Many National Trust houses contain musical instruments, and there are some important individual items and collections.
A selection of properties to visit with examples of musical instruments:
The principal collections of instruments are the collection bequeathed by Major Benton Fletcher, which is displayed at Fenton House in London, and the collection made by Charles Wade at Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire.
In addition, the National Trust is responsible for an assortment of some 300 other instruments, few houses being without at least one keyboard instrument and some having several, of various types.
There are particular examples of exceptional significance, like the 1537 virginals by Stephanus Mutinensis at Westwood Manor in Wiltshire, and the 1622 Hasard harpsichord and early 17th-century organ at Knole in Kent.
There are other instruments too ordinary to find a place in any other public collection. As with clocks, the Trust’s preference is to show instruments in working order, but only when that can be done without damage to the organological integrity and historic interest of the instrument.
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