Nicola here. Last week I went on a trip to the North of the England, visiting some historic houses along the way. Some were small medieval manors, whilst others were grand Tudor houses. All of them had evolved over time as people had lived there, added bits on, knocked parts down, done some home improvements over the centuries.
Something that struck me about each of the places I visited was that they all had grand, fourposter beds, all of which had a story attached to them. I suppose that if you have a big house, or even a modest medieval manor, the bedrooms would look ridiculous with a small single bed in them. The strange thing is that many of these beds aren’t particularly long or wide, people being smaller on average back in the day than we are now. But they are high beds and they are fancily decorated. After your house, your bed was your most valuable possession and a lot of people’s wills reflected that, with the most famous example being Shakespeare leaving his second-best bed to his wife. Then there was the Earl of Arundel who was so attached to his bed that he called it “Clovis.”
Here are a few of the grand beds we came across on our travels:
First, at the manor house at Donington Le Heath in Leicestershire we had “King Dick’s Bed.” The manor house was built in the 13th century and the bedroom is one of the oldest rooms in the house. Like many bedrooms of its era, it was a “corridor room” which
meant that everyone from the servants to the family and visitors would pass through it on their way to other rooms in the house. The only privacy you had would be behind the embroidered bed curtains, which would also keep out some of the cold; meanwhile if you wanted a good night’s sleep, I imagine you would need earplugs or would have to request the rest of the household tiptoed past!
There is a legend relating to the bed itself, which is said to have previously been in the Blue Boar Inn in Leicester. Allegedly it was the bed Richard III slept in the night before the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Garnishing this legend is the story that the bed had a false bottom and that in the late 16th century the landlord’s wife discovered gold in the base that had been left behind before the battle. However, when the bed was examined, historians discovered that most of it dated from the 17th century, long after Bosworth. Nevertheless, it’s a good story, and the carving and the design is very attractive!
Meanwhile at Temple Newsam House in Leeds, there is “Queen Anne’s Bed.” Temple Newsam is a beautiful Tudor house that deserves to be as well-known as Harwick Hall or Montacute. However, when we visited, there were only five other people in the entire place! It is so grand it definitely needs a big bed to set off the size of the state bedroom. Fortunately, this lavish crimson number fits the bill. It was commissioned in 1711 by John, 1st Earl Poulett, who was so keen to impress Queen Anne that he made it the centrepiece of his house at Hinton in Somerset, where he had renamed an entire suite of rooms in the Queen’s honour. He was so keen, in fact, to find favour with the Queen that when his third son was born in 1711, he even named him Anne! The bed is draped in crimson velvet and gold lace, and the canopy weighs almost a ton. It has three mattresses, one of wool, one of horsehair and one of feather. When I read that I started to understand where the fairy story of the Princess and the Pea came from!
Finally at Calverley Old Hall we visited the Painted Chamber. In this case it was the room rather than
the bed that was the star. In the early 16th century, Sir Walter Calverley was keen to show his appreciation of Renaissance culture (as well as show off his wealth!) by having his chamber decorated with wall paintings of fantastical figures of humans, animals and birds. Around the top of the room is a frieze of Tudor roses and pomegranates, the who painted in red, white and black. It must have looked extremely rich by candlelight!
I can see how important it would have been in the past to get some warmth and privacy from those bed curtains, and how impressive a richly decorated fourposter would have been. For me, though, the most important thing is a firm mattress and a very comfortable pillow, plus smooth cool bed linen in summer and cosiness in winter. Not that I’m fussy! What are your preferences? Fourposter or sleigh bed, bunks or hammocks? Duvet, or sheets and blankets? Are you the sort of person who can sleep anywhere? Are you a lark or an owl? Tell us what the perfect bedchamber would be like for you!
Yikes, Nicola–a canopy that weighs almost a ton?!!! I can’t imagine how it was cleaned, and heaven help the occupants if it ever fell. Fascinating to see these beds: definitely they are Statement Beds. I understand the value of curtains for warmth and privacy, but I would HATE having my bed in a corridor! Putting a bed at the end of the corridor for privacy is not a difficult concept–but I don’t think privacy was valued as much then. As for a modern bedchamber, I like a bed that is easy to sit on–none of these beds that require ladders or step stools, please, My husband is a lark and I’m an owl. We’ve both learned to come and go pretty quietly!
Mary Jo, it always worries me when I’m in a grand bed with a canopy for that very reason! What if it fell down on top of you? I don’t worry so much about the cleaning 🙂
Gorgeous beds with interesting history- What more could you want!? I do love canopy beds so when Hubby & I could afford our very own new bedroom set we got a canopy bed. It really was pretty but the dust factor proved too much for me. I even tried a few different kinds of covering. Finally it morphed into kind of a four poster. Lol. Now we have a platform bed with an excellent mattress. Also Hubby is a lark & I’m an owl so we each get a few hours to ourselves in the comfy bed.
It’s such a shame that no one has yet invented a self-cleaning canopy bed because I think that would be a game-changer! Your bed sounds wonderfully comfortable, Jeanne.
Calke Abbey has the most amazing Four Poster bed. The silk hangings were given as a wedding gift but never used! The National Trust found them when they were working their way through generations’ worth of stuff that had been put to one side. Temple Newsham definitely sounds like worth a visit. It is strange how some places are snowed and others not
Yes, I always find it curious how some places are so popular and others are nowhere near as well known. I haven’t been to Calke Abbey – I need to see that four poster!
Nicola, thank you for such an interesting post.
A nice Acacia wood headboard and footboard with a perfect mattress, not too soft or too hard, a soft foam-filled pillow, would suit me just right.
No heavy curtains, which would feel so claustrophobic.
That sounds like a divinely comfortable bed, Patricia! I agree with you on the curtains. Whilst I’d appreciate the warmth and privacy, I would feel a bit penned in.
What a fascinating post, Nicola! I have to admit to enjoying the bit about the son named Anne (shades of A Boy Named Sue).
You can add me to the growing group of night owl women who are married to men who awaken early.
Thanks, Kareni. I loved that bit too! I wonder whether he changed his name when he grew up, especially as Anne would have been succeeded by George then…
Last year I visited Corsica and toured Napoleon Bonaparte’s family home. His bed, in the room which was his throughout his lifetime, was very small and modest, no canopy or impressive posts. I suppose they didn’t need bed curtains in Corsica’s warm climate. And of course as an adult he lived elsewhere, and only visited home occasionally, I believe.
Personally, I like a firm mattress, and a soft pillow, nothing bouncy. I would not do well in a corridor room, I need complete quiet!
That sounds like a fascinating visit, Karin. Interesting that Napoleon had such a modest bedroom at home. I expect some of the others were more grand!
I’m with you on the firm mattress, and the dislike of a bed in a corridor! I’m glad that’s one tradition that has died out.
It is interesting how so many famous peoole have such simple taste in their bedrooms.
It was true of the Duke of Wellkngton and George Washington but then they were never ones to wish a fuss in the first place!
Yes, that’s so true! Winston Churchill’s bedroom at Blenheim is also very plain.
I have a four poster bed with a very firm mattress and sheets and blankets. It would be nice to have curtains around my bed in the winter! I live in North Texas, and we get some very cold weather in the winter although only for a few days at a time. And my bedroom is in the northeastern corner of the house. And my house was built in 1985, and it’s not very well insulated. I had siding put on it a few years ago, and it’s been more comfortable since then.
Hi Susan! I do think a curtained bed must be very cozy in the winter. It’s also much warmer to have sheets and blankets than a duvet, I think – no unexpected drafts!
I treated myself with a Sleep Science adjustable bed a year ago and love it so much that I look forward to getting in it at night and am reluctant to get out of it in the morning. My Goldendoodle, Maizy, agrees with me. Good thing I am retired! I wonder who got Shakespeare’s first best bed?
Hi Linda. Apparently it was Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna who got his best bed and all the rest of his estate. I love the sound of your cozy bed – and the fact that Maizy enjoys it too!
What a wonderful fun and interesring post, Nicola! I llve seeing the canopy and fourposter beds in historic houses that i have visited. So different and all so beautifully made up(beuatiful curtains, bedspreads and carved wood). I particularly enjoyed the state beds in the various Country estates invisited in the UK, the variety was amazing a d some kf the carved posts were amazing!
I always wanted a canooy bed as a child so i could be in my own secret place. Alas, that never happened. But i did finally get a lovely historic reproduction of a late eighteenth c four poster bed with skaring posts that almkst reached the ceiling. I could have addeda canopy frame to hang curtains but decided that it woukd collect too much dust(alas, reality reality setting in). But I wnjoy my full sized bed with comforter and plump pillows. Iread the Sunday paper and spread it all over the bed and books and magazines
And do the crossword puzzle and listen to music or snuggle up on a winter’s day to a good audiobook. My bedroom is nice and big(unusual for an apartment) with sunlight coming in every morning and bookshkes lining so e of the walls and a wing chair and a small TV if I want to watch something late at night. It is very cozy even though itnis a large room. I have always been a lark, but it is so nice to wake up before everything gets going and enjoy the peace and quiet. But i also love reading in bed at night with a cup of tea or hot chocolate when it gets dark and everything quiets down. The quiet of the night and peacefulness of the early mirning are times to just relax and enjoy. I never appreciated it when i was younger but now that i am retired, i do so much more. I guess you coukd say that my bedroom is a kind of cozy sanctuary away from the bubble and hubbub of life.
I love to have a cup of tea while i read
Jane, I love the idea of a canopied bed feeling like a secret hiding place for a child. Your imagination could really run riot under those circumstances. As an adult I think it’s really important to enjoy feeling cozy and comfortable in bed and I love the way that yours is such a haven for reading and relaxing!
It did in other secret places under tents made of sheets, behind the weeping willow branches in my cousins backyard and under the dining room table when it was covered by a tablecloth! We had such fun, castles, treehouses, a pirate ship, robin hood,s hideout in Sherwood forest, oh half a hundred imaginary places! I feel sad that children are si attached to their phones that this sort lf thing seems to have largely vanished.
Yes, it was a world of the imagination! I remember enjoying hiding under the table as well! Definitely more fun than being on your phone.
Talking of mattresses – when we moved from Norfolk, England to France in 2001 we rented a gite for a few months whilst finding and buying a house. The bed was incredibly comfortable, but very warm even with just a sheet. I mentioned it to the owner one day when we were chatting about the heat wave we eere having. She laughed and said her father had made that matress, it was stuffed with wool from when he sheared his sheep before WWII, because the winters are cold!
Oh my goodness! That was one very durable – and warm – mattress, Mary!
Really interesting post Nicola! Again, I’m an owl and hubby is a lark.
We have this big wooden bed that my husband wanted when we moved into our home. I hate it!! All dark wood. I like a firm mattress and a gel filled pillow. It took me years to get a pillow I could sleep comfortably on. I don’t generally get much sleep and I’ve been that way all my life.
‘His second best bed!!!!’ I know what I’d have done with it 😄
There seem to be quite a few owls and larks paired up!
I hadn’t come across a gel filled pillow before. It sounds very comfortable.
Yes, hubby and I are another lark-owl pair. I enjoy the peace and quiet later in the evening. We have a four-poster in our guest room. The bed came with a canopy, but we have never assembled it because of the dust factor. Ahchoo!
On our own bed we have lovely sheets, a blanket and a down comforter for chilly nights. There is also beautiful bedspread that matches the bedroom drapes, but it only goes on the bed when I know that there will be company in the house!
Your room sounds to be a haven of comfort and tranquility, Patricia. I love the sound of the gorgeous bedspread!