REDGRAVE HALL FURNITURE SALE

By Jean Sheehan

The sale began with the contents of the secondary bedrooms which included iron bedsteads and painted furniture, many washstands with their ware, (probably china bowls and jugs etc.) and two sitz baths (hip baths), two mahogany bidets and a set of mahogany bedsteps. These bedrooms were probably the ones which were used by the servants.

The next part of the sale moved into the nine principal bedrooms and the blue room. The furniture here was obviously much better quality, and included two half tester beds and an '8ft.6 ins. mahogany breakfront winged wardrobe' which matched a 'fine 3ft.8ins. mahogany Sheraton chest of four long drawers with sweep front and grooved columns at front corners' situated in the drawing room. One bedroom included a 5ft.6ins. brass bedstead with box spring mattress and a feather bed and another had a 5ft. metal half tester bedstead.

China and glass followed on after the bedrooms, this included Rockingham, Derby, Dresden, Coalport and other valuable makes including two Wedgwood venison dishes. I can imagine the turquoise blue and gilt hand-painted vases described in the catalogue being bought originally for the room which had the turquoise and gold Adam style ceiling which existed somewhere in Redgrave Hall. These lots also included several cases of stuffed birds and animals.

The kitchens and domestic offices included 4 oak tables, the largest measuring fifteen and a half feet long, and another one eight and a half feet in length, with a wainscot table with a leaf which measured over ten feet. Amongst the copper saucepans and jelly moulds sold were a copper stock pot and two preserving pans.

The contents of the dining room followed with an oak dining table extending to eighteen feet, two nine foot sideboards and 22 chairs in one suite, as well as a few smaller tables. The catalogue does not give printed estimated prices but in the margin next to a few items are figures pencilled in, which I presume are the prices paid at the auction. A pair of long red plush curtains sold for fourteen shillings, and a 24ft. x 16ft.6ins. Turkey carpet sold for ten guineas.

Furniture in the Saloon included two mid C18 tables and six armchairs as well as two more small settees and other chairs. A mahogany Chippendale breakfront bookcase measuring 6ft.10ins. sold for £255 and a rare Chippendale circular table sold for £35. A pair of Adam mahogany carving tables sold for £95 the pair.

The drawing room contained "a grand pianoforte in very handsome burr walnut case, by John Broadwood & Sons, London," which sold for £10. A Louis XVl. gilt timepiece by Gayerdet Ainé, Paris, sold for 32/6d. This clock was contemporary with a Louis XVl suite in gilt and white enamel, upholstered in red damask comprising: six fauteuils, six painted fauteuils, three foot stools, a pair of 5ft.3ins.serpentine settees, three window seats, and two six and a half feet settees.

The staircase hall, landing and corridors held a wide variety of furniture and other decorative objects.

The two libraries only included one rosewood breakfront dwarf open bookcase, as the walls were fitted with bookcases which were sold when the building materials from Redgrave Hall were sold in 1946. A mahogany circular pillar library table was amongst other furniture. The study contained various tables and desks and another piano. The billiard room had two full sized billiard tables with all the equipment and also a roulette board.

A few oil paintings were sold, which was just as well as family portraits were later damaged when the hall was requisitioned during the Second World War, even though they had been stored outside the hall in a cottage.

This catalogue really brings the rooms to life at the time the Wilson Family were living in Redgrave Hall during the nineteenth century.

The catalogue says on the front page that the car park will be under the auspices of the Automobile Association. The back cover is an advertisement to let "The Cottage, Redgrave. A well-situated modernised GENTLEMAN'S RESIDENCE. Accommodation :- Two Reception, Six Bedrooms, Garden and Paddock. Electric Light. Immediate Possession. Rent £75." (presumably the rent was an annual rent for this house which is situated in the village.)