The engravings are displayed on the service stair walls and are a rich source of 16th and 17th century history. The 'Illustrious Men' are mainly from the nobility - those who could afford to pay for the luxury of a likeness of themselves.

Among them are Earls of Arundel, Orkney and Godolphin and William, Lord Russell,1639-83, Earl of Bedford, elected Whig MP in 1660. He opposed the Catholicization of the court and was with the 'Country'. Charged with complicity in the Rye house plot, he refused to disavow a right of resistance and was convicted and executed. Russell was an ancestor of mathematician and philosopher, Bertrand Russell.

Lord Lauderdale is known locally because he gave his name to Lauderdale House in Highgate. Lords Somerset and Montague.

The Archbishop of Armargh James Ussher, Archbishop Armagh 1581-1656. Strict Calvinist and historian who 'scientifically estimated the date and time of creation at 9 a.m. on 26 October 4004.B.C.

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Stafford 1593-1641. A prominent politician in parliamentary opposition to Charles I until 1628, when Charles gave him a baronetcy and made him president of the Council of the North.

There are many other engravings which reward the keen historian.