The first photograph shows the Elizabethan carving above the chimney-piece in the Red Drawing-room:
The main panel is a gruesome Dance of Death, showing a skeleton trampling on the symbols of earthly vanity, such as a papal crown, orb and sceptre, mitre, weapons of war, etc. The figures on either side are the Just, being received by angels, and the Unjust, claimed by the devil. *
The other two photos show the Upper Drawing-room which contrasts to the other main rooms in the house due to the removal of the seventeenth-century panelling. It was redecorated by the 3rd Baronet in the early eighteenth century.
*From the Burton Agnes guidebook.
Just like my stately home in Edinburgh.
I don’t envy you all that cleaning
It is inviting, cleaner’s wrath immediately incurred upon entry, aside. What a pity the detail reveals a functionally deceased room.
The house is still lived in, although I am not sure which of the rooms they use.
Imagine actually living in a place like that. Nice for a while maybe but I do love my comfy and familiar home.
I think if I lived in a place like that I would only use one or two of the rooms. Unless I had visitors of course
Now that’s a drawing room – such ornate walls and intricate carving – the Upper Drawing Room however seems more appealing to me.
The upper-drawing room was light and airy. I can imagine sitting, relaxing and reading with a nice cup of tea