THE UNTOLD stories of the people who once lived and worked at Warwick Castle feature in a new exhibtiion.
Warwick Castle Unboxed: New stories from an old castle will open on Friday March 20 at Market Hall Museum in Warwick with an opening celebration day with tours and activities taking place on Saturday March 28.
The ground floor of the museum will be redisplayed to tell over 300 years of history inspired by the Greville Family collection, held at Warwickshire County Record Office.
The culmination of a four-year project, this exhibition begins with Fulke Greville asking King James I for Warwick Castle, over 300 years ago. The exhibition features stories about the Greville family, courting scandal in Regency society and managing ambulance trains in WW1.
Visitors to the exhibition will also discover tales of the maid tempted by an easter egg, the aardvark that nipped a footman, and the housekeeper who lent her savings to pay an Earl’s debts.
On display are original documents from the Greville Family collection and objects from Warwickshire Museum collections, including the original letter from Fulke Greville asking King James for Warwick Castle, and the reply he received. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a letter from Beau Brummell, leader of Regency fashion, to Lady Sarah Savile, later Countess of Warwick, declaring his love.
Senior archivist Rob Eyre said: “This is the culmination of four years’ work to make the archive more accessible. The exhibition reveals many unknown or forgotten stories about the Grevilles and the people that interacted with them, which is very exciting. I hope that visitors to the museum enjoy discovering more about the people that made the castle a home and a place of work. We’ve got so many stories to tell, we haven’t been able to fit them all into the exhibition. We will be sharing those stories with talks and events while the exhibition is at Market Hall Museum.”
