts the site and is said to be seen all dressed in white, “carrying her severed and dripping head as she arrives by coach, also driven by a headless horseman and four headless horses, to the hall.” (2) The pageant itself was written by (Walter) Nugent Monck who was an actor/theatre director and founder of the well-known Maddermarket theatre in Norwich in 1921 (3). The pageant was performed in 1909 again in 1925, with the last performance being held in 1938. As you can see below from a publicity flyer held at the Norfolk Record Office, the 1938 pageant was attended by Queen Mary, who was Queen Elizabeth 1st’s grandmother. Nugent Monck’s plays must have been superb to attract such esteemed visitors, which as a result must have drummed up quite a bit of publicity to view not only the pageant but a chance to see the Queen in person. What a great honour for the people of Aylsham and the staff of Blickling Hall, not to mention this publicity must have had a positive contribution in raising the funds needed for the church.
The Norfolk Record Office not only holds photographs of the pageants with everyone dressed up in their Tudor attire which offers a fascinating glimpse into the past, but also sound recordings of interviews with participants who were there and have recalled their stories of the event! These interviews were carried out by Bob Carter and in the first interview with Jean Craske who was the youngest in the pageant, recalls Queen Mary visiting Blickling Hall for the ‘Masque of Anne Boleyn’ in 1938 and remembers meeting her! Jean states in her interview that Queen Mary was an “elegant tall lady with her hat and parasol” and remembers how the pageant was a sense of community as the “whole estate, family and everyone that worked for the family got involved in the pageant”. (NRO, AUD 27/73) A true sense of community which is not often seen today!
Nugent Monck’s plays were popular, but apparently that is more than can be said about the man himself. Another participant in the play in a different interview also held at the Norfolk Record Office, is Mary Long who recalls in detail her role in the 1938 ‘Masque of Anne Boleyn’, when she was 12 years old. Mary attended St Michael’s School in Aylsham and played one of the village children in the masque. She reminisces about the costumes, exploring the gardens at Blickling Hall, the visit of Queen Mary of whom only spoke to participants with speaking parts as well as the harsh direction of director Nugent Monck. One statement in Mary’s interview that really intrigued me is when she said, “Nugent Monck produced them; he was an extremely grim old man you couldn’t do anything to please him ever.” Her honest opinion of Nugent can provide a glimmer of what he was like as a person, but of course we will never 100% know his true nature. However, hopefully the unpleasantries of the producer did not overshadow the event itself! (NRO, AUD 27/34)
These were interesting interviews by Bob Carter all about the pageant, reminiscing about their life and Blickling Hall itself, and are worth a listen. You can listen or look at anything that is mentioned in my blog at the Norfolk Record Office, please get in touch for more information about what else we hold! Hopefully one day the community of Blickling and Aylsham can come together once more to revisit the masque and perform it back in front of Anne Boleyn’s ancestral home. It would be a great shame for this masque to have died in the 30s. A lot has changed since then and with new technology advancements the masque could be taken to a whole new level of entertainment or maybe it is best leaving it in the past and keeping it more authentic. What do you think? Should the masque rise once more, or should it be left in the past and perhaps be slowly forgotten?
Researched and written by Francesca Nelson
References:
(1) The history of Blickling Estate | Norfolk | National Trust
Norfolk Record Office 