William Porden’s State Bed for Eaton Hall, Cheshire

Abstract

First paragraph: I have addressed the late-Georgian architectural history and furnishing of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, in two separate essays published in The Georgian Group Journal (2013) and Furniture History (2012).[1] What I did not discuss in either of these pieces is the role of regional craftsmanship in the house’s reconceptualisation as one of the most ambitious and impressive Gothic-style residences of the nineteenth century. Regional furniture is considered frequently to be a cheaper and less sophisticated alternative to the fashionable output of leading London firms, but William Porden, Eaton’s architect in the first two decades of the nineteenth century, proposed local workmanship for another purpose: to maintain the exclusivity of his idiosyncratic designs — especially the State Bed. This essay addresses Porden’s role at Eaton, and how the State Bed’s proposed manufacture on the Grosvenor estate, or at nearby Chester, fits within his broader control of the house’s transformation and improvement. [1] Lindfield (2012), pp. 155–80, and Lindfield (2013), pp. 137–51.