
Art and collections
We care for one of the world's largest and most significant collections of art and heritage objects. Explore the highlights, our latest major exhibitions, curatorial research and more.
The places we look after are rich in sporting history. With the Trust’s fundamental connection to nature and the outdoors, and as home to informal children’s games and organised sports events, the places in our care continue the sporting legacies woven into people, collections and stories.
The collections held at our places are a rich resource for delving into sporting cultures. From sportswear and equipment to photographs of sporting activity, along with sports-themed arts, the items we care for give a glimpse into our sporting past.
In its earliest days, sport was closely connected with warfare. Sporting competitions demonstrated individual strength and physical prowess.
The Ancient Greeks are credited with the introduction of organised sport, holding the first Olympic Games in 776 BCE. This event included sports like running and hockey, and grew quickly to include boxing, javelin and discus.
This 18th-century lead sculpture by Andrew Carpenter at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden in North Yorkshire is based on the Roman marble in the Uffizi, Florence. Two young men are engaged in the pankration, a form of ancient Greek wrestling similar to today's mixed martial arts.
A book of 1674, called The Compleat Gamester, described billiards as ‘much approved of and played by most nations of Europe, especially in England, there being few towns of note therein which hath not a public billiard table…’.
We don’t know much about the people who made these tables, but it was a very specialised craft, with a huge amount of skill involved in getting the bed as flat as possible so that balls would run smoothly.
Very few early billiard tables survive, making this late 17th-century mahogany-framed table at Knole very rare. Early billiard cues, like those shown resting on the table, were slightly curved at the tip.
The 15th and 16th centuries saw a rise in popularity of equestrian sports. Racehorses were the sports cars of their day and proud owners commissioned artists to paint their horses. Among the 11,000 paintings that we care for, there are many that feature racehorses.
One of the most famous paintings in our collection is Hambletonian, Rubbing Down by George Stubbs (1724–1806), a 12ft-wide painting at Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland. Hambletonian, a racehorse owned by Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, had won a thrilling victory at Newmarket in 1799.
The National Trust has a special role in the story of croquet. The rules were codified at Chastleton House and Gardens, Oxfordshire, by Walter Whitmore Jones in 1866. Jones was born and lived at Chastleton, and had a passion for inventing games.
Croquet is thought to have been imported from France around this time, derived from the French game ‘paille-maille’ that used wooden mallets to hit balls.
A set of tapestries at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire depict winged infants engaged in a variety of games, including croquet. They're derived from a series of paintings by Polidoro da Caravaggio (c.1499–1543). The tapestries were probably made for William Cavendish, the Third Earl of Devonshire, in around 1678.
Modern lawn tennis evolved in the late 19th century, and had deep roots in the medieval game, ‘real tennis’, which was favoured by many royals, especially the Tudors.
Allegedly, Henry VIII was playing real tennis on his personal court at Hampton Court when his second wife Anne Boleyn was arrested.
Tudor long galleries, such as this one at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, were used for indoor exercise. Ladies would promenade up and down and gentlemen would practise their swordsmanship.
We care for one of the world's largest and most significant collections of art and heritage objects. Explore the highlights, our latest major exhibitions, curatorial research and more.
Discover the stories behind some of the greatest artworks and artefacts looked after by the National Trust, as told in a dedicated book, 125 Treasures from the Collections of the National Trust.
Join actor Alison Steadman in our podcast episode 'The horse on the staircase' as she explores the story behind Hambletonian, Rubbing Down – a painting by George Stubbs. You can also find more stories from series seven filled with nature and history.
There are many intriguing objects with connections to magic, mystery or death at the places in our care. From a witch's cauldron to death masks and a boat made of bones, discover some of the most mysterious objects in their collections.
Wassailing is a Twelfth Night Christmas tradition with pagan roots. Find out more about what's involved, including singing, dancing and drinking cider from a wassail cup.
We look after the largest collection of tapestries in Britain and one of the largest in the world. Discover some examples of this outstanding craftmanship at the places in our care.