Although a private room in the main, and a retreat from the bustle of the great chamber, this bedchamber of about 1600 still had a public to impress. A lady might work at her embroidery here, pursue religious studies, learn to play a musical instrument and talk with her closest friends. A gentleman would take guests to his bedchamber to talk business, play chess or backgammon, or have a meal.

This bedchamber is comfortable and yet grand, with an elaborate plasterwork ceiling and an ornate frieze above the panelled walls. A striking tapestry also enriches the room. The imposing bed is heavily carved on the oak headboard and on the posts that carry the tester or canopy. Ropes hold the mattress filled with rushes, wool, or feather and down.

Bed-hangings, some of the most expensive fabrics in the house, could be woollen worsteds, as here, or silk damask or velvet. They hang from iron (or bone) rings which slide along an iron rod hidden by the tester. The hangings stop draughts and keep out light from the stone-mullioned, large bay window, which has no curtains or shutters. Curtains also give privacy, for this is a typical walk- through room, one of several in a string.

Heavy Carving in Light Oak

The sparse oak furniture includes a chest, a small table and a stool. Sometimes upholstered chairs would be kept in the bedroom to protect their covers from wear. The court cupboard is not just open shelves but has a section with doors to hold refreshments. The honey-coloured oak bed, court cupboard and panelling by this time show Renaissance influence in the decoration of Classical-style pilasters, capitals and caryatids (female figures as columns), arched arcading, bulbous cupand-cover supports carved with acanthus leaves, and twining strapwork.

Antique Collector MagazineThe tapestries over the panelling help to reduce the chill in winter, but might be taken down in summer. Bedchambers were now upstairs, so had a floor of suspended oak boards. These might be left bare or, as here, be covered with rush matting, perhaps with a rug or two on them. It was becoming increasingly fashionable to coordinate the designs and colours of hangings, cushions, carpets and table covers, in the French manner.

Deep warming pans of brass with long iron handles were first made in Elizabethan times — to hold embers, not water. A servant would take one from room to room to slide between the sheets and take off the chill before the room’s occupant climbed into bed. Small candlesticks (chambersticks) with a curved side handle were made to light the way to the bedroom. In the main rooms of a rich household the candles would be wax, which was expensive; tallow candles were cheaper but gave off an unpleasant smell. Small oil lamps were also used, but whatever the source of light, the bedchamber would be a dark and shadowy place after nightfall.

A personal servant, who slept on a pallet or folding bed in an adjoining closet or antechamber, would bring a basin and ewer of water for the morning wash and a chamber pot for the night. The servant also saw to the small room among the string of bedchambers and closets that was known as the garderobe — the French word for ‘wardrobe‘ and one of many euphemisms to precede ‘toilet’ or ‘lavatory’. It was equipped with a close- stool — a lidded box holding a basin which the servant had the task of emptying.

There is no one opinion about how often or how thoroughly people washed in Elizabethan times. The queen herself is said to have bathed once a month; others expressed the view that a bath was not very necessary if clothes were changed sufficiently often. Some houses had a room set aside for baths in the basement, where water could be carried without too much effort. But it was more common to take a wooden tub up to the bedroom or an adjoining closet to be filled with water carried up laboriously by the servants. How frequently this was done appears to have been entirely a matter of personal preference.

1 Octagonal table with fringed carpet

2 Brass birdcage containing a linnet

3 Court cupboard with enclosed part for food
4 Tigerware jug, wooden goblet and latten candlestick on linen runner

5 Heavily carved full-tester bed

6 Fine worsted-wool hangings and valance

7 Chest with carved arcading and caryatids

8 Tasselled silk-velvet cushions

9 Turkish rug with typical geometric design

10 Oak joint-stool with squab cushion

11 Flemish ‘verdure’ (plant design) tapestry mouldings on the ceiling were divided by ornamental ribs that were elaborated with bosses and pendants where they crossed.

Jacobean ceilings were more restrained, often having simple geometric designs around a central circle or oval. But Jacobean fireplaces grew to a massive size and became riots of carved female torsos, mythological beasts, grapes, flowers and interlaced patterns.

Similar Renaissance motifs also appeared in the many hangings and soft furnishings. Tapestries for the walls were usually from Flanders, but some were home-produced from

Elizabethan times at the Warwickshire and Worcestershire estates of William Sheldon. In Charles I’s reign a tapestry factory was set up near the Thames at Mortlake. Richly gilded embossed leather hangings from Spain were sometimes used instead of tapestry.

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