Ist Floor
By 1688, the Brownlow family had moved in, but some rooms remained unfurnished or unused. While many rooms are easily identified, such as those with two closets each, or located over named rooms, the 1698 inventory has some uncertainty. By 1737, Viscount Tyrconnel was the owner and occupier. The floor plan used is that by Hulsberg c.1724. To find the detailed contents of the rooms consult the 'raw' inventories on the Belton floorplan page.
Banner iamge: page 1 of the inventory taken following Young Sir John Brownlow's suicide (© Lincolnshire County Council)
Comments on the 1st floor
In the Greate Nurserie (The Windsor Bedroom)
In 1688, Elizabeth was 7, Alicia 4, Margaret 1. Jane was born in 1689 and Eleanor in 1691. Richard was born in June 1682 and died in September in Holborn. Anne Brownlow was baptised in May 1695 at Belton, but died the same month.
Contents included, two litle tables, foure wooden Chaires one red Chaire, one red Stoole, two greene velvett Stooles, two Seeing Glasses, two bedsteads with Curtayns & vallens, one paire Crymson Moohaire, the other paire Gray Kamlett [camlet, woven textile often of wool] , one table bed [possibly a cot] with a feather bed boulster one Copper Sawce pann, one Dyall watch and 39 pictures. Paint analysis shows that it had a mid-brown colour scheme.
In the litle Nurserie was just one bedsteade with purple Curtayns & vallensand another table bed, but also a cradle. It would seem the two older girls slept together with the nursemaid next door with Margaret.
By 1698, there were three bedsteads in the great Nursery and two in the little Nursery. Both areas had desks, and there were two bookcases.
The number of items in the 1688 nurseries far exceed those in other bedrooms. The Brownlows wanted the best for the children.
In the black room 1737
Viscount Tyrconnel was childless, by 1737 the former nursey contained just one bedstead. Hassal (2018) performed a paint analysis on a black and gold scheme hidden within the radiator cabinet, left. Surprisingly, their evidence revealed that the decoration was unlikely to be any earlier than the late nineteenth century or even the very early years of the twentieth. On a shutter hinge presumed original to the room, the black overlies 7 earlier paint schemes. The mystery behind this name continues.
The room had three pairs of curtains. Hulsberg's plan shows pairs of open windows on the return wall, south side and one open, one blind window on the west side.
When children returned to Belton the nursey became the room over the kitchen.
C. Hassall (2018), Paint Analysis Report no.C205 Belton House Office.
My Ladys Chamber
Alice Brownlow's bedroom in 1688. She already had a taste for Eastern furniture, one Jappan Stoole with a cushon, one Jappan box, one Jappan punch boule with a frame. She slept in One fine bedsteade, with Curtayns & vallens, Haire couller lind [bright light tan colour] with blew Sarcenett [sarcenet, a fine soft silk fabric from Italy]. Textiles to stay warm with were , two under quilts, one boulster, two pillowes, three blancketts, one upper white quilt tufted, one Silke Shagg [thick piled cloth], oringe coullerd Rugg. And one pendulum Clocke for time. She had a separate dressing room next door.
In the blew and white painted Chamber,
If Alice was still sleeping here 10 years later, after her husband's death then a change to 1 Bedstead with Silke Curtaines and vallance and blew hangings, and Screwtore , a writing desk. The Belton accounts record numerous letters sent between Alice and her acquaintances. None survive.
In the best wrought Room
Decorative embroidery done with crewel yarn on cotton or linen, using simple stitches traditionally wrought in floral or pastoral designs.
After Alice's death in 1721, the room is probably used by Anne Cartwright, Viscount Tyrconnel's second wife in 1737. Hangings of this room of new worstead damask. and ye old used in covering drawing room and dining room chairs etc.
Pictures of Sir William Brownlowe’s Lady [Dorothy], Sir William Brownlowe, Viscountess [Anne Cartwright] Lord Viscount Tyrconnell
In the Velvett roome
Named from the velvet bed drapes and 10 velvet upholstered chairs. Identifiable as Young Sir John's room from the two closets seen on Hulsberg's plan, with his dressing room next door. One closet contained his close Stoole with a pann, usually pewter. The dressing room he used as a study with one Screwtore [writing desk] & a frame, two Globs.
Ten years later and just six months after his death, this chamber is the Marble Roome. Likely named from the fashion of faux marble walls. The windows of the closets were open to the north and curtains are recorded there in both early inventories. One has a campaign bed, for a servant, remote operated servant call bells arrived only in the 1740s. His dressing room has 1 Raisor [razor]case, 1 little Seeing glasse. A preference for a beardless face in C17 meant shaving 1 to 3 times a week including perhaps the head for a well fitting wig as John wore.
My Lords Bedchamber
Taken over by Viscount Tyrconnel by 1737 and an ideal location to plan his garden and Bellmount Tower, with north and east views. The chairs were covered with tartan. A Walnut-tree Beaureau could be the c. 1720 burr-walnut Brownlow Bureau Cabinet. A large handsom India Chest could be this cabinet, c.1700. One closet has a writing table, glass fronted bookcase and 12 pictures. Tyrconnel's dressing room held One and twenty Prints Views of the Gardens at Versailles and a Map of Belton (coloured) Gardens and Park. The latter is lost, a Survey of the Manor and Lordship of Belton belonging to the Hon Sir John Cust drawn by Cecil Swann is dated 1748.
A picture identifiable in My Lords Dressing Room is A Print of Transfiguration of Raphael (left).
Madam Sherrards Chamber
Madam Sherard was Alice's younger sister, Elizabeth (1663-1702). We can exclude Alice's mother, Margaret Dewe, who died in 1680. We can exclude John Sherard's putative wife, Alice's brother died unmarried. The National Trust state that the other younger sister, Mary married Peter Whitcombe (1660-1704), who came from Great Braxted in Essex. Whitcombe had lived in Turkey where he amassed a fortune in trading. This is based on a portrait with inscribed: MS WHITCOMBE SISTER TO LADY/BROWNLOWE OF BELTON/PAINTED BY WISSING. The evidence that this is Mary is uncertain.
NB original documents say it was Elizabeth Sherard who was married to Peter Whitcombe. Geneanet have Elizabeth having a daughter Mary, with Peter in 1685, which would explain her departure by the 1698 inventory.
Furnished in green and with a bird cage, a second bedstead stood in one of the closets, perhaps for her maid servant. The two window curtains are also described as green in 1737. By 1698, Elizabeth may have moved away for her room was now called the Chamber over the Kitchin and was used as storage for 5 feather mattresses, 6 quilts, 5 bolsters and 13 blankets. By 1737 with same 1698 name it is furnished for use with a second, canopy bed in one of the closets. This room must have been subject to the noise, heat and smells of a kitchen working on an industrial scale, beneath.
The best Chamber
Furnished with green damask hangings and carpet, and 6 Chaires Cloth of Silver. Interestingly, it had refreshments on hand for guests, 1 punch bowle, 1 Tea pott and frame. Tea drinking in England is first recorded in 1657. A luxury drink more expensive than coffee, because it came from China and it was taxed very heavily. This chamber likely hosted William III on his royal progress in October 1695. Listed under the silver in 1698 are three silver chamber pots - for his use?
The White Painted Chamber and ye closet to the same room the white and green painted Chamber
Both the White Painted Chamber, now the Yellow bedroom and the Chamber over the little dineing room now the Boudoir have closets attached without fires. The closets contain a small number of items, a chest of drawers, a chair and a few odds and ends. They are smaller content-wise than the two closets attached to the north chambers. They were presumably inbuilt into those rooms, but now demolished. the white and green painted Chamber has a fire and appears in the inventory adjacent to the East stairs, i.e. the Yellow Bedroom dressing room.
The Study
Only one chamber with a fire remains unaccounted for. This is allocated to the Study that appears with the 1st floor rooms, but just before the appraisers go up the West stairs to record the first Garrett on the Southwest wing.
the great dineing Room
Unmentioned in 1688, it seems little used in 1698, 2 Tables, 1 Stand, 13 Cane Chairs, 1 Wood Screen, 2 Cushons, 1 book frame, 1 fire grate [on the west wall at that time] with fire Shovel Tongs and bellows In the same Room, 1 Picture. The barbeque given to William III in 1695 likely took place in the Banqueting House in the gardens. By Tyrconnel's time it hung paintings we can recognise today, Picture of the Right Honble. Lord Viscount Tyrconnell by Gervese, Lady Viscountess Tyrconnell, Lady Brownlowe by Knelles, Lady Brownlowe Wife to Sir William by Ryley, Sir John Sherrard by Ryley. But there was no dining table.