Malachite & Ormolu Chimneypiece
You wouldn’t think it would move at all would? Made in Russia, displayed in the Great Exhibition of 1851, in London, this chimneypiece dated 1840s then moved to the Palazzo San Donato.
In the 1870s Henry Isaac Butterfield bought it for Cliffe Castle. His grand-daughter moved it to Thoresby Hall (Nottinghamshire) when she sold Cliffe Castle.
That still wasn’t the end of its travels. Thoresby Hall was sold off, and the fireplace moved to a private house owned by his great-grandaughter .
Lady Rozelle Raynes passed away in 2015, and gifted it to Cliffe Castle. Seeing that huge thing come back through the doors is definitely one of my more memorable days.
(if you want to know more, we wrote a longer blog about it at the time https://www.bradfordmuseums.org/blog/from-russia-to-cliffe-castle/
Submitted by
Heather Millard, Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley
