An Early 19th-Century Panoramic Room in Ashbourne

Abstract

In the early 19th century a panoramic room was created on the first floor of an 18th-century house in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Although later covered up, it was rediscovered on three further occasions, most recently by the owner in 2011. The paintings depict a hunting scene and buildings in a picturesque landscape, and were executed in oils directly onto plaster. This was a relatively common practice, but many examples have been lost and the panoramic room in Ashbourne is a rare and important survival. English Heritage has carried out a photographic survey of the paintings and has upgraded the house to Grade II* to reflect the rarity and artistic interest of the paintings.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Roger Bowdler, Sophie Godfraind, Sarah Pinchin and Treve Rosoman of English Heritage; James Ayres; James Darwin of the Georgian Group; and Professor David Park, Director of the Department of the Conservation of Wall Painting at the Courtauld Institute, for providing information about other examples of early 19th-century wall paintings. Thanks are also due to Paul Pattison of English Heritage and Maxwell Craven for their help in identifying the buildings depicted in the Ashbourne paintings.

Notes

1 Kathleen M Hollick, ‘A Painted Room in Ashbourne’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, LXXXVI, 1966, 104–05.

2 RR Tatlock, ‘Henry Alken’, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, XXXVII, No. 212, November 1920, 247–54.

3 I am indebted to James Ayres for this suggestion.

4 Staff at the Derbyshire Record Office, the National Trust Curator for Derbyshire, and Maxwell Craven, a noted Derbyshire historian, were unable to identify these buildings.

5 Derby Mercury, 10 April 1914, 2.

6 Idem.

7 Hollick, op. cit., 105.

8 Edward Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England 1537–1837, Vol. II: The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Feltham, 1970, 309.

9 Ibid., 60.

10 See Croft-Murray, op. cit., 60–62, for details of the panoramic rooms at Eastbury Manor, Norbury Park and Drakelowe Hall. The latter room is now, in part, installed at the V&A.

11 The panoramic room is the subject of an article by Michael Hall in Country Life, CLXXXIV, 30 August 1990, 84–87.

12 James Ayres, Domestic Interiors: The British Tradition 1500–1850, New Haven and London, 2003, 158–59.

13 I am grateful to Roger Bowdler for this information.

14 These are Cleeve Hall, Bishop’s Cleeve, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; Castle Cottage, 7 Castle Street, Framlingham, Suffolk; 3 Sherbourne Place, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; Phippens Farm, Butcombe, North Somerset; 28 High Street, St Asaph, Clwyd, Denbighshire; and 39 Grosvenor Place, Bath. Another example from the same period but not in a domestic building, is the former Lowther Hotel, Aire Street, Goole, Yorkshire.

15 Ayres, op. cit., 155–56.

16 Ibid., 159.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melissa Thompson

Melissa Thompson is Acting Designation Adviser for English Heritage and is currently writing a book on Georgian and Regency conservatories for English Heritage Publishing.