Tuesday, 29 October 2019 at 5:30 pm – Tuesday, 29 October 2019 at 7:00 pm

Faking Gothic Furniture

Date: Tuesday 29th October 2019

Time: 5.30pm – 7pm

Location: Baronial Hall, Chetham’s Library, Long Millgate, Manchester

Tickets: Free – On Chetham's website. Available here

Organised by Dr Peter Lindfield and Professor Dale Townshend

George Shaw (1810–76), a local lad from Upper Mill, Saddleworth, just to the east of Manchester, was fascinated by medieval architecture, sculpture, and heraldry even as a teenager. In the 1840s this interest took a dark turn: instead of undertaking sober antiquarian studies of local families, architectural fragments, and material culture, he used his knowledge of the medieval to create mock Tudor and Elizabethan furniture for the Duke of Northumberland, the Earls of Bedford and Derby, and also Chetham’s. Most of this fake furniture was actually based upon one genuine piece of medieval woodwork: the State Bed of Henry VII originally made for the Painted Chamber, Palace of Westminster. This lecture by historian Peter Lindfield from Manchester Metropolitan University looks at the origins of Shaw’s Gothic forgeries, and shows how harmless antiquarian enquiry turned into a business based upon deceit. There will be time after the lecture to inspect some of Shaw’s furniture, held at Chetham’s Library.

This event is part of the 7th annual Gothic Manchester Festival which is themed on 'Gothic Times'. This year the festival will span the whole of October with a whole range of events exploring the Gothic throughout time for you to get involved in.

The Manchester Gothic Festival is organised by the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. Find out more details and our full events schedule on our website: mmu.ac.uk/english/gothic-studies/gothic-manchester-festival/