“Ghosts is an ode to history, and to
an astonishing building. It attempts
to capture the grandeur, scale and
character of the architecture in a
captivating and moving manner.”
Before the chamber is re-rendered,
visitors will be given a unique
opportunity to see it in its rawest state
and explore their own theories about
how the room was originally intended to
be used.
Mark Bradshaw, Cliveden’s General
Manager, said: “The 2nd Duke of
Buckingham built Cliveden at a time
when lavish masques and balls were
held. It would be tempting to imagine
therefore that this room was always
intended to be used for musical recitals,
although we can’t say for certain. What
we do know is that an inventory from
1849 refers to it as the ‘sounding room’,
suggesting that at this time at least it
was used for music.
“The two funnels located in one half of
the chamber are most intriguing. They
were clearly built with a distinct purpose
in mind, but whether this was to direct
music up into another room of the
house or to let light in is unknown.
“We’re also fascinated by the marble
floor with its inlaid star. Such impressive
marble would have likely been cut on
site, requiring a huge amount of effort
which no doubt the Duke would have
wanted to show off. We’re beginning
to explore the significance of the star to
see if it reveals anything further about
the room.
“We hope our visitors will enjoy listening
to Scanner’s atmospheric recording in
such an intriguing historic space. There’s
much more research for us to do to find
out about the chamber’s history, but in
the meantime we welcome any ideas
from our visitors who will draw their own
conclusions.”
Visitors to Cliveden will be able to hear
Scanner’s recordings and visit the
sounding chamber until restoration work
begins on the section of terrace above
the sounding chamber in September.
For further information and opening
times www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden
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