Woburn Abbey

Family Rooms

This room formed part of the family quarters up to the end of the eighteenth century and, being in the north wing, must have been rather dark and cold. During the nineteenth century it was the house-keeper's room; now it houses a small part of the very fine collection of natural history books which seem to have been important to my ancestors from the time of the 5th Earl; some of his books are still in the Library. The 6th Duke was a very serious book-collector and it was possibly he who acquired the volumes from the Cabinet du Roy, and the works of Pierre-Joseph Redoute. Maybe the most beautiful book in the collection is John James Audubon's Birds of America. Audubon spent eighteen years painting over 1,000 species. This room was redecorated in 1976,with wallpaper from a design by Pugin; the ceiling dates from the mid eighteenth century when the 4th Duke was remodelling the Abbey.

In a case opposite the fireplace is displayed the Visitors Book of 1874. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries members of the public could obtain tickets by written application for free admission to the house. Another interesting book is displayed near Redoute's Roses. It is a beautifully illustrated copy by Arthur Rackham of Rhinegold and the Valkyrie published in 1910, which belongs to Lady Tavistock. Over the bookcase are two fine busts by Joseph Nollekens of the 3rd Lord Holland and Lord Grey: Nollekens was one of the most successful portrait sculptors of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In a cabinet on the right are some shades or silhouettes of the 9th Duke and his family found in a cupboard; the artist is not known, but they were probably drawn by a member of the family. Before you leave this room notice the hanging lamp with its glass bowl rimmed with gilded brass acorns and oak leaves. The interesting thing about it is the central urn which held colza oil to feed the six burners, now fitted for electric light. There were many such lamps used in the Abbey and some of them are still hanging here although they have also been converted. Colza is obtained from the cole bean which was grown on the family estate in Cambridgeshire.