The stretch of the Hooghly immediately below the city where the Company's senior servants built their garden houses.
Description
The stretch of the Hooghly immediately below the city where the Company’s senior servants built their garden houses. Lawns run down to the waterline, budgerows are moored at private steps, and the frontages are Palladian.
Every ship coming up to Calcutta passes it, which means the party sailed past Ashworth’s own residence on the morning of their arrival without knowing whose it was.
Notable Features
- Ashworth’s house stands here, and the welcome dinner is held in it. See Ashworth Dinner Garden Reach.
- The houses are built for air. Dining rooms open on both long sides and the shutters stay folded back even in rain, because a closed room in October is unbearable.
- The river is forty seconds from the table. The garden runs straight down to the water and the Hooghly is audible from the dining room all evening.
The Senses
- Smell. Hot wax, river mud, cardamom and wet cut grass off the lawn.
- Sound. A punkah working overhead on a slow count, cutlery, and the river doing nothing audible at all.
- Colour. Gold candlelight and silver against black open windows, and the reach showing as a broad dull sheen whenever the lightning goes.
Connections
In Play
Chapter 4, Session 10 (9–10 October 1814) — the dinner finished. The third course, the withdrawal, coffee and Miss Fitch at the pianoforte. At the fires, Ratan was brought to the havildar with the Magistrate’s spoons (Ratan and the Spoons). At the carriages a brawl broke out between Cartwright’s syce and the Wrights’ bearer by the palanquins, ended by Bakar Ali and a stick while Ashworth talked over it; the Magistrate saw his guests off bare-headed on the steps.
Appearances
Connections
People
Location of
- Charles Ashworth NPC neutralThe Magistrate's house and the welcome dinner2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Ratan NPC neutralPresent at the servants' fires during Ashworth's dinner, where he was caught palming silver spoons2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Bakar Ali NPC neutralKhansama of the estate; the household turns on him1 session: The Third Course
Visited by
- Adrien de Montferrand Player character neutralDined at the Magistrate's table at the Ashworth dinner2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Anne Pelham NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Arabella Fitch NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Diana Lockhart NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Emma Wentworth Player character neutralDined at the Magistrate's table at the Ashworth dinner2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Freddy Cavendish Player character neutralDined at the Magistrate's table at the Ashworth dinner2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Georgiana Wentworth Player character neutralDined at the Magistrate's table at the Ashworth dinner2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Harriet Courtney NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Havildar Pratap Singh Player character neutralKept to the servants' fires during the Ashworth dinner, where Ratan was brought to him with the spoons2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Hugh Cavendish NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Katherine Ward Player character neutralDined at the Magistrate's table at the Ashworth dinner2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Marcus Hale NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Margaret Cavendish NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Percy Cartwright NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Thomas Wyndham NPC2 sessions, The Magistrate's Table to The Third Course
- Edmund Courtney NPC1 session: The Magistrate's Table
- Elizabeth Ashby NPC1 session: The Magistrate's Table
- Patience Wright NPC1 session: The Third Course
- Reverend Arthur Jessop NPC1 session: The Third Course
- Roderick Pelham NPC1 session: The Magistrate's Table
- Samuel Wright NPC
Places
Part of
- Calcutta 1814 Location neutralThe river district below the city
Events
Location of
- Ashworth Dinner Garden Reach Event neutralAshworth's estate on the Hooghly, open-air dining room over a garden running down to a private dock
- Ratan and the Spoons Event hostileThe stamped earth at the servants' fires, while the third course went in