Audio: Thomas Barrett's Study at Lee Priory
Museum number W.48:1-1953
This small room was closet or 'study', designed for Thomas Barrett (1744-1803). He was a keen collector and antiquarian who remodelled his house in the Gothic style, inspired by a friend, the collector Horace Walpole (1717-1797) and his house, Strawberry Hill, at Twickenham.
The room is now furnished with ebony and lacquer furniture from Asia. In the 1870's such ebony furniture was wrongly thought to be British and to date form the 16th century.
Listen below to hear what Horace Walpole thought about Lee Priory.
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