Opposite the Drawing
Room door a passage leads to the 16th century panelled bedroom and
proceeding up the stairs a small curved door half way up, takes you
to the Old Library.
Continuing up the front stairs to the top landing; on the
right is the Music Room with another fine ceiling by Thomas Clayton.
Musical instruments surround the central motif of an Apollo’s head
in a sunburst. On display are old estate maps drawn in 1810,
together with other papers documenting the development of the house
and estate. Adjoining the Music Room is the Heather bedroom, with
unusual linen wall hangings.
Before
descending the stairs to the hall it is worth noting the plaster
work round the bottom of the cupola. This particular design was,
some say, unique to Robert Adam, but as we know that the Master
Plasterer, Clayton, did much work for Adam he would hold the moulds
and may have made use of them whenever he had occasion. In 1976 the
cupola (which is 16ft across) split open in a gale and was replaced.
Beneath the lead on the top a note was found stating the cupola had
been replaced in 1860. The 1758 original had therefore lasted 112
years, and its replacement almost exactly the same number of
years. |