American Viscountess Visits Deene Park

Julie Montagu hosts the wonderful series American Viscountess, where she visits the owners of castles, manor houses and stately homes, and discover how they have adapted to the 21st century. Over the summer, Julie visited Deene Park to learn more about their collection and the important conservation work that they do.

Deene Park

Built over six centuries, the house at Deene Park evolved through the Tudor and Georgian periods to the mansion it is today. Various families, including the Colets and the Lyttons leased the property until it was acquired in 1514 by Sir Robert Brudenell (1461-1531), later Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. It has descended through the male line to the Brudenells of today. Deene Park has a mixture of furnishings and family possessions full of sentimental value collected over many years. The unique blend provides the visitor with an impressive yet intimate ambiance; a family home spanning the lifetime of many generations.

The Collection

The Tresham-Brudenell library sits in the Bow Room at Deene Park and has recently been given some much needed attention. The library of Sir Thomas Tresham (1543 1605) was one of the largest in England of its time and it is believed that a portion of the library residing at Deene Park may well have been a dowry from the Tresham family for his youngest daughter, Mary Tresham, who married Thomas Brudenell in 1605. The 2,000 books consist of the latest works on architecture, mathematics, astronomy and science, Catholic theology and devotion, and a wide range of works on history and literature. The books are written in Greek, Roman, German, French, Spanish, Italian and English.

A particular book of note is Sir Edmund Brudenell’s personal Almanack from 1576 entitled ALMANACK. Ephemerides novae, where he has written on 12th-13th August 1565, Apud Regina Deene. This is the proof that Queen Elizabeth I stayed the night at Deene when she was meant to be staying at Burghley but the Cecil children had smallpox. She was billeted, thankfully only for one night, appropriately at Deene where had grandfather Henry VII had stayed frequently on his way to visit his mother Margaret Beaufort at Collyweston Palace. In the hope that she might return to Deene, the Great Hall at Deene was rebuilt and greatly augmented but Deene remains the only house beside Fawlsey that she ever stayed in Northamptonshire. 

Proof from a recent Archaeologial Discovery of roundshot in the Park has proved that in 1643 the Roundheads, during the English Civil War, arrived at Deene and removed the pictures, furniture and all of the books. Thomas Brudenell fled to Wales before being imprisoned in the Tower of London. Following his subsequent release from The Tower, Thomas Brudenell was forced to buy back most of the library to his fury, returning his books to their rightful home at Deene Park. 

Still to this day, books from the original library very occasionally appear, and when they do, Robert and Charlotte Brudenell buy these books and continue to re-instate the library. Two recent purchases have been Sybilla Oracula 1599 and Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores 1498. The latter from the USA where the bidder at auction was convinced the signature inside was Thomas Jefferson not Brudenell. In his disappointment he kindly sold it to the Brudenells at the price he had paid.

Caring for the Collection

The care of the collection of books is paramount. Each day new discoveries and interpretations mean that the collection can be opened to wider audiences, not just the academics but those whose interest in culture and conservation and has yet to be kindled.

Edmund Brudenell, a member of the Oxburghe Club, commissioned Nicolas Barker with David Quentin in 2006 to write The Library of Thomas Tresham and Thomas Brudenell and itemise the collection. As a result of a careful examination of the library and of a manuscript inventory of the original library, they provided a detailed picture of the library and the circumstances of its creation.

The many academics researching Thomas Tresham, or indeed bibliophiles from all over the world, come to Deene by prior appointment to view the books. Sometimes it is for the actual book, its bookplates or the spines, that are of interest and not just the literary contents.

During Covid, Caroline Bendix, library conservator, spent eight weeks stabilising the collection by completing major repairs to bindings and text blocks, repositioning some of the books for safety and creating bookshoes and textblock supports. There are still many left that need help!

Her experience in working with over 500 libraries gives her a breadth of knowledge on which to draw to provide tailored and practical advice. Her development of in-situ library conservation methodologies resulted in her winning the Plowden Medal in 2019.

Caroline repaired the damage to the top of the books that may have been caused by multiple readers attempts to remove it from the shelf by pulling on the top of the spine. Over time the continuous strain had weakened the top of the spine and caused it to detach from the top of the textblock. The bookshoes created provided support for the textblock (pages) and a piece of board was used to line the shelf and the textblock supports were then stuck onto it. These handmade supports are her innovative and unique creation.

The new display had the cream-coloured tapes replaced with brown tapes and uniformed the library making it much more discreet. In addition, when Marian Brudenell had placed some of the books sideways to display their fronts with the crests of the Treshams and Brudenells, it was obviously doing damage to the spines and as a compromise, copies of the book-plates were made and placed in their originally locations.

The winner of this year's award will be announced this November. Stay tuned as we announce other shortlist contenders over the next few weeks.