The small chamber is now used to display toys and games. In Tudor times, the tithe collector's servant would have had their quarters here. It is the coldest room in the house. The museum hires out the building to paranormal investigators, and apparently the room has a lot of (good) energy.
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The Small Bedchamber
This room was part of the original house, built in 1534. It faces North and is often quite cold. It has an original Tudor window with old lintels and mullions, and it is the oldest window in the house.
Glass was expensive, so shutters of oil cloth – linen soaked in oil - would have been used during the day, with wooden shutters at night. If you look up to the ceiling, you can see how it was constructed: with reeds and daub or mud. You may even see horsehair in amongst the mix.
We have a fine collection of toys on display in this room. Edwin Walker was from an industrial family who worked in the steel industry in Sheffield. Edwin kindly donated many of his childhood toys which you see here on display. The Noah’s Ark was once seen on BBC TV’s Restoration Road Show, where the Ark and Animals were repaired and cleaned.
The story of Noah’s Ark is from the Bible, and because of this it is the one toy that children were allowed to play with on a Sunday.
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