Visiting the house at Sizergh

The house is now closed until March, but there's lots of exciting work going on behind the scenes. Keep your eyes peeled in the new year for information about an exciting programme of Conservation in Action events.

The Inlaid Chamber at Sizergh

The Inlaid Chamber features some of the finest-quality, and most visually striking, Elizabethan joinery to survive in the north of England. A rare masterpiece of heraldic stained-glass windows, ornate plasterwork and elaborate inlaid panelling, it was a sign of the political aspirations and wealth of Sizergh’s original Tudor owners.

Flemish tapestries in the Library

The Library houses a set of rare wall hangings depicting The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra – based on the famous stories of Plutarch, and later, Shakespeare. They are the largest surviving examples from this series in the world. In 2018, we were successful in our bid to fund the tapestry considered to be in most urgent need, The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra. The funding was allocated, with a gift from a will providing the funding to kick off the project.

The tapestry was away for two years, undergoing extensive restoration including cleaning, restitching, relining, and specialist treatment to restore its colour. It returned to Sizergh in 2022, and now hangs in pride of place in the Library.

None of this work would have been possible without a generous gift in will, which provided funding for the early stages of the restoration project. We are also hugely grateful to the Wolfson Foundation, who kindly supported the later stages which saw the project completed.