Huguenot Symbol - how deeply encoded was it?

My passion for Huguenot art has always been in gold and silver-smithing and in silk weaving, not in jewellery. But the Huguenot Cross presents a particular intellectual challenge.

In general, most histories suggest that the first Huguenot Cross was produced in 1688 by the goldsmith Maystre of Nîmes. This was only a few years after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes which had left all French Calvinists without citizenship and its protections. At a time when being caught out as a Protestant could lead to dragonnades, prison, forced baptism into the Catholic faith, galley ships, slavery in the West Indies or even death, it has been suggested that the cross represented the Huguenots desire to declare loyalty and fid­el­ity to the French Crown, at the same time reiterating their belief in the reformed faith.

Huguenot cross, one of the many possible variations in colour, material and design

Annkroeker blog in The Huguenot Cross noted that the shape of this cross was mod­elled after the Maltese Cross. The cross was empty, further symbol­ising His victory over death. Eight points around the edges added up to represent the 8 Beatitudes. Between the arms of the cross, the fancier pendants had the image of a flower of French or­igins, the fleur-de-lys which represented the Trinity. There were four fleur-de-lys, one for each of the gospels. The inner ring formed by the string of fleur-de-lys represented Jesus’ mocking crown of thorns. And of course the dove symbolised the Holy Spirit.

Beautiful Feet blog in The Huguenot Cross told a very specific tale about a group of Huguenots that had gathered for a secret wedding ceremony, somewhere in the Cevennes. The preacher was busy marrying four young couples when the dreaded French Dragoons appeared on the scene. Many of them escaped, but two of the bridal couples were caught. Of course they were given a choice: become Roman Catholic or die at the stake. They refused to recant their Huguenot beliefs and true to their faith, they were burnt at the stake on their wedding day. A metal worker from Nimes saw it all, and made a small medallion. His nucleus resem­bled the Maltese Cross, the symbol of the Crusaders, while the four arms of the cross were linked with a smaller circle which refers to the flames that united them.
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These analyses of the design sources for the Huguenot Cross may well be correct. But its very existence back in 1688 was hugely problem­atic. To have a secret symbol that would allow Huguenots to identify like-minded people would have been very sensible, assuming that only Huguenots could decode the symbol. As soon as the Huguenot Cross became known as a symbol of Protestant Heresy to everyone in France, that sym­bol ceased being of comfort to Huguenots. Rather it would have made them even more liable to dragonnades, prison, forced baptism into the Catholic faith, galley ships, slavery in the West Indies and death.

Raspal, Portrait of a Young Woman in Arles Costume, 1779*

I think The Dupreez Family blog (see HUGUENOT EXODUS) is correct. The Hug­uenot Cross became an official symbol of the French Protestant church only after the Edict of Toleration in 1787; since then, Huguenot de­s­cendants have been proud to display this piece of jewellery as a safe symbol of recognition between them. Alas for my theory, 18thC Cuisine blog displayed in Passover & Days of Unleavened Bread a beautiful 1779 painting by Raspal from Arles in Provence. The promin­ent display of the Huguenot cross on his model suggests that the Calvinists were surviving openly in Provence, before the Edict of Toleration.

Crossness pumping station, London

At the behest of another famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Joseph Bazalgette was appointed chief engineer of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers in 1856. The pumping station was built by Bazalgette as part of Victorian London's urgently needed main sewerage system. Very urgent! The smell of this huge city must have been intolerable, not to mention the ongoing risk of deadly disease. The River Thames was so heavily polluted with raw sewage before Crossness Pumping Station was built that members of parliament thought of abandoning the recently opened Palace of Westminster.

The new network took sewage to the edge of London (Greenwich) where it could be stor­ed in huge underground reservoirs before being pumped out into the Thames at high tide. Then it could flow out to sea without polluting the city's drinking supply. When Crossness was official­ly opened by the Prince of Wales in April 1865, he said that the importance of this sanitation process to the long-term health of South London was vital.

My interest in Crossness is not as an outstanding example of Vict­orian engineering, although that was impressive. Sir Joseph commis­sioned the well-known engineer James Watt to create and build the steam engines that would be needed to power the pumps. The giant rotary beam engines and pumps did the job heroically and although there were major modifications after 1856, Bazalgette’s vision carried Crossness through till 1956.

Crossness, East London

My interest is in the architecture, an absolute surprise and delight in an extremely utilitarian project like sewage. From the outside, the design included rather ornate brick work, Romanesque window arches and door columns.

One of the engines

But ohhh the interior! Crossness pumping station was an amazing and ex­t­rav­­agant display of Victorian painted cast ironwork. But, she said, the scale and importance of the endeavour surely justified such exuberance. I love her refer­ence to Nikolaus Pevsner who called this building a cathedral to ironwork. I also liked the fact that the four engines were named for the royal family: Victoria, Prince Consort, Prince of Wales Albert Edward and Princess of Wales Alexandra.

John Shewell in The Great Steam Cathedral loved the ornately iron fittings of course, but he was particularly taken by the mini sculptures, the steel lattice floor and the huge skylight on the roof to let in light through­out the vast interior. For him, all these elements contributed towards the feeling of being inside a Cathedral. The scale of the operation was huge: four engines stood in the four corners of the building, whilst the centre was taken up by the ut­terly gorgeous octagonal structure. The monogram of the Metrop­olitan Board of Works featured throughout, and the contractor included his own name prominently on one side.

Octagon

Since the general public would never see the inside of a pumping station, who was all the decorative ironwork designed for? There was plenty of internal space for the workers, plus a lovely garden for their leisure outside. But I don’t think Crossness was designed for the workers’ pleasure. Crossness Pumping Station was a pioneering and palatial piece of Victorian architecture: Joseph Bazalgette designed it palatially because he could.

Bazalgette must have been loving his work.The original Abbey Mills Pumping Station in East London was also designed by Bazalgette and architect Charles Driver, soon after Crossness was up and running (1865-8). Similar to Crossness, Abbey Mills was built in an even more ambitious Byzantine style, complete with a slate mansard roof and central dome. The round headed windows had polychrome decoration while the larger central window to the upper storey was divided by cast ironwork. This Victorian wonder was so cathedral-like, the chimney resembled a campanile.

Abbey Mills Pumping Station, East London

Tired of London blog has added a useful post on Markfield Beam Engine and Museum in Tottenham. Victorian / Edwardian Paintings has added a post on one of Brunel’s engineering triumphs, The Thames Tunnel. Opened in 1852, a few years before Crossness, the tunnel was also a perfectly functional bit of city infrastructure that took on a huge significance for Victorians. Apparently there was nothing scientific, architectural, engineering and beautiful that they could not design and build. Unmitigated England has written about the Abbey Pumping Station in Leicester. Once used for pumping sewage up to Beaumont Leys in Leicester, the incredible Gimson steam engines still look very impressive in a Victorian Valhalla of decorated iron pillars.

Ballindalloch Castle - Victorian country home architecture

Ballindalloch is one of the most beautiful castles in Scotland, lo­c­ated in the heart of Speyside. Fortunately for all the generations of Ballindalloch gentry, the castle is near the 4 famous local whisky distilleries, incl­ud­ing Glenlivet and Glenfiddich. There are more whisky distilleries on the banks of the River Spey than on any other river.

The constr­uction of the tower house castle reflected the turbulent times in which C16th people had to survive. The tower house itself served as the noble family’s residence, and it was surrounded by a range of features which were essential for defence. Of course the peasants outside the castle had to hope that, in times of crisis, they would be able to gain protection inside the castle wall. Throughout what must have been a difficult history since the mid C16th, the castle has been cont­in­uously occupied by the Russell and Macpherson-Grant families.
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The ex­act year of the first castle on the site is unknown, but "1546" is carved into a stone lintel in one of today’s bedrooms. As with all castles, Ballindalloch has been expanded and updated, according to the needs of each gener­ation of the family. Needs and tastes constantly changed. Ballindalloch Cas­t­le showed how a build­ing moved from a fortified castle, neces­sary in unpredictable C16th Scotland, to a very liveable Victorian home.

Late Victorian castle, as it looks today

What happened to the original tower house? After it was plundered and burned by James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, it was restored in 1645. Ext­ensions were added in 1770. The Castle grounds suffered severely from the 1829 floods, when the mansion house itself was inundated on the ground floor to a metre deep. So in 1850 there were more changes by the architect Thomas MacKenzie: the C19th wings added to the original ground plan. At a time when the building might have become more modern, it was actually given a MORE castellated appearance, with the addition of gabled dormer windows, stair turrets with conical roofs and decorative panels. The Hall, with its grand staircase and its unusual umbrella design and fan vaulting, was part of the 1850s renovations. So were the elegant drawing room, dining room, library and nursery.
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The Taste for Travel blog has given us a nice analysis of how the estate came down through the current female descendant of the family. And why she made changes in 1965.

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Drawing room

The castle grounds contain sublime late C19th gardens which have been retained, as photographed in the blogs Travels with my camera in Scotland and Beyond and Holidays in Glenlivet and Speyside, Scotland. The rivers Spey and Avon flow through the grounds, offering excellent sport which can be seen in Ballindalloch fishing commission trip in Bamboomouse blog. The Aberdeen Angus cattle are a core part of the estate.

Inverness Town House - Victorian public architecture

The students were discussing the over-the-top nature of Vict­or­ian public ar­chitecture. What we needed was an architectural ex­ample where Vic­torian optimism and confidence combined with pow­erful historical symbolism.

The baronial style was a C19th revival of Scottish architecture tak­ing its inspiration from older, historical buildings. Although the revived style was largely used for private country houses, Scottish architects (or perhaps their clients) liked to incorporate crenel­l­ations, turreted bartisans, oriels and hewn stone in public buildings as well.

Inverness Town House, on the corner of Castle Street and High Sts, was built between 1878-82 by the architects Matthews and Lawrie. This building replaced the Old Town House, which was built in 1708 as the Inverness home of a noble family, became the Burgh Town House in 1716 and was demolished in 1878.

The current two storeyed building was said to be designed in a Flem­ish baronial style, apparently a larger version of Sir George Gilbert Scott's Albert Institute in Dundee. But I would call it Victorian Gothic with a few Second Empire elements. The Vic­torian Gothic el­ements are: steeply pitched roofs; pinnacles, stone masonry, lancets (narrow openings), bar tracery and crenellat­ions. The Second Empire elements are: dormer windows, high mansard roof and iron cresting.

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Inverness Town House

Wherever in Inverness a person stands, he/she immediately notices the slender towers and turrets corbelled out at the corners and over the from door, slate roof, pierced parapet, fenestration and decorative bartisans ie over-hanging, wall-mounted turrets projecting from the walls of medieval fortifications. Ornate cast-iron lamp poles, which look lovely but don’t suit the building, stand on each side of the front entrance.

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Front entrance

The interior is impressive, with 13 very grand chandeliers. There is an imposing staircase rising from the entrance to reach the most important rooms. The Town Hall, which was meant for the public, is panelled with painted ceiling and stained glass windows. The Council Chamber is wood-panelled and features fine stained-glass windows, three of which were designed and installed to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Some of the portraits displayed in the Town House include provosts who worked in Inverness as far back as the C17th.

Council chamber

The Town House was the home of Inverness Town Council until the 1960s. Since then it has been used only civic functions and musical performances. Now I must examine the Melbourne Town Hall, completed in the same decade as Inverness’ Town House.