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Published by The Strawberry Hill Trust, February 2015 www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk

a description of strawberry hill

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D E S C R I P T I O N O F

T H E

V I L L A OF

Mr. H O R A C E W A L P O L E AT

Strawberry-Hill near Twickenham, Middlesex.

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WELCOME TO S T R AW B E R R Y H I LL Horace Walpole, a politician, writer, collector, and the son of Britain’s first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, created Strawberry Hill between 1748 and 1790 as his summer villa. It is one of the earliest and finest examples of the Gothic revival and established the style now known as Strawberry Hill Gothic. This brief guide is an edited version of a book published by Walpole in 1784 as a guide for visitors. It was printed here at Strawberry Hill on a press kept in a building near the house. The Description was a detailed account of the appearance of the house and a catalogue of the extensive collection of pictures, sculpture, furniture and artefacts it contained. The collection was dispersed in a great sale in 1842 but we are working to bring as much of it as possible back to the house. You will see the beginnings of this effort as you tour the house, in newly purchased objects, loans from museums and private collectors, and some accurate reproductions. We have added a modern commentary to Walpole’s guide, which explains recent developments, including the restoration and objects which have returned. A visit to Strawberry Hill was always intended to be a theatrical experience and by following the directions in this booklet you will discover the castle as its creator intended. 

In 2014 the Trust completed the restoration of the house with work to six additional rooms on the first and second floors, including Mr Walpole’s Bedchamber at the top of the house. The eccentric design of the building means that you will explore the house in two separate parts: going up the main staircase to view all of the rooms leading from it, before returning to the first floor to make your way through to the luxurious State Apartment. If you would like to find out more about Walpole’s extensive collection you can visit the illustrated database that has been built by the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University. This can be found online at www.library.yale.edu/walpole Enjoy your visit! 

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THE ROOMS Y O U W I L L S E E T O D AY IN THE HOUSE CREATED FROM CHOPP’D STRAW HALL

SERVANTS’ HALL / MUSEUM ROOM

GREAT CLOISTER / CAFÉ

1. The Entrance Hall 2. The Yellow Bedchamber (Discovery Room) 3. The Refectory or Great Parlour 4. The Breakfast Room 5. The Green Closet 6. The Blue Bedchamber 7. The Armoury 8. The Library 9. Mr Walpole’s Bedchamber 10. The Plaid Chamber 11. The Dressing Room

PANTRY (EXHIBITION)

HALL REFECTORY OR GREAT PARLOUR

SHOP

SHOP

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LITTLE PARLOUR

12. The Star Chamber 13. The Holbein Chamber 14. The Trunk Ceiled Passage 15. The Gallery 16. The Tribune 17. The Great North Bedchamber 18. The Round Drawing-Room 19. The Beauclerc Closet

YELLOW BEDCHAMBER (DISCOVERY ROOM)

IN THE STATE APARTMENT

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second floor LEVEL 3

TRIBUNE

THE GALLERY

GREAT NORTH BEDCHAMBER

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BEAUCLERK CLOSET

ROUND DRAWING ROOM

HOLBEIN CHAMBER

STAR CHAMBER

RED BEDCHAMBER

DRESSING ROOM

GREEN CLOSET

BREAKFAST ROOM

PLAID BEDCHAMBER

MR WA L P O L E ’ S BEDCHAMBER

LIBRARY

ARMOURY

BLUE BEDCHAMBER

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A DESCRIPTION OF THE VILLA P R EFAC E

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t will look, I fear, a little like arrogance in a private man to give a printed description of his villa and collection, in which almost everything is diminutive. It is not, however, intended for public sale, and originally was meant only to assist those who should visit the place. In truth, I did not mean to make my house so Gothic as to exclude convenience, and modern refinements in luxury. The designs of the inside and outside are strictly ancient, but the decorations are modern. Would our ancestors, before the reformation of architecture, not have deposited in their gloomy castles, antique statues and fine pictures, beautiful vases and ornamental china, if they had possessed them – But I do not mean to defend by argument a small capricious house. It was built to please my own taste, and in sole degree to realize my own vision. Could I describe the tranquil scene where it stands, and add the beauty of the landscape to the romantic cast of the mansion, it would raise more pleasing sensations than a dry list of curiosities can excite: at least the prospect would recall the good humour of those who might be disposed to condemn the fantastic fabric, and to think it a very proper habitation of, as it is, the scene that inspired, the author of the Castle of Otranto.

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The castle now existing was formed at different times, by alterations and additions to the old small house. The library, and refectory or great parlour, were entirely new built in 1753; the gallery, round tower, great cloister and cabinet in 1760 and 1761; the great north bed-chamber in 1770; and the Beauclerc tower in 1776. ✤ The ‘old small house’ known as Chopp’d Straw Hall belonged to Mrs Elizabeth Chevenix, a well-known ‘toywoman’ or seller of trinkets. This forms the core of the earlier rooms.

T he E ntrance

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ntering by the Great North Gate, the first object that presents itself is a small oratory enclosed with iron rails; in front, an altar, on which stands a saint in bronze; open niches, and stone basons of holy water; designed by John Chute Esq. of the Vine in Hampshire. On the right hand is a small garden called the Abbot’s garden, parted off by an open screen, taken from the tomb of Robert Niger, Bishop of London in Old St Pauls. Passing on the left by a small cloister is the entrance to the house, the narrow front of which was designed by Richard Bentley, only son of Dr. Bentley, the learned master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Over the door are three shields of Walpole, Shorter and Robsart.

Your ticket will allow you entry at a specific time. Please feel free to look around the main garden, this courtyard and the small Prior’s Garden while you wait. After a short introduction to the house, enter through the front door. 

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THE HALL

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ou first enter a small gloomy hall paved with hexagon tiles, and lighted by two narrow windows of painted glass. This hall is united with the staircase, and both are hung with gothic paper, painted by one Tudor, from the screen of Prince Arthur’s tomb in the cathedral of Worcester. The balustrade was designed by Mr Bentley; at every corner is an antelope (one of Lord Orford’s supporters) holding a shield. In the well of the staircase, by a cord of black and yellow, hangs a Gothic lanthorn of tin japanned, designed by Mr Bentley, and filled with painted glass; the door has an old pane with the arms of Vere Earl of Oxford. ✤ The glass in the two narrow windows was lost in Walpole’s life-time due to an explosion at a gun-powder works in Hounslow in 1772. The glass you now see is a modern replacement by John McLean. ✤ The ‘Gothic’ paper on the staircase wall was covered by subsequent generations and in the 1960s was painted over with a salmon pink Gothic design. One of the most exciting moments in the restoration was the discovery of areas of Walpole’s original trompe l’oeil grey Gothic paper revealed beneath. ✤ Richard Bentley was one of the ‘committee’ who together with John Chute helped Walpole in the creation of Strawberry Hill. ✤ The Gothic lanthorn is a copy of the original, given by the Friends of Strawberry Hill.

Walk into the corridor opposite the front door and turn right, into the Yellow Bedchamber.

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THE YELLOW BEDCHAMBER (DISCOVERY ROOM)

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HE chimney-piece was designed by Mr Bentley. The room is hung with grey spotted paper, the bed and chairs of yellow silk and stuffed damask. Nineteen small heads, in oil, of the court of Charles II copied by Jarvis for himself, and bought with his house at Hampton by Mr Lovibonde, at whose sale these....were purchased. ✤ In 1775 Walpole arranged this room to show the beauties of the court of Charles II. The nineteen portraits were joined by several others which suggest the room was double--hung with pictures. Before that it had been decorated with prints stuck to walls.. ✤ Today this room reveals the history of the house through decorative layers, from the brickwork and panelling of Chopp’d Straw Hall, through decoration added by Walpole and Frances Waldegrave, to the 1970s Artex ceiling paper installed by St Mary’s College. ✤ The portrait of William III as Prince of Orange, by Charles Jervas was purchased for the Trust in 2014 with support of the V&A Grant Purchase Fund, the Beecroft Bequest, and Lord Cholmondeley.

Walk back into the hall and walk through the short corridor to the right of the front door.

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THE REFECTORY OR G R E AT PA R L O U R

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HE chairs are black, of a gothic pattern, designed by Mr Bentley and Mr Walpole. On each side of the window, the top of which has some fine painted glass and one ridiculous Dutch piece representing the triumph of Fame who is accompanied by Cato, Cicero, and other great men, in square caps and gowns of masters of arts, are two looking glasses in Gothic frames of black and gold designed by Mr Walpole. Inclosed in the tops of the frames, with their arms and coronets, are portraits of George Walpole, third Earl of Orford, and of George Chomondeley, Viscount Malpas, eldest son of George Earl of Cholmondeley and of Mary second daughter of Sir Robert Walpole. There is another Dutch emblematic pane, on which Charles II riding uppermost on the wheel of Fortune, and Rebellion thrown down. Another pane is painted with a cobbler whistling to a bird in a cage, by Pearson, scholar of Price.

✤ Although remarkably modern in appearance, the sofas, made by students at London Metropolitan University, are copied from an 18th century watercolour. ✤ The Gothic chairs are reproductions of an original in the V&A. The backs echo the shape of Gothic windows.

Walk up the stairs and turn immediately left, into the Breakfast Room.

✤ The Great Parlour was Walpole’s dining-room where, according to the custom of the day, the tables were brought in for the occasion. ✤ On the south wall is a portrait of Walpole’s aunt, Dorothy, Viscountess Townshend, by Charles Jervas which has been lent by Dulwich Picture Gallery. The room was filled with portraits of Walpole’s closest family. ✤ The gothic mirror, designed by Walpole, was acquired by HM Treasury in lieu of inheritance tax and has been assigned to Strawberry Hill, for which the Trust wishes to express our thanks to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. 

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T H E B R E A K FA S T RO O M

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URNISHED with blue paper, and blue and white linen. Black and yellow painted glass is set in plain blue glass in the bow window. The chimney-piece and windows are not truly gothic but were designed by Mr. W. Robinson of the Board of Works, before there was any design of farther improvements to the house. A most curious picture of Rose the royal gardener, presenting the first pine-apple raised in England to Charles II. who is standing in a garden: the house seems to be Dawny-court near Windsor, the villa of the duchess of Cleveland. ✤ This room has largely been restored to its early 20th century appearance, when the house was owned by Herbert Stern, the 1st Lord Michelham, a wealthy banker. It was a probably used as a smoking room. ✤ The East wall, leading through to the Green Closet, has been restored to show Horace Walpole’s blue and white paper of 1748, copied from surviving fragments A series of images illustrates the room as it would have appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries. ✤ Walpole hung 80 works of art on the walls. The picture of Charles II is now at Houghton Hall.

THE GREEN CLOSET

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N the windows are some very curious pieces of painted glass. One round pane (one of the best in the house) represents the story of the law-giver, who having enacted a law for punishing adultery with blindness, and his own son having been convicted of it, her gave up one of his own eyes to save one of his son’s. There are other curious panes: one with a rose impaling a pomegranate, the device of Henry VIII and Catherine of Arragon; others with a crown in a thorn-bush between the letters H and E, the device of Henry VII which he assumed after the battle of Bosworth, where Richard’s crown was found in that manner. ✤ Walpole probably wrote most of his correspondence in this room, which was his study. Please do sit at the table to read facsimiles of Walpole’s letters, or write a letter of your own to Horace. ✤ Surviving fragments of the green and gold flock wallpaper were found above the south window, from which a reproduction has been created by a specialist firm. ✤ The extent to which Horace Walpole could have enjoyed his wallpaper is unclear, due to the large number of paintings and portrait miniatures hung here. The Description of the Villa records more than 130 on the walls.

Off this room is a small space to the left of the entrance door. Return to the staircase and turn left again to find the Blue Bedchamber.

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THE BLUE BED-CHAMBER

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UNG with plain blue paper; a linen bed; eight chintz chairs; a toilette worked by Mrs Clive; a looking glass in a tortoiseshell frame, ornamented with silver… The chimney piece was designed by Mr Bentley. ✤ The bed is a copy, made by furniture students, of Sir Robert Walpole’s bed at his London house, inherited by Horace on his father’s death. The drapery has been hand-stitched from appropriate fabric by a group of volunteers working in the house. ✤ The portraits of Horace Walpole, the poet Thomas Gray and the artist and designer Richard Bentley were painted for this room by John Giles Eccardt. They have been loaned to the Trust by the National Portrait Gallery.

On exiting, walk up the stairs.

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THE ARMOURY

THE LIBRARY

S an open vestibule of three gothic arches, lighted by a window entirely of painted glass, and ornamented over the door and niches with quarterings of the family of Walpole… an Indian scimitar and a dagger of the same. An Indian sword, the blade waving and damasked… an Indian lance… several other lances, spears and bows.

HE books are ranged within Gothic arches of pierced work, taken from a side door case to the choir in Dugdale’s St Paul’s. The doors themselves were designed by Mr Chute. The chimney piece is imitated from the tomb of John of Eltham Earl of Cornwall, in Westminster Abbey: the stone work from that of Thomas Duke of Clarence, at Canterbury. The ceiling was painted by Clermont, from Mr Walpole’s design drawn out by Mr Bentley. In the middle is the shield of Walpole surrounded with the quarters borne by the family. At each end in a round is a knight on horseback; that next to the window bears the arms of Fitz Osbert, the other of Robsart. The large window has a great deal of fine painted glass, particularly Faith, Hope and Charity, whole figures in colour; a large shield with the arms of England, and the heads of Charles I and Charles II.

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✤ In the niche on the left, as you ascend the stairs, Walpole displayed a suit of armour which he believed belonged to Francis I of France. It is now at Schloss Eisenach, in Germany. ✤ The Trust has recreated a trophy of arms, recorded in contemporary watercolours, using reproduction and genuine arms and armour. ✤ On the stairs up to Walpole’s Bedchamber is a reproduction of a painting of King Henry VII with St George and the dragon, now in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court. Walpole thought it showed King Henry V.

Now enter the room next to the window – The Library.

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✤ The books in the Library were sold in the great sale of 1842. Many are now at the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University, formed by the Walpole collector, Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis from the 1920s onwards. The Trust has received many kind loans and gifts to help us repopulate the Library with volumes of sympathetic appearance. ✤ The painting above the fireplace is a reproduction of a picture that Walpole believed to show the marriage of King Henry VI. The original is now in a museum in Toledo, Ohio.

Please ascend the stairs to the second floor and turn left to enter Mr Walpole’s Bedchamber. 

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M R WA L P O L E ’ S BEDCHAMBER

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HE chimney-piece was designed by Mr Chute, and has great grace. In the window, composed of seven lights, are several curious pieces of painted glass; as, the arms of Anne Boleyn; a large lion coloured; four large angels in black and white; cypher and portcullis of King Edward; arms of Clinton and Ratcliffe; fine heads in black and white of Charlemagne, Prince William, and Prince Maurice of Orange. ✤ Walpole’s pictures in this room were a very private selection, including his own watercolour after Watteau, portraits of his dog and of his friend John Chute and a print of the death warrant of King Charles 1st. ✤ A cupboard added in 1856 has accidentally conserved both the floral wallpaper of that time and Walpole’s own 1756 gold and blue flock which has been reproduced. ✤ It was in this room that Walpole dreamed that he saw ‘a gigantic hand in armour’ on the top banister of the great staircase of an ancient castle. This inspired him to write the first Gothic horror novel, The Castle of Otranto.

Walk through the door to the right of the window and enter the Plaid Chamber.

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THE PLAID BEDCHAMBER

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N the Plaid Bedchamber, in the South Tower, is the portrait of Henry Walpole the Jesuit who was executed for attempting to poison Queen Elizabeth. This picture came from Mr Walpole’s of Lincolnshire, the last of the Roman Catholic branch of the family, who died about the year 1748. ✤ The room now hosts information about the Castle of Otranto including a copy of the novel which you may sit and read and a special piece of audio art recalling Mr Walpole’s dream. ✤ The wallpaper has been block printed faithfully following surviving fragments.

Continue next door into the Dressing Room, where you will learn about Horace Walpole’s printing press and Thomas Kirkgate, his printer. Then exit to the staircase and walk downstairs, past the Armoury to the first floor. Turn immediately right into the Star Chamber.

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T H E S TA R C H A M B E R

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S a small ante-room, painted green with golden stars in mosaic. It has a large window entirely of painted glass.

✤ This is the last room of Mrs Chevenix’s small house and the grey castle like part of the building: beyond are the State Rooms built for public gaze and to house Walpole’s extensive collection. ✤ The window has some particularly fine glass and demonstrates the variety of subject matter and the imaginative skill with which Walpole arranged the roundels; you can see the colourful arms and shields of English and Flemish families of which Walpole wrote ‘I call them the achievements of the old Counts of Strawberry’, representations of Autumn and Winter in colour, and biblical scenes in black and yellow. ✤ The Trunk Ceiled Passage which follows was also known as ‘the dusky corridor’. Originally it terminated with a painted glass window and now is lit only by a sky-light.

Enter the dusky corridor and turn immediately right to find the Holbein Chamber. Please mind the step!.

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THE HOLBEIN CHAMBER

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HE ceiling is taken from the Queen’s dressing-room at Windsor. The chimney piece designed by Mr Bentley, is chiefly taken from the tomb of Archbishop Warham at Canterbury. Over it, a glass on a black and gold frame; In the bow windows some fine painted glass, and the arms of England, and those of George Prince of Denmark; the ground is a beautiful mosaic of crimson, blue, and pearls, designed and painted by Price of Hatton Garden. The pierced arches of the screen from the gates of the choir at Rouen; the rest of the screen was designed by Mr Bentley. ✤ In this room was displayed Walpole’s collection of copies of Holbein drawings. ✤ The purple walls reflect the original ‘royal’ colour, chosen to enhance the Tudor courtiers who were represented in the display of drawings. ✤ The alcove behind the screen contained a bed beside which hung the red hat of Cardinal Wolseley. ✤ Finding suitable ancient furniture for Strawberry Hill presented Walpole with a challenge. He solved the problem by buying large quantities of ebony chairs and table like this one, loaned to the Trust by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Walpole believed that this furniture was made in England in the early 16th century. However they were in fact made in India some 150 years later, and combined Indian motifs with forms suitable for their European customers

At the end of the corridor open the door on the left hand side and enter the Gallery. Please close the door behind you. 

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THE GALLERY

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IFTY - SIX foot long and seventeen high, and thirteen wide without the five recesses. The ceiling is taken from one of the side aisles of Henry VIIth chapel at Westminster Abbey. In the windows, by Peckitt, are all the quarterings of the family. The great door is copied from the north door of Saint Alban’s, and the two smaller are parts of the same design. The side with the recesses, which are finished with a gold net-work over looking glass, is taken from the tomb of Archbishop Bourchier at Canterbury. The chimney piece was designed by Mr John Chute, and Mr Thomas Pitt of Boconnoch. The room is hung with crimson Norwich damask ✤ The Gallery is the first of Walpole’s great state rooms. He once said of it ‘I begin to be ashamed of my own magnificence’. This room has been entirely re-gilded in the restoration and new crimson damask woven for the walls. ✤ In the course of restoration a chalk inscription by the craftsmen who re-hung the red damask for Lady Waldegrave in January 1857 was discovered. After their names they added the comment ‘Weather very cold, no fires allowed’. ✤ Walpole’s Description also tells us where the paintings were hung enabling us to reproduce some in the correct positions here.

Enter the small door on the right hand side just before the end of the room, to find the Tribune.

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THE TRIBUNE

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T is square with a semicircular recess in the middle of each side, painted stone colour with gilt ornaments, and with windows and niches, the latter taken from those on the sides of the north door of the great church at St Alban’s; the roof, which is taken from the chapter-house at York, is terminated by star of yellow glass that throws a golden gloom all over the room, and with the painted windows gives the solemn air of a rich chapel... The grated door was designed by Sir Thomas Pitt. ✤ This was Walpole’s ‘treasure house’ in which he kept some of his most valuable possessions. The ‘grated’ door was built as in a bank vault where visitors were allowed to peer through; only the most favoured being allowed to enter. ✤ In this room was the fine cabinet of rose-wood, designed by Mr Walpole, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which contained his priceless collection of miniatures and other valuable items. ✤ The windows were constructed in three layers: a clear glass window, a coloured glass panel and a wooden shutter. All could be retracted into the roof space. ✤ A fitted carpet covered the floor with a star in the centre echoing that in the ceiling. The Trust hopes to replicate this in due course.

Now leave this room, turn left and continue until you reach the Great North Bedchamber.

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T H E G R E AT N O R T H BEDCHAMBER

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S hung with crimson Norwich damask. The bed is of tapestry of Aubusson, festoons of flowers on a white ground, lined with crimson silk; plumes of ostrich feathers at the corners. The chimney was designed by Mr Walpole from the tomb of W Dudley Bishop of Durham, in Westminster Abbey, and is of Portland stone, gilt. Over the chimney, a large picture of Henry VIII. And his children. On the chimney a bust of Francis II. King of France, husband of Mary Queen of Scots. In the bow window are ten coats of arms of painted glass by Peckitt of York, with the principal matches of the family of Walpole. The ceiling was copied from one at the Vine in Hampshire. In the closet-window is the head of queen Elizabeth in painted glass, and another pane with men playing at cards, very old. ✤ The bed is now at Sudeley Castle. ✤ Inscriptions on the chimney-piece relate to the bust of Francis II and a bronze relief of Anne of Bretagne which were displayed here. ✤ In the glass closet by the window a rich variety of treasures was displayed including Dr Dee’s mirror by which he summoned up spirits in the days of Queen Elizabeth.

Return to the Gallery, turn right and walk through the large double doors into the Round Drawing Room. 

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THE ROUND D R AW I N G - R O O M

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UNG with crimson Norwich damask; the design of the chimney-piece is taken from the tomb of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey; improved by Mr Adam, and beautifully executed in white marble inlaid with scagliuola, by Richter. The ceiling is taken from a round window in old Saint Paul’s; the frieze was designed by Mr Adam The ceiling is taken from a round window in old Saint Paul’s; the frieze was designed by Mr Adam. ✤ The State Rooms were used by Walpole for entertaining his many visitors. Royalty, statesmen and foreign dignitaries were received at Strawberry Hill and entertained with a tour of the rooms and gardens and a visit to the Printing House. ✤ Opposite the fireplace is a door which Lady Waldegrave inserted. This leads through to her suite of entertainment rooms which she added in the 1860s. ✤ The glass with its rich display of coats of arms also dates from Lady Waldegrave’s time.

Walk back through the door and turn immediately left to enter the small room to the left of the stairs.

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THE BEAUCLERC CLOSET

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S a hexagon, built in 1776, and designed by Mr Essex, architect of Cambridge, who drew the ceiling, door, window. In the window is a lion and two fleurs de lys, royally crowned. The closet is hung with Indian blue damask and was built on purpose to receive seven incomparable drawings of Lady Diana Beauclerc for Mr Walpole’s tragedy of The Mysterious Mother. ✤ This is essentially a private room where Walpole took only his most favoured guests. The Mysterious Mother was considered shocking at the time and a copy was kept here. The ‘incomparable drawings’ were framed and glazed and displayed on these walls. ✤ Lady Diana Beauclerk was a talented designer and decorative painter and one of Walpole’s several close female friends.

This ends the tour of the house. Please make your way carefully down the back stairs. If you turn to your left along the corridor, you will find on your left the Museum Room, in Walpole’s Servants’ Hall. Here you will find more displays about Strawberry Hill, its people and its treasures. Further along this corridor you reach Walpole’s Winding Cloister where his medieval alabasters and classical reliefs are displayed, together with a monumental brass of his medieval ancestor Ralph Walpole engraved by Muntz in about 1758.

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THE GARDEN ✤ Walpole’s land originally descended through meadows to the Thames. This land was built over from the 1920s, blocking the view of the river. ✤ The ‘open grove’ of limes – so called because the lower branches are removed to allow a view underneath the trees – replicates the ‘goose-foot’ pattern designed by Walpole to create a view from the house to the south. ✤ A faithful recreation of the Theatrical Border, at the north of the garden near the shop, features flowering scented shrubs, roses, and a number of heritage species planted in consultation with experts from Painshill Park. ✤ A reproduction of Walpole’s famous shell bench has been commissioned, relying on two surviving drawings for its design. In a letter Walpole mentioned that his three nieces, the Ladies Waldegrave, were able to comfortably sit on the seat, which has allowed us to estimate the size of the bench. ✤ The Community Garden, next to the café, has become an established vegetable and flower garden looked after by a horticulture apprentice. It is used by visitors, schools and community groups. ✤ Don’t miss the ‘Walpole Oak’ at the end of the woodland walk. This tree is the only example in the garden which has survived from the late 18th century.

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THE CHAPEL

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N the south-west corner of the wood, it is built of brick, with a beautiful front of Portland stone, executed by Mr Gayfere of Westminster, and taken from the tomb of Edmund Audley, bishop of Salisbury, in that cathedral. The roof was designed by Mr Chute. ✤ The Chapel remains part of St Mary’s University. It may be found in their car park behind the large 20th century chapel. It is usually closed but you can still see the ‘beautiful front of Portland Stone’.

To locate the Chapel, find the path next to the café and follow it away from the house. Presently you will see the large 20th century chapel of St Mary’s University. Turn to your right before the chapel and walk through the modern brick arches. Walpole’s Chapel in the Woods is on the other side of the University’s central square, to your left.

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P eacock A ppeal £ 1 million challenge D onate £ 1 0 today ? As you know, we are just coming to the end of a £10 million restoration of Strawberry Hill. This is a huge achievement for such a small organisation. The visit you have just enjoyed today is down to the wonderful contribution both staff and volunteers make towards this success – not least the regular input of the room stewards and the front of house team. Our newly hung wallpaper is quite something too.

We have recently received a large donation from a trust which means that we have raised over £300,000, a third of our target. We have until 2016 to raise the rest and need all the help we can get! If everyone who visits Strawberry Hill contributed £10 we would soon reach our target. It is easy to donate online at www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/support/peacock or to simply add a £10 donation when you book a ticket for a visit or an event. We hope you will feel our work is worth your while to support and that you will encourage your own family and friends to see the house.

Raising the first £10 million was also a great achievement. We have been hugely helped by the Heritage Lottery Fund which has contributed more than half of this. Unfortunately fundraising has to continue – you can already see that the exterior of the house could do with some renewal of the paintwork and we need to plan a long term maintenance programme to ensure that Strawberry Hill remains well cared for in the future. To this end we have set up The Peacock Endowment Appeal. Once again the Heritage Lottery Fund has been generous and will match every donation we receive up to our first £1 million. So for every £10 donated we receive £20 and with the addition of Gift Aid £22.50. 

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H ave you enjoyed your visit today ? Please give us your feedback by filling in our visitor survey, talking to a member of staff, or e-mailing [email protected] We rely on volunteers to open and develop the house. If you have appreciated our work, why not consider joining our growing team as a Room Steward, in the shop as a member of the Front of House team, or by assisting with the restoration of the garden? Full training is given, alongside plenty of tea and cake, and we pay travel expenses too. You will also enjoy exclusive lectures, summer and Christmas parties, and visits to other places of interest. Find out more by e-mailing [email protected]

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Design and Production by Trevor Wilson Design Ltd Images courtesy of Pallas Athene Publishers Ltd Published by The Strawberry Hill Trust © 2015, The Strawberry Hill Trust

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