Belton House

Belton House, Lincolnshire is a National Trust Property built in 1685-1688 and further altered in 1770 by architect James Wyatt.

Belton is regarded by many as the most complete example of an English Country House and interior collection surviving today.

As stated on the National Trust Website: “The work of leading designers, artists and craftsmen is evidenced in the house; from Grinling Gibbons carvings and Edward Goudge plasterwork to one of the most significant historic silver collections in the country and the second largest library held by the National Trust”. Humphries Weaving have been involved with supplying fabric for a number of restoration projects within the house.

Belton Damask, Belton House, Blue Bedroom Ref 1331

The Blue Bedroom

Fabrics supplied for the restoration of curtains and bed drapes in the Blue Bedroom.

Broadloom Silk and souple silk damask and broadloom lustring linings used for bed drapes in the Blue Bedroom. The souple is dyed whilst the natural gum is retained. This was a way of reducing costs, and was a popular practice in Chinese weaving. The design is possibly Chinese but of western influence, and can also be found at Woburn Abbey, and Belvoir Castle.  There is a very similar design in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection Boston USA.

Project reference: 1331 / 1362

Silk and linen moiré satin stripe woven narrow in pale blue for the restoration of the curtains and furniture covers in the Blue Bedroom. The stripe layout is satin and hopsack alternating with the hopsack weave being allowed to moiré. The colour was matched to the surviving house documents. The same stripe layout is seen on furniture in crimson at Temple Newsam.

Project reference: 1895

The Queen’s Bedroom

Fabric for the Queen’s Bedroom Curtain Restoration.

Silk and linen moiré taboret stripe in crimson and straw, linings in pure silk lustring and pure wool serge for the Queens bedroom curtains. The taboret stripe is unique to the House, and shows more satin crimson than that of the same style in Apsley House. The serge worsted/wool bedroom curtains served as an interesting softer drape alternative to that of Camlet or Tammy.

Project reference: 1567 / 1568 / 1579

The Red Drawing Room

Fabric for the Red Drawing Room upholstery and window drapes.

Pure silk damask woven narrow in crimson for the Red Drawing room upholstery restoration and window drapes. The original design was redrawn in the Humphries Studio from the house original documents. The Colour in a cerise red and salmon combination taken from surviving fragments, gives contrast to the pattern against the satin ground.

Project reference: 1796

The Library

Library Window Drapes.

Silk and wool damask in a deep celadon green, redrawn from house documents of the Library window drapes. The design features a late 19th Century style in an unusual layout of 17 inch (43cm) wide elements. Silk and wool mixtures of fibers were known as “half silks” with wool weft being particularly fine spun.

Project reference: 2062

The Tyrconnel Room

Brocatelle for the walling and festoon curtains.

Humphries Weaving restored silk and linen brocatelle from the original documents supplied by Belton House. These were in fairly good order and we extracted the design, which repeated across the fabric and was faithfully woven at the traditional 21 inch width. The colour was matched to the original rust red figure warp on a cerise ground, with tan linen filler.

The image to the right was supplied by Annabel Westman, the renown textile historian.

Project reference: 2510

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