The Small Dining Room The panelling, fireplace and decoration date from Frederick Leyland's restoration following his leasing of Speke from 1867. He united two small rooms to create a new dining room in preference to the Great Hall, which had previously been used for this purpose. During Miss Watt's time, the last owner of the Hall, it became a morning-room, where she would receive tenants on estate business.
In contrast to most of the furnishings at Speke, there are several mahogany pieces in this room that date from the early 19th century, such as the cane-seated armchairs which belonged to relatives of Adelaide Watt, the Starkies of Ashton Hall in Lancashire. The mahogany longcase clock by J. & R. mixture of Egyptian and Gothic motifs.
The pictures in this room illustrate the 19th-century history of Speke: the coloured lithographs by Nash and Dodd are fashionably romanticised views of the building in the 1840s; W. G. Herdman's large watercolour shows the restored house in 1860 and there is a lithograph of the last owner of Speke Hall, Miss Adelaide Watt.
The Kitchen and Scullery The east wing of the house was built in four stages. Both Kitchen and Scullery date from c. 1600, though the Scullery's vast sandstone chimneystack was a later addition. The unusually high windows on the Courtyard side were to prevent the servants being visible from there.
The kitchen was re-equipped by the last Richard Watt c. 1855, though most of the items on display belonged to Miss Watt, and the present cast iron range of c. 1910 replaced the open fire and spit which can be seen in the 1904 photograph. Except for the base of the table against the courtyard wall, which is from the 17th century, most of the equipment is Victorian.
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