About the Museum Room
Although originally used as a bedroom and dressing room, the space was transformed into the ‘Theatre Royal’ in the 1850s, complete with an orchestra pit and painted backdrops commissioned by Lady Marianne and Eliza. By 1910, it was being referred to as a museum, though it primarily served as a storage area until the 1970s, when John Chichester-Constable converted it into a dolls museum and later an Alice in Wonderland display. Eventually, William Constable’s scientific collection was moved here from the attics. The space now displays the most important and complete Cabinet of Curiosities in any English country house.
Cabinets of Curiosities emerged in Europe during the 16th century and were generally known by the term Wunderkammer, meaning ‘cabinet of wonder’. In this instance the word ‘cabinet’ refers to a room rather than a piece of furniture, containing collections of natural history, geology, archaeology, numismatics, works of art and antiquities.