One of the important figures in the history of Denny Abbey and The Farmland Museum is Isabella Louise Evatt (also known as Louie) who visited Denny in 1904. She recorded her experiences in a diary, which is now part of our collection. Through her writing, we gain insight into the life of the farming family residing at Denny and the local area during that time.
Isabella, seventeen at the time, came to visit her sister, Miriam and her brother-in-law, John Dimock, who leased the farm between 1883 and 1923. Throughout her stay, she documented her daily explorations and adventures, painting a vivid picture of life at Denny Abbey and the surrounding environment. Isabella provides details about the kitchen, ballroom, morning room, and drawing room, all located amidst barns and orchards. She also reflects on the people and lifestyle of living in Denny and nearby areas such as Waterbeach, Stretham and Cambridge.
Have a look through some excerpts from her diary:
‘up at 7am, Miriam and I rode to Waterbeach, did some shopping and posted a letter. We came back, only to discover that we had forgotten John’s paper. I rode back for it.’
‘All of us played “mad croquet”. The game is to get through all the hoops as quickly as possible, without waiting for a turn.’
‘A wet, windy, cold, miserable morning. I went up to the old “ballroom” and read old papers’.
‘I ironed a few of my blouses and for 3 ½ hours worked hard at one bed …. I felt so tired that I lay down.’
‘John and I went to the orchard and climbed up the old original wall and gathered nuts’
‘Miriam and I cleaned the old copper urn, that has stood in the kitchen for countless centuries; we put it in the morning room when it was bright, and it (to our credit) looked very hansome.’
Isabella also writes about her other siblings, the birth of her nephew, and her adventures outside of Cambridgeshire. Tragically, five months after her diary entries ended, Isabella passed away at the age of eighteen from diabetes, a condition for which there was no effective treatment at the time.
We are grateful to have her diary and to share her story with both new and returning visitors.