Explore Eastnor Castle

The entrance is flanked by portraits of 1st Earl Somers on the left (John Harrison Jnr), the creator of the house, and by the 12th Earl, later Duke, of Shrewsbury (Sir Godfrey Kneller Bt) on the right. Lord Shrewsbury was a great friend of John Somers, the Lord Chancellor, from whom much of the distinction and wealth of the family were derived. The Somers had married into the Cocks family, who had owned land at Eastnor since 1600. The wooden benches and chairs, which are early Gothic in style, were made to Smirke’s design for the house. The medieval suits of armour are part of the collection acquired by the family in the 1870s. The hall was redecorated in 1989, but the unusual 19th century frieze was retained.

This room survives largely unchanged from the time when it was redecorated by the Crace brothers to the designs of A W N Pugin for the 2nd Earl in 1849. The massive chimney-piece by Bernasconi and family tree depicted above it provide the focus, while the chairs, table, desk and bookcase were all designed by Pugin, with the Somers’ ‘S’ and coronet inlaid in the table and bookcase doors. The chandelier was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and made by Hardman of Birmingham from an original in a Nuremberg church. Hardman made the firedogs too, and Minton produced the tiles. Pugin, responsible for much of the original decoration in the Palace of Westminster, designed the new decoration for this room in 1849.

The chandelier is Dutch and the new carpet, replacing one similar to those in the Long Library and Little Library woven in India, was machine-made for the room in China in 1994. The portraits are all by G F Watts and include Ellen Terry, the actress whom he briefly married, 3rd Earl Somers, a friend of the artist (portrait above the Library door) and his daughters, Lady Henry Somerset and her sister, Adeline, later Duchess of Bedford. The Octagon was redecorated in 1990, with decorative paintwork by Laura Jeffreys. We found the two fireplaces stored in the cellar where they had been placed in 1932, when the room was redecorated and one, larger fireplace installed. My grandmother’s idea was to try to keep the ladies and gentlemen together round one fireplace after dinner. We do not know how well it worked!