The Stag Parlour
The Stag Parlour is a small room that played a big part in Legh family history. Whilst updated throughout the years, some original details remain, including parts of the overmantel. There are four 19th-century chairs that bear the monogram – ‘CR’ – of Charles I, said to be upholstered with fabric taken from the cloak worn by Charles I on the scaffold. When James II was ousted from the throne in 1688, Peter Legh XII persistently refused to pledge his allegiance to the new monarchs, William and Mary. He and other local land owners formed the Cheshire Club to discuss re-instating the Stuart king. Its first meeting was held in this room.
The Knight’s Bedroom
Family tradition has it that Mary Queen of Scots slept here, and that a secret passageway led from the cupboard, through the house and under the hill to the Cage. During one of the mansion’s many renovations, a skeleton was discovered lying in a cavity beneath the floorboards; the room was subsequently said to be haunted.
The Long Gallery
This space is another Elizabethan survivor, created for gentle exercise and for a display of wealth. Here at Lyme, the Long Gallery was also a domestic space. Records show that Sir Piers VII sat in one of the bays when paying his staff, and by the 17th century a billiard table stood at the top end. Later, the 2nd Lady Newton turned the room into a theatre, where the family staged performances, whilst also distributing Christmas presents to the children of the estate workers. During the Second World War, it became a nursery for evacuees.
The Library
Often a favourite for visitors, the Library today is a re-creation of how the room was decorated in the Victorian era. As restoration work to the room began in 2010, we discovered beneath the modern wallpaper a shadow impression on the plaster of the original 19th-century paper as well as fragments of the crimson and gold flock were also found behind the bookcases, which enabled us to create a historically accurate replacement, made by a specialist French company, Atelier d’Offard.