Montacute House - Interior - First Floor

First Floor

• 1: Today, the Library. Formerly as the Great Chamber, it was one of the grandest rooms in the house. In a 16th century mansion, such as Montacute, the Great Chamber was the epicentre of all ceremony and state: hence, its position at the head of the principal staircase, making it the finale of a processional route. This is where the most important guests would have been received, and where the Phelips dined formally with their guests and where musical entertainments and dancing would take place. The Great Chamber at Montacute contains the finest chimney-piece in the house, however, its classical statuary depicting nudes are long gone, victims of Victorian prudery. During the 18th century the room was shut up and used a store and permitted to decay; this explains why in the 19th century it was completely restored in "Elizabethan style." The strapwork ceiling, panelling and bookcases all date from this period. The only original features remaining are the heraldic stained glass in the windows and the Portland stone chimney-piece. The room contains an ornate carved wooden porch; installed in the library in the 1830s, it was originally in the parlour below.
• 2: Anteroom. This small room at the head of the principal staircase divides the former Great Chamber from what would have been a principal bedroom. During the 19th century, the Ante-room was furnished as an armoury.
• 3: Garden Chamber. Originally one of the principal bedrooms, during the early 20th century it became Lord Curzon's bedroom and as such was equipped with a plumbed bath hidden in a wardrobe, one of the few in the house.
• 4: Crimson Chamber, originally this room and its small adjoining dressing room formed one room accessed from the Great Chamber. Described in 1638 the "withdrawinge roome", it was used by the family to withdrew from the more public ceremonies held in the Great Chamber and also could be used to form a suite with the neighbouring bedroom (room 5) when eminent guests were entertained in the house.
• 5: The Hall Chamber. At the time of Montacute's building, it was customary to have a principal bedchamber adjoining the Great Chamber. Reserved for the most important of guests, the best bedchamber, as this room was described in 1638, would be one room of a suite. This was the case at Montacute where the present Crimson Chamber (4) served as the bed chamber's "withdrawinge roome", the suite being accessed from a now-blocked door in the Great Chamber. If a very important guest came to stay, they would then take over the entire suite including the Great Chamber. Although Montacute was equipped for a visiting sovereign, by the time it was completed Elizabeth I was dead and the family's prominence was waning.
• 6: Brown Room
• 7: Jerusalem Chamber
• 8: Print Room, when required used as a nursery.
• 9: Blue Parlour, later the children's school room.
• 10: Green Chamber
• 11: Yellow Chamber
• 12: Blue Chamber.
• 13:Upper floor of the Clifton Maybank corridor.