Tatton Park

Tatton Park was remodelled in the eighteenth century in a severe Neo-classical style for the Egerton family, who first settled here in 1598. The architects were Samuel Wyatt, brother of James, and their nephew Lewis, who was apprenticed to both. Samuel Wyatt’s original scheme of 1774 to alter an earlier house was only begun after William Tatton Egerton succeeded to the estate in 1780. It came to a halt in 1791, by which time the first four bays of a proposed 11-bay garden façade had been completed. In 1808 work was resumed, this time to Lewis Wyatt’s design, which reduced the original scheme to seven bays and added a tetrastyle Corinthian portico. The interior is largely Neo-classical except for the dining room, which has fine Rococo plasterwork by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard surviving from the earlier house. There is a magnificent staircase hall with a saucer dome in the style of Sir John Soane.

Tatton Park, Cheshire

This collection has 12,706 items online

A large and diverse collection which reflects the evolving tastes and interests of the different generations of the Egerton family who owned and collected it. The Library contains nearly 5,000 volumes, with a further 3,000 in various locations in the house. It is one of the largest and most important library collections within the National Trust. Perhaps the greatest collector of art for Tatton was Wilbraham Egerton (1781 -1856). Wilbraham’s acquisition of paintings by such masters as Van Dyck, Poussin, Chardin, Carraci and Guercino provided Tatton with a world class art collection. It was Wilbraham and his wife Elizabeth (1777 – 1853) who oversaw the completion, decoration and furnishing of the Neo-classical Mansion. Tatton’s collection of Gillows furniture is unrivalled in this country, and many of the pieces were commissioned especially for the house. The extensive Servants Quarters at Tatton house a large collection of associated items including copper pie and dessert moulds. Tatton has an impressive collection of ethnographic and natural history material, some of which is on public display in the Maurice Egerton Exhibition Room.

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