113. 02.05.2012The ladies of Llangollen.
This isn’t the house that the two ladies lived in, but it
reminds me of them, possibly because I once read a book about them and there
was a picture like this on the front cover.
It was taken above the Vale of Llangollen looking towards the heartland
of North Wales. The light had a mystical
quality to it and the picture reflects it. It’s almost like a painting
As to the ladies of Llangollen, well... they were actually Irish and fled here from
their home in the 18th century.
Eleanor was a member of the dynastic Butler family of Ireland and amongst her ancestors were Anne
Boleyn - that’s the one that had too
many fingers and a head too short. As it
became obvious that she wasn’t going to get married, her mother tried
committing her to a convent to stop her turning into a spinster, but Eleanor
was having none of that catholic bull. Other
famous Butlers have included the bus
driver Stan Butler, Brabinger, Carson and Paul Burrell, but to be brutally
frank, they weren’t related to Sarah.
Sarah who lived nearby was also well to do and
had Earls and Ladies on her family tree. Don’t we all.
They met in 1768 and quickly became friends.
Well actually they were [lifts hands off keyboard, glances to the left and the
right and then behind, lowers fingers to keyboard and types the word lesbian]
lesbian.
The rainbow flag and those two little circles with crosses on them hadn’t
been invented at that time in Ireland so in 1778 they ran away together.
They ended up in Llangollen where they set up home but racked up huge
debts due to their life style and relied on friends to support them. They became
known as “The ladies” despite not being interested in socialising or fashion. I
could make a comment about boiler suits, checked shirts and dungerees at this
point, but I shall resist the temptation.
After a couple of years, their life attracted the interest of the
outside world. Their house became a haven for all manner of visitors, mostly
writers such as Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Sir Walter Scott, not to be
confused with Sir Walter Raleigh who wasn’t a writer but the man who circumcised
the globe. A young Rolf Harris also visited and was commissioned to paint the
first known portrait of a pair of lesbians.
Queen Charlotte wanted to
see their cottage and persuaded the King to grant them a
pension and eventually their families came to tolerate them.
They lived together for the rest
of their lives, an amazing 50 years. Eleanor died in 1829. Sarah died two years
later.
In April last
year, the same month in which the first Irish civil partnerships took place, a
forward thinking Ireland finally acknowledged the fact that they were Ireland’s
first openly lesbian couple. Whatever
next...
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