Chetham’s Library Tours
Chetham's LibraryPacked with historical facts and fascinating stories, tours of Chetham's Library are led by our expert staff and volunteers. Explore...
Our new exhibition, A Royal Tudor Bed and a Northern Rogue (Thursday 15 August – Wednesday 11 September) is a rare opportunity to see the original marriage bed made for Henry VII (the first Tudor King) and Elizabeth of York, as well as an infamous forgery. Alongside the exhibition, we are hosting a series of free talks.
This talk explores the work of George Shaw (1810–76), an architect-antiquary from Uppermill who came across Henry VII’s and Elizabeth of York’s marriage bed in 1830s Staffordshire.
Using it as the fountainhead for a raft of daring forgeries sold to Northern aristocrats a decade later, Dr Lindfield relates Shaw’s strait-laced historicising 1847 work at Chetham’s with this Tudor bed and his broader Tudor-revival fakery.
Visitors will be given the opportunity to view the Tudor bed exhibition at the end of the talk, and to ask Peter any questions they might have.
