1676 Inventory of Middleton Hall #4: The Chapel
This post, the fourth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the “The Chapel” and “The Space Into The Chapel”. Although these areas are named with what should have been an easily identifiable title, there is a considerable lack of certainty over their precise locations.
Today, it is known that Middleton Hall only ever contained one private chapel, which was located centrally on the north side of the Hall. This had been built in 1391 by Sir Baldwin IV de Freville. However, for many centuries, it was claimed that the ground floor of the Stone Building had been “a Norman Chapel”. This was because it contained an aumbry.
An incorrect definition of an aumbry as a place where religious items were stored led to this erroneous belief. The belief emerged because the vast majority of aumbrys that had survived were in religious houses. However, when the aumbry and the Stone Building were created in the 13th century, an aumbry was nothing more than a recessed cupboard with an internal shelf and a wooden door that could hold any type of item. Nevertheless, this poses a challenge in historic documents that refer to the Chapel at Middleton Hall because they can refer to either.
There is also uncertainty over the nature of the ground floor of the Stone Building at this time because it may have been one or two rooms. The Space into the Chapel would lend credence to the idea that the structural alterations had already occurred and these two rooms were adjacent.
However, there is a significant degree of separation in their positions on the inventory list, being pages apart from each other. This implies that these rooms, despite both referencing the Chapel, were not near each other. The Chapel is listed immediately after the Garret, which was after the Still Chamber. Thus, it is next to rooms that would be correct if it did refer to the ground floor of the Stone Building. However, the Space into the Chapel is listed primarily amongst bedchambers, specifically between the Red Chamber and the Old Study. This suggests that this area might refer to the belfry/priest hole of the 1391 Chapel.
Although the inventory is a useful illustration of the household at Middleton Hall, two caveats must be taken into account when considering the items. First, many items listed in the inventory are just being stored in rooms, rather than being in their proper place. Second, this inventory was taken when the house was closed, not in its lived-in fully-furnished fine state.
In the Chapel, the inventory listed a few highly domestic and certainly non-religious items. Hence, there is no connection between the room name and the items contained therein. Neither do the items point to a specific use for this room in normal times as, at this time, it appears to be just storage. The items listed were one table and:
• One close stool and pan. As noted in the previous post on the Garret, a close stool was a wooden box-stool enclosing a toilet pan.
• One tub for foul cloaths. Cloaths is now an obsolete word. It referred to both clothes as well as cloths. It was only later that the two terms separated at which time the older wider term of cloaths became redundant.
• Two presses for cloaths and napkins. A press was a large wooden cupboard.
The inventory reveals that the Space into the Chapel was also being used at that time for storage. It contained:
Three trunks and a chest. There is a technical distinction between a trunk and a chest. Trunks were leather-covered boxes with domed lids, which enabled them to resist rain and be suitable for transport. On the other hand, chests were sturdy flat-topped wooden boxes for stationary storage.
Three red carpets, four leather carpets and a piece of printed Kidderminster. As noted in the previous post on John Ray’s Chamber, in this era, the word carpet referred to coverings for tables or chests not the floor. It was also explained in the same post that Kidderminster referred to Kidderminster stuff, a durable thick flat-woven patterned woollen fabric that was made in Kidderminster.
A large hanging wainscot press, inside which were two large carpets of turkey work. As noted in the previous post on the Still Chamber, turkey work was a luxury English textile that mimicked Middle Eastern carpets.
A wainscot press would likely have been a high-quality cupboard made from imported quartersawn oak panelling. In this era and in this context, wainscot explicitly referred to a high-grade, straight-grained, knot-free type of oak. This type of wood was normally imported from areas such as what is today Russia, Germany, Denmark or Poland. Baltic oak, in comparison to English oak, grew more slowly and more steadily, which created a tight grain that was soft, easy to carve and less prone to warping or knots. The timber would have then been carved and assembled in England by a joiner to create this high-status cupboard.
The description of it being hanging means that it was actually an early form of the modern wardrobe. This was because it was specifically designed for hanging the items on hooks or pegs instead of them being stored folded flat. Hanging presses only developed in the early 17th century. Thus, at the time of this inventory, it was a relatively recent invention. The benefit of hanging fabric items rather than folding was that it helped prevent creasing and protected the fabric from damp and crushing. A hanging press in this era simply had an internal row of iron or wooden pegs fitted along the upper part and door of the cupboard.
Further Reading: "Clothes Press", Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O60643/clothes-press-unknown/
Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.
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