Sea shell collection
Category
Natural History / Animals, Plants & Fossils
Date
1800 - 1899
Materials
Shell
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 608943
Summary
A large collection of 18th century seashells are housed in a cupboard in the Boudoir at Attingham Hall. Shells were born of the sea just as, according to Greek and Roman myth, Aphrodite/Venus was (Gimal, P. (1991), Dictionary of CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY, ed. by Stephen Kershaw, trans. by A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop, London, Penguin Books). Therefore, the collection of shells was deemed highly suitable for ladies as a symbol of love and femininity ad infinitum. The Attingham shell collection was the creation of Susanna Maria Hill, née Noel (died 1760). Susanna was second wife of Thomas Hill, né Harwood, and mother to Noel Hill the First Baron Berwick of Attingham. Records show that naval officers were to give sailors a bottle of Arrack (strong wine) in exchange for seashells that they had collected. Such shells would enrich the collections owned by wealthy ladies like Susanna. As early as 1744 there are letters recording Susana's interest in shell collecting. In 1745 a large box of shells to be sent on to Attingham for her arrived in the Raven Inn in Shrewsbury. There is evidence of at least part, if not all, of the shell collection being put up for auction in lots 138-146 of the 1827 sale of the contents of Attingham to pay the debts owed by Thomas Noel Hill, Second Baron Berwick. The sale catalogue mentions three framed shell pictures and a shell landscape. The three framed shell pictures may be those that records show were later sold by Teresa the 8th Lady Berwick (1890-1972) to Theodore Byard in 1926.
Provenance
The collection of Susanna Maria Hill, née Noel (died 1760). Susanna was second wife of Thomas Hill né Harwood and mother to Noel Hill First Baron Berwick of Attingham. By descent bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.