The Chapter House is tucked away, hiding behind it’s vestibule and on first view it is both a surprise and delight. The octagonal room was completed in 1286 and is unusual in that it does not have a central column to support the vaulted roof.
From the guidebook:
Used from the 1290s onwards for parliaments by [...]
It is commonly thought that the King’s State Bedroom commemorates the occasion James I stayed in Burton Agnes Hall on the way to be crowned in Westminster Abbey. This however is highly unlikely because the Hall was not completed until 1603. The bed is Italian and dates from the seventeenth century [...]
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 [...]
The first room you see when you enter Burton Agnes Hall is the Great Hall. It features fine Elizabethan carving, plasterwork and panelling:
The figures – biblical, allegorical and mythological – are far too numerous to catalogue, and in the screen alone there are angels, a crusading knight, Elizabethan ladies, the Twelve Apostles (these in narrow [...]
Before we move on to exploring the interior of Burton Agnes Hall I will show you what is remaining of the original manor-house. The brick building in the foreground of the first picture looks quite modern, but it conceals a surprise which you can see in the third photo. The brick cladding was put was [...]