The 'Inspired by Knole' project was created in 2012 as a six-year programme of works with a £19.8 million investment to protect and preserve Knole’s historic buildings and collections. This specialist project was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other generous donations. Find out what was achieved and the new spaces that were opened for visitors to enjoy.
Knole is one of the country’s most exceptional historic houses, containing world-class collections of royal furniture, silver paintings and tapestries. It was built in 1456 for the Archbishop of Canterbury, gifted to Henry VIII in 1538, and remodelled in the 17th century by the Sackville family.
In 2012 Knole was facing crisis – the building was deteriorating and its interiors and collections were suffering from the damp environment. The ‘Inspired by Knole’ project was created to address these issues and ensure the future survival of the Grade I listed building.
Not only has the project enabled the repair of Knole’s built structures, but its rare interiors and precious collections have also been conserved.
New spaces have been opened up which show a whole different side to Knole. Attics, tower apartments and buildings across the working side of the estate are now interpreted in a hands-on way.
National Trust curators and specialists have used their research and expertise to re-present the showrooms to draw out stories about people, events and moments in the past.
2018 – 2019
Conservation work in the showrooms during 2018 was carried out to improve the environmental conditions. Most of Knole’s collections will now be treated in the new on-site conservation studio.
The showrooms fully reopened to visitors in 2019 alongside the unique Retainer's Gallery in the attics, opened in March 2019.
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Explore Knole's showrooms to see one of the rarest and most well-preserved collections of Royal Stuart furniture, paintings, objects and textiles – on show since 1605.
Knole was built to impress. Come and explore the grandeur of its showrooms, the hidden secrets of the attics and the rooms Eddy Sackville-West called home in the Gatehouse Tower.
Discover Vita Sackville-West's connection to Knole; her colourful life and her literary legacy as a poet, novelist, gardener, biographer and journalist.
Women weave a fascinating and rich thread throughout Knole's history. Often wealthy and powerful in their own right, they left their mark on Knole, a legacy that remains today.
Knole is home to some of the last surviving 17th-century furniture from Whitehall and Hampton Court Palaces, among the most expensive status objects of their time.
The Knole collection includes more than 300 paintings by 17th and 18th-century masters, many commissioned and collected by Sir John Frederick Sackville, the 3rd Duke of Dorset.
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Find out more about the funding the National Trust receives from grants, and the projects it has helped support.