The “Chints Room”

At Middleton Hall, there is an old plaque on a wall that says “Chints Room”. It is located on the north wall of the ground floor lobby on the western side of the Jettied Building. The plaque was in this location when Middleton Hall Trust was formed in 1980 and it is the only old room name sign that is present at Middleton Hall.

Chints Room plaque in Jettied Building lobby at Middleton Hall, 2021. Photograph taken by Joanna Habart.

Before 1721, the area where the plaque is located was outdoors, beneath the Gallery Corridor. In 1721, during the Georgian Renovation, these external Corridors were removed and the Hall was made into a single solid structure. Afterwards, the current position of the plaque became indoors. In about 1925, John Averill demolished what had once been the Chapel and converted the adjacent Jettied Building into a stand-alone cottage, which formed the lobby that is present today. Hence, this narrows the possible date range for the plaque to sometime between 1721 and 1925.

The name chints refers to the fabric known today as chintz, but it is an obsolete spelling of it. Chintz is an Indian fabric that was known as chimt in Hindi. When this fabric first came to Britain in the 17th century, the name used was chint and the Anglicised plural became chints. In the late 18th century, the name was converted to the modern spelling of chintz.

Chintz is a calico fabric that was either woodblock printed, painted or stained. The fabric is covered with designs of flowers or other patterns in different colours, which is reflected in the original Hindi word which meant spotted, variegated or speckled.

By 1680, more than a million pieces a year of chintz were being imported from India to England. However, because British textile mills did not know how to make it, Parliament passed the Calico Act of 1721, which banned imported calico for use and wear in clothing and use in any aspect of household furnishings. This ban was not lifted until 1774. During this period, British textile manufacturers learned and began producing a different version of chintz that was industrially made with a cotton fabric. During the period of the ban, if anyone was caught with any illegal chintz fabric as a furnishing, they would have been fined £5 (over £500 today) and the item would have been confiscated. It would therefore be highly unlikely to have a room bearing the name of this banned fabric during that era, thus possibly narrowing the date range for the plaque to 1774-1925. However, confusingly, this would date the plaque to after the spelling change.

This later date, despite the spelling, is further supported because the fashion for affixing room name plaques to walls was actually introduced in the mid-Victorian era. Hence, this would restrict the possible date for when it was named as the Chints Room to after the 1850s. This coincides with the Victorian glazed “chintz craze”, which occurred from about the 1840s to 1890s. In this period, a room bearing this name would more than likely be completely styled with matching chintz floral prints on the curtains, upholstery and wall coverings.

It is therefore possible to conclude that the plaque was added in the mid to late 19th century, when Middleton Hall was redecorated by one of its tenants. Unfortunately, this still provides a number of options. Specifically, it could have been added by: John Peel, who became tenant in 1854; Hanbury Barclay, who became tenant in 1873; Reverend Robert John Hodgkinson, who became tenant in 1881; and, finally, Egbert de Hamel, who became tenant in 1886, but it should also be noted that the room names provided to Middleton Hall Trust by the de Hamel family did not include a Chints Room.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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