This December, look up as you climb the Gothic staircase at Strawberry Hill. A suit of armour will once again stand in the pointed niche on the way to the Armoury. The display, made possible by a long-term loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, will bring back a sight that greeted visitors in Horace Walpole’s day.
In 1771, Walpole bought an elaborately decorated suit of French parade armour from the collector Louis-Antoine Crozat, Baron de Thiers. He believed it had belonged to Francis I of France and commissioned a niche to show it off. The suit is now thought to date from around 1600, probably from the reign of Henri IV. Walpole displayed it alongside arms and heraldic decoration to evoke the world of knights and castles that he imagined for Strawberry Hill.
The staircase also has a place in the history of Gothic fiction. Walpole traced The Castle of Otranto, published in 1764, to a dream in which he saw a gigantic armoured hand on the balustrade of a staircase. He acquired his suit seven years after the novel appeared. With the armour in its niche, visitors could encounter something of the world he had already imagined on the page.
For Walpole, the staircase armour helped turn a Gothic villa into an imagined castle. Its redisplay provides the starting point for our winter programme.
From Thursday 10 December and into the New Year, Strawberry Hill House will be bedecked in Christmas decorations to get you into the festive spirit.
Strawberry Hill After Dark: Wassailing with The Ritual Kitchen
Join folklore historian and ‘kitchen witch’ Laura May for a magical evening of medieval rituals. Sip lambswool, an old English mulled beverage as Laura May guides you through the history and folklore of wassailing, before taking part in a traditional wassailing ceremony in the Strawberry Hill Garden.
Friday 11 December, 6pm and 8pm | Experience lasts approx. 75 minutes.
Tickets £32, includes after-hours entry to Strawberry Hill House (open until 9.30pm)
Strawberry Hill After Dark: A Medieval Chorus
Be immersed in music from the 11th to 15th centuries with performances by the Green Dragon Guild. Experts in medieval music, their repertoire performed with voices and medieval harps spans refined courtly songs, rowdy tavern melodies and otherworldly music of spiritual reflection. These will be performed in Strawberry Hill’s spectacular Gallery.
Saturday 30 January, 6pm – 9pm | With a 45 minute performance at 6.30pm, repeated at 8pm by Green Dragon Guild
Tickets £32, includes after-hours entry to Strawberry Hill House and a glass of fizz
