Visiting Canons Ashby house

The Kitchen

Recent research suggests that this corner of the house was originally Wylkyn’s farmhouse, the oldest part of the house. The room was extended eastwards in the late 16th century by Erasmus Dryden, to create the existing layout and modernised at the beginning of the 18th century.

Great Hall

The Great Hall was originally entered from what is now the Green Court. The entrance was changed when Edward Dryden remodelled the house in the early 18th century and replaced the old entrance porch with a fine, tall baroque doorcase which he placed in the middle of the wall. He commissioned his cousin, Elizabeth Creed, to paint an overmantel with arms and armour.

The Dining Room

This room was part of John Dryden’s first phase of building, the tower house. It was completely remodelled by Edward Dryden in about 1710 and described in the 1717 inventory as the ‘right-hand parlour’. It’s a beautiful example of an early Georgian oak-panelled room.

Book Room

The Book Room is part of Sir Erasmus Dryden’s extension to the house of around 1590 and still has the original panelling. The chimney piece and overmantel with its doric pilasters and columns are also of this period. The room was described as the ‘left-hand parlour’ in the 1717 inventory and was subsequently used as a Billiard Room. Sir Henry Dryden the Antiquary created the room as it is today and gave it the distinctive name of the Book Room. The oak bookcases were designed by Sir Henry and made by the estate carpenters in the 1840-50s.

The Painted Parlour (previously know as Sir Henry's Museum Room)

Visit the Painted Parlour and marvel at the clever trompe l’oeil (trick of the eye) decoration, created in the early 1700s. All is not as it seems! Elizabeth Creed (1642-1728) painted the room in her 70s for her fashionable cousin, Edward Dryden (d.1717). You can also see Elizabeth’s work in the Priory Church.