Discovering bird and butterfly paper at Tabley House

Tabley House near Knutsford. Photo Colin Park.

Tabley House, designed by the architect John Carr of York and completed in 1767, is one of the finest 18^th-century Palladian mansions in Cheshire and was the home of the Leicester family who lived in the area for over 700 years. The original state rooms are open to the public and within these elegant interiors visitors can see the Leicester family’s unique collection of paintings, including works by Turner, Lely, Dobson, Lawrence and Martin. Furniture by Gillow, Bullock and Chippendale also adorns the rooms, along with memorabilia which offer an intriguing insight to the lives of the Leicesters.

Each generation that lived in the house put their own stamp on it, though, being aware of the historic significance of the art and treasures inside, were equally keen to keep and archive collections, ephemera and even elements of once treasured features.

19th-century box originally used in St Peter's Chapel, Tabley

Over the years original wallpaper samples from the house have been saved and retained before routine redecorating was done to update the house. After being a family home for the Leicester family, from 1948-1984 the house was a boys private school and the upstairs became a dormitory. In the late 1980s, following extensive refurbishment, parts of the house were transformed into bedrooms for residential care of the elderly. Rooms originally referred to in the Victorian diaries of Margaret Leicester by name, such as ‘The Pink Room’ and ‘The Bird Room’ therefore came to adopt a plainer décor.

The lining of the box

However, a trace of an extravagant, colourful and entertaining interior does exist. In 2025, Rita Lamb, one of the Tabley House volunteers, approached WHS with a query about a wallpaper that had been found lining the inside of a 19^th-century carved dark oak box with a plain hinged lid. The box with its fluted and strap-carved front, ball feet and lock, was originally used in St. Peter’s Chapel Tabley, the Leicester family’s chapel which sits on the site. The box is 28cm tall and 40cm x 28cm in width and depth. The paper is pasted onto the inside of the box’s four walls and onto a diagonal partition that is removable and has seen better days.

Thinking of who might have occupied a room papered in this fantastic design incorporating brightly coloured birds, insects and butterflies, Anna Bates Patel, Collections Manager for Tabley, wondered if Sir John Byrne Leicester Warren, 7^th Bt. 3^rd Baron of Tabley (1835-1895) might have had it in his bedroom as a child. He was a collector of many natural objects such as birds’ eggs and snails and later wrote a book on the flora of Cheshire. If the paper was more recent, it might have decorated a room belonging to either Sir John’s niece Margaret Leicester Warren (1905-1964) or his nephew John Leicester Warren (1907-1975) as both were brought up at Tabley.

We passed the information and photos onto Andrew Bush, one of WHS’ experts in dating wallpapers. Andrew challenged his wife Melanie to digitally restore the design. From digital photographs of the fragments of paper lining the box, sent by Tabley House, Melanie essentially cut and pasted the birds and insects on the computer to recreate the original layout, much like a jigsaw puzzle.

Digital recreation of the wallpaper by Melanie Bush

Most of the fragments, as can be seen in the photographs, were discoloured, worn and dirty. However there were sufficient areas close enough to their original colours to allow for enhancement and matching. Pin registration marks are evident on the left on the selvedge next to one of the beetles. Once the jigsaw had been reassembled it was clear that there was only a very small area missing (see the rectangular patch on one bird). The final assembly shown here involved no new elements.

The digital recreation of the repeat

After this heroic feat, Andrew was able to surmise that it was a handblocked design on machine-made paper, possibly from the second quarter of the 19^th century, designed to be hung with a half drop (evidenced by the butterfly straddling the vertical join). He deduced that approximately 12 ‘colours’ were used, plus an off-white ground. It employed perhaps nine blocks and the colourants appear to be black, slate blue, light brown, red, pink, ochre varnish, light green, yellow, and white. Combined colourants producing additional ‘colours’ include light green and ochre varnish making dark green, yellow and ochre varnish making dark yellow, and pink and blue making purple.

Thanks to Rita Lamb and Anna Bates Patel at Tabley House for photographing and bringing this to light and to Andrew and Melanie Bush for their painstaking work in reconstructing and assessing it. This is a wonderful example of a wallpaper discovery which can generate further research. If anyone can shed light on this fascinating find, please email info@wallpaperhistorysociety.org or message us on Instagram @wallpaperhistsoc

If you have made a wallpaper discovery of your own, please do get in touch via Instagram or email.

Lucy Ellis