The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-07-02
The Garden at the Diapers Hall.

friars of certain observances in his
memory.
If the diapers displayed energy In
business and kindly works, they were
also always to the fore In the civic
pleasures which abounded in the mid
die ages; and of their "ridings," pag-
eants by land and water, their "mid-
summer walks" and their professions,
when one of their number CHANGED to
become lord mayor, there are many
quaint and interesting records.
On the occasion of the marriage of
Henry VII and Elizabeth, we hear of
the diapers, with the others, going
forth upon the Thames, "at her COM
ing from Greenwich by water" in
"Barges freshly furnished with Ban
ners and Streamers of Silke, rechely
beaton and bagges of their Crafts"
Catastrophe of 1866.
The ancient hall Of the diapers was
In st. Swithins Lane, but in 1541 the
company ended its negotiations with
Henry VIII for Cromwell House." tho
site of the present hall, which had
come to the crown through the at
tainder of Cromwell, earl of Essex.
The great fire of 1866 stopped its
northward fury at Diapers hall, but
great damage was done to the build
ings, and the unfortunate clerk of
those days, whose house had been
demolished, had to take refuge in the
Garden house, which, until the fire,
had been the house of Mr.. Miners, the
beadle.
AS it remains today, the Diapers
hall displays all the tempered rich
ness of an English country house; and
the magnificent suites of rooms, two of
which are adorned with perfectly pre-
served pieces of Gobelin tapestry, and
whose walls are hung with splendid
pictures, betoken the hospitality of this
ancient company. But the feature
which fingers most in memory is the
quiet and ancient garden, with it's
shimmering trees, including aged null
berries-from one of which a dish of
fruit can still be plucked-its bright
hued flower beds, and it's leaden tanks
filled with flowers. And though in the
very midst of the city's greatest tur.
moil it still looks so reposeful that it
is easy to remember those other days
when "my Lord Ambassador from
France" walked the plaisaunce in the
September of 1862, or when one Rob-
ert Ratford, the gardener, complained
to the court shat by drying Of naperye |
clothes in the Diapers garden, the |
knobs and borders Of erbys therein are
destroyed" which resulted in prompt |
being taken to suppress the |
practice.
Today the Diapers company is
actively engaged in administering its |
trusts, and in promoting education and |
charitable work in many different |
ways, by means Of its corporate funds. |
Among the various benefactiOns may |
be mentioned it's annual scholarships |
and exhibitions of students in the five |
chief branches of the textile trade, in |
their respective districts, and it's an
nual grant Of f1,O0O toward the
chair of agriculture at the University |
Of Cambridge. But the most interest
ing of it's activities Is the East Lon
Ion college, with which it is most init
nately associated, and which is a uni
versity college, giving full course in
natural science, engineering, or art,
Tor the small sum of f10 10s..
The students, both men and women,
ire mainly drawn from the working
classes. The company has expended
July f250,OO0 upon this college, and
large sum annually
oward its maintenance. It's work in
with both the college and
he Peoples palace" is marked by
most enthusiastic and personal inter-
st, and the diapers are justly proud
hat this college is the only one in the
British isles where an aeronautical
department. has been established