Speke Hall, Merseyside
This collection has 5,695 items online
Richard Watt’s collection of over 200 pieces of ‘ancient’ carved oak furniture, acquired during the 1850s and 1860s, is one of the finest to survive in a domestic setting. Watt further enhanced the romantic Tudor interiors with fascinating collections of stained glass, arms and armour, tapestries, paintings and ceramics. In 1867, when Frederick Leyland and his family were tenants at the Hall, Leyland introduced Dutch blue-and-white tiles – the latest fashion of the 1860s art world – along with William Morris wallpapers. Leyland was ahead of popular taste here, as only three Morris papers had been printed by 1867 and they were not yet widely known.