An oak four-poster bed with panelled and carved headboard, low carved fooposts to the bedstock, with separate show footposts, octagonal above a squared base, the tops of these posts joined together and to the headposts by a later frieze and cornice. The headboard is composed of 8 panels, 3 carved with banners bearing phrases in archaic English and the bed is heavily carved overall with at least two distinct types of carving. That on the lower level of the headboard, on the friezes and on the PL rail the bedstock shows large-scale flowers, foliage, birds and fabulous beasts. That on the upper part of the headboard, the bedstock posts, the showposts and the PR and foot rails of the bedstock is much smaller in scale and consists of trefoil or quatrefoil foliage ornament set within trellises of triangular or lozenge-shaped panels. The woodwork is darkly varnished overall, except on the back of the headboard. The bed has undergone much repair and alteration and the dark varnish was probably added when the frieze and cornice were added and other alterations made. English, probably made up from 16th century and other elements of more than one bed.

The bed is now fitted with modern curtains of crewel-work on linen, two at each side and two at the foot. These hangings were made for the current borrower and do not form part of the bed as acquired by the Museum. They are hung from modern iron rods or tubes, 2.5 cm in diameter. These must have been added to the bed when the hangings were made.
This bed has multiple parts and these should be checked and numbered when the loan is next inspected. The parts include at least: Headboard; Tester; 3 frieze panels; 2 showposts at the foot; 2 short footposts to the bedstock; 3 carved rails to the bedstock.

An oak four-poster bed with panelled and carved headboard, low carved fooposts to the plain bed stock, with separate show foot posts, octagonal above a squared base, the tops of these posts joined to each other and to the head posts by a later frieze and cornice. The headboard is composed of 8 panels (1 over 3,over 4) is carved with banners bearing phrases in archaic English. The bed is heavily carved overall with at least two distinct types of carving. That on the lower level of the headboard, on the friezes and on the PL rail the bed stock shows large-scale flowers, foliage, birds and fabulous beasts. That on the upper part of the headboard, the bed stock posts, the show posts and the PR and foot rails of the bed stock is much smaller in scale and consists of trefoil or quatrefoil foliage ornament set within trellises of triangular or lozenge-shaped panels. The woodwork is darkly varnished overall,except on the back of the headboard. The bed has undergone much alteration and adaptation, as well as the addition of the tester and cornice panels. The bed has undergone much repair and alteration. Its full history can only be surmised when it is next dismantled and examined with conservators.

Headboard and head posts
The headboard and the square-sectioned head posts form a single unit. The visible faces have been varnished to match the rest of the bed but the back of the headboard has been left in its natural state. The head posts are approximately 10 cm square, with central bands on the front and outer surfaces carved with a repeating ornament of leaves within triangles. The edges show running mouldings of approximately 2 cm width. The effect is of a solid post with moulded edges and carved faces but it seems that the mouldings have been separately worked and set into the corners, with other areas of carving applied. The structure of the posts is complex and this can only be checked when the bed is next dismantled. On the PR post on the foot face, the inner moulding is pulling away below the height of the mid-rail and the joins with the carved central band are visible at similar points. At the back the posts have been cut away by about 5 cm in width and 5 cm in depth on the inner, back corners. On the inside of the PR post there are two filled mortises , each about 13 cm high, one just above the level of the bottom of the lowest board of the headboard (an added or replaced board), and the other just above the lowest rail. This may indicate a lower fixing point for the headboard and it might bring the holes that may be roping holes (see below) into position with those on the side rails of the bed stock. The base of the head posts are each faced with separate boards and moulding forming a plinth approximately 14 cm high in total, with 7 cm of stepped moulding (made up of several sections) above 8 cm of plain plinth. The core of the PR post is built up at the base, presumably because of damage. This is only visible from the rear of the bed and it is not possible in the bed's current siting to see whether this is true of the PL post.

On the outer side of the PR post there is a horizontal join across the carved panel at approximately 118 cm above floor level, and on the front face a less visible join across the moulded bands at 84 cm above the floor. Joins are also evident across the outer and inner edge mouldings of the foot face at 8 and 7 cm from the top of the post, and similar marks on the side face of the post suggest that the mouldings may have been made as L-shaped pieces glued to the corners. On the PL post the gap between the back moulding and the carved section on the outer face is clear and there is a horizontal join in the back moulding approximately 9 cm below the top of the post and across the inner foot face moulding approximately 8.5 cm from the top. On each head post and additional section has been added behind the post. protruding approximately 4.2 cm to the side. These sections are of oak, approximately 1.8 cm deep and the front edge is moulded and chamfered. At the top on each side these are cut away to accommodate and support the lower edge of the side friezes. On the PR post this additional piece continues to foot level. On the PL post it ends with a diagonal cut just above the foot moulding and shows a horizontal join approximately 76 cm above the floor. The foot surface of each post is cut or broken away at the top in the area of the central carved band, where the post has been drilled to take modern curtain rods of iron. On the PR post an area of carving running from under the drilled hole to the top of the post seems to have been cut away in the last fifty years . On the PL post a similar area has split off but is very oxidised, suggesting this break occurred much earlier.

The side rails of the bed stock are secured to the head posts with steel bed screws, probably dating from the 19th or early 20th century, the nuts of these showing in a cut away section of the outer edge of the rebated back of the posts. These bolts secure through the posts into the ends of the tenons of the side rails. The top of the posts are set with iron spikes, 0.5 cm approximately in diameter. These appear to be of uniform section and probably date from the late 19th or early 20th century. The foot posts, (show posts) are similarly fitted.

The headboard starts approximately 36 cm above floor level, the lowest 30 cm being a replacement, probably added in the 19th century. It is a single, machine-sawn plank of softwood, attached with nails along its top edge driven diagonally upward into the foot edge of the base rail of the main show section of the headboard. This is composed of 8 panels set as 1 over 3 over 4, all within a framework of moulded rails and muntins. The base rail of the headboard is 17 cm high, with a moulded top edge. This moulding is slightly different from that on the rails and muntins above and it is possible that this frame is an early replacement. It has been drilled with 14 holes (now plugged), each about 2 cm in diameter. These may originally have been roping holes although they would now be too high for this purpose. They show no wear on either face of the rail. It is also possible that they were drilled for this purpose at an intermediate date because there would originally have been a plain area just above the roping holes that would have been covered by bedding and pillows, similar to the lowest (replacement) panel on the headboard at present. Holes 3&4, 7&8 and 12&13 are set closely together. The centres of the holes lie at 10,19,28.5, 32,38,49,56.5,60,66,76, 85,91, 95 and 103.5 cm from the PR side of the rail. On the back of the bed this base rail is bowed out in plan to give it greater substance. This may be another indication of its having been used for roping originally. Strengthening battens of softwood (modern, machine-cut) have been applied to this section and behind it, the back section rising above the top section. These are approximately 1 cm thick.

Above this lowest rail all the woodwork appears to be original. On the back the mid-rail is chisel-marked I to IIII over the panels of the first tier of the original headboard. On the foot surface of the headboard the rails (except the base rail) and the muntins are carved in low relief with an overall design of opposed triangles outlined with a plain moulding, each triangle set with a trefoil of foliage radiating from a raised boss. The veining of these leaves is cut with successive strikes of a curve-bladed chisel, the blade approximately 0.7 cm across. Further detail is added with point punching, which is also used on the centre of the trefoils. The upper rail and the lower muntins of the headboard are 10 cm across, the mid-rail 11 cm, the muntins of the mid-tier 12 cm. In the upper areas the carved pattern is correspondingly larger, with additional cross-hatched panels in the centre of the leaves and cross-hatching on the half-round centres on the PR muntin only.

The four panels of the lowest tier are approximately 40 cm high and 20 cm wide (visible dimensions). They are chamfered and set into grooves on the muntins and rails. The panels are carved with flowers in the manner often depicted in herbals, with roots twisted up to the side and flowers shown in various degrees of openness. It has not so far been possible to identify the flowers although they may be poppies. The three panels of the mid tier each show a bird (a dove?) grasping a large flowering plant by its stem. Each of these panels shows two or three flower heads, some frontally and some in profile (possibly poppies). The birds are different on each panel, the ones on the outer panels entirely covered with feathers carved as rows of arcades made with a curved-bladed chisel, while on the central panel the bird shows a breast and tail more lightly marked with overlapping strikes of the same chisel, giving a very lively depiction of feathers. Issuing from the beak of each bird is a banneret which flows horizontally to the PL side and carries one of the three inscriptions - 'drede god', 'love god', 'prayse god'.

The topmost panel, which sits below the friezes on the outside of the bed, is 14 cm high and 113 cm wide (visible dimensions). It is carved with two confronting serpents or monsters with curled tails and sheep-like heads, supporting a rectangular panel carved with a shield against trefoil panels, similar to the carving on the rails and the muntins. The ground of the shield is cut with interlocking strokes of the curved-bladed chisel, almost making circles, and the centre inlaid with the mastic-filled letters 'HF'. There is no top rail above this panel.

Foot posts (show posts)
These stand independent of the bed stock and are similar in form to the head posts. They are square-sectioned (approximately 10 x 10 cm) to a height of 85 cm above the floor. Above that the edges are chamfered, making the posts octagonal until, about 2.5 cm below their tops, they are returned to squares. This change of shape is scarcely visible under the current friezes, suggesting that they may originally have been topped by larger square sections that have been cut down. The tops are set with the same iron spikes as the head posts. The lower part of the posts are carved in the same manner as the head posts (with leaves within triangles), with the same moulded edges, above applied boards with moulded top edges, forming feet, as on the head posts. Where the square section of each post becomes octagonal (above 87 cm) it is possible to see how the corner mouldings are set into the corners of the posts. The top surface of these moulding pieces is lightly marked with a chisel to suggest a leaf. On the head surfaces of each post the central bands are uncarved below about 85 cm from the ground (that is, to the height of the low posts of the bed stock). In this area each posts shows two vertical, rectangular patches of wood in the central band, each approximately 11 cm high and 4 cm wide, the lower ones centreing approximately 26 cm above the ground, the upper ones approximately 54 cm. These may relate to earlier fixings to the posts of the bed stock but there are no corresponding marks on the footface of the adjacent low foot posts. On the PL show post the foot face shows a filled, drilled hole, approximately 2 cm in diameter, centreing 27 cm above ground level. There is no corresponding holes on the PR post. The hole is about the same size as the ones drilled in the head posts for the later bed screws. Above the height of 87 cm the posts are carved with lozenges containing a quatrefoil ornament. This ornament is made with the same chisel cuts and punches as that on the head posts. At about 140 cm above ground level each post has been left square-sectioned, creating a cube about 10 cm on each dimension, the faces carved as shields against the overall floral decoration. On the PR post these shields are chip carved with Tudor roses on all four faces. On the PL post the foot face is inlaid with 'i h s', the letters inlaid with black mastic. The outer face is carved with a Tudor rose, the back with a Tudor rose merely marked out with a chisel but not fully carved (though punched in the centre), and the inner face with a depiction of the Lamb and Flag.

The Bedstock
The posts are almost square-sectioned, 10 cm across the foot face and 11 cm across the outer faces. The uppermost 2 cm of each posts shows chamfering at the corners to create a circular top to each post, this carved with a chip-carved Tudor rose occupying the whole of the surface. The posts have been added to (about 1 cm) on the outer edges and on both outer corners of the PR post have been inset with slips of wood to create the mouldings, as on the show posts. The outer faces of the posts are carved with the 'triangle and flower head' pattern, between the edge mouldings. The foot face on each post shows two pegs at the height of the foot bed rail, fastening the tenons into the mortise on the post. The moulding is worked across these pegs but they now stand proud. Other joints should be examined for the same feature.

The side rails of the bed stock are approximately 20 cm high and 5.7 cm deep. They are tenoned into the head post and low foot posts and held with bed screws, all probably 19th or early 20th-century in date. The outer face of the PR rail is shallowly carved with a trellis pattern with a quatrefoil version of the pattern found on the posts. The carving is close in pattern to that of the foot posts. The top surface of the rail is moulded on the outer third with incised mouldings and the top inner edge is shallowly chamfered. The top edge shows three drilled and filled holes, possibly for bed staves. Each is approximately 3 cm in diameter with oval distortion because of shrinkage of the wood. These holes centre at 28, 64.4 and 104 cm from the junction with the head post. The rail is marked underneath with a chisel, 'I' at the head end and 'IIII at the foot end (this latter more roughly marked). There are no corresponding marks visible on the posts but these may become visible when the bed is next taken apart. The lower edge of the outer side of the bed rail shows a tack in the centre, under which is a fragment of red thread, possibly evidence of an earlier (but not original) valance.

The PL rail is carved on its out face in a very different fashion. Between upper and lower mouldings that are quite roughly worked and similar to those on the PR rail, the ground is filled with carving of a large-scale, scrolling design of very open, broad, flower-heads, with some very small, pointed leaves, all this on a panel approximately 15 cm high. The carving is vigorous and the surface of the different flowers are give detail by chip-carving of repeated or overlapping strikes, all done with a curved chisel similar in size to that used elsewhere on the bed. There is also cross-hatching cut with a straight chisel and point punching. The carving relates in quality to the carving on the lowest carved panels of the headboard. The top edge of the rail shows three drilled and filled holes (possibly for bed staves), as on the PR rail. These holes centre at 24, 57.5 and 102 cm from the junction with the head post. There are two smaller filled holes (approximately 2 cm diameter), centreing at approximately 9 and 76 cm from the junction with the head post. Underneath, this rail is marked chisel-marked 'II' at the head end and 'III' at the foot end, with no corresponding marks visible on the posts as the bed is currently assembled. On the underside at either end are flat tangs for the hanging of valances, with square ends about 1 cm square, pierced with a hole. These tangs have been hammered into the timber and protruding about 2.5 cm. They are placed approximately 11 cm from each end, slightly inside the centre line.

The foot rail is of similar dimensions. It is carved on the foot face, on a band approximately 15 cm high between mouldings, with large-scale flower heads as on the PL rail, but the carving here is coarser, with more chip-carving, some cross-hatching, but no incising with a curved chisel or point punching. The flowers are symmetrically arranged on either side of a plain, shield-shaped panel inlaid with the Gothic letter 'J' three times, as if commemorating a marriage. The letters are filled with black mastic. The front face of the rail shows 6 drilled and filled holes, the centres about 6 cm above the lower edge of the rail, the holes centreing at 4.5, 23, 43.5, 63, 81 and 100 cm from the junction with the PR post. The penultimate hole is centred approximately 1 cm above the others. There is no sign of wear on these, as might be expected if they had been long-used for roping. On the underside of the foot rail are iron tangs. approximately 2.5 cm visible height, with rounded, flat ends, approximately 0.8 cm in diameter. These look to be machine made and later than those on the PR rail. They are set approximately 12.5 cm from the ends of the rail, just behind the centre. The underside of the rail is drilled close to the back edge with 5 holes, 1.6 cm in diameter, to the right of the centre at 4.2, 15.8, 26.5, 37.3 and 48.5 cm from the junction with the PR post. Two slightly smaller holes (now filled) are even closer to the back edge of the rail at 21 and 44 cm from the junction with the PL post. Some of these may be holes for screws fixing a section that is scarfed into the underside of the rail to repair worm damage. On the PR half this damage is very evident and areas have broken away although the woodworm damage has been chemically consolidated.

On the inside of the side rails of the bed stock, softwood battens (5 cm high and 2.5 cm thick) have been nailed at the lower edge. These are cut with regular slots to take slats 7.5 cm wide and 2.5 cm deep. There are slots for 13 slates (although only 3 remain, the replacements being narrower). The slot at the foot end on each side is narrower and as it continues to the end of the rail it suggests that the side rails may have been shortened. All this softwood has been stained dark brown.

Frieze and Cornice or Cresting
The structure of the tester rail is of dark-stained softwood, 7.5 cm wide and 2.2 cm deep, lap-jointed at the foot ends and loosely secured above metal spikes set into the tops of the headboard posts and the show posts. The frieze and cornice rails are made of softwood boards, approximately 1 cm thick, faced with shallow oak boards mitred at the foot corners but not jointed. The frieze and cresting panels are fixed to the constructional boards with modern angle irons.

On both sides and on the foot of the bed the frieze boards are plain to either side, with a moulded lower edge and a 'castellated' cornice or cresting cut in profile with serpentine tops to the crenellations, which are chip-carved on the face. In the centre of each frieze is a decorative panel. On the foot frieze this is part of the main board but on the side friezes this is a separate section grafted into the frieze. Each of these decorative panels shows a pair of addorsed serpents or monsters, with scaly curled bodies or tales and sheep-like heads. , supporting a plain central shield with spandrels of trefoil carving. The serpents are carved in low relief and high-lighted with chip carving, curved chisel strokes and point punching. The carving is coarser on the foot rail than on the side rails.

On the sides the shields are each drilled with with a 1.5 cm diameter hole in the centre at the bottom, as if some carved embellishment has been removed. The shield on the PR side has a more roughly made hole just to the left of the shield nail holes in the centre an at either end of the decorative panel. There is a similar hole to the head sideof the shield on the PL frieze but only one nail hole at the head end is apparent. On the new oak facings to either side of the decorative panels on the PL and PR friezes, the lower edge has been carved with one trefoil panel at each side as a buttressing spandrel. On the foot frieze shows in the centre of its decorative panel a plain shield with large screw holes on the shield and to the left, and at either end of the frieze rail, close to the posts at either side.

Presented by the Art Fund

The bed was purchased by the National Art-Collections Fund (now The Art Fund) for £150 in 1943 from Major J.S. Clift, Cheltenham, who had bought it earlier the same year at the death of Mrs Frances Mary Bellamy, 6 Howlett Street, Cheltenham. She was born a Machel and received the bed from Crackenthorpe Hall, nr. Appleby, Westmorland, the family home of the Machel's. The history of the family is recorded in E. Bellasis, 'Machel of Crackenthorpe' in the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1st Series, vol. VIII, 1886, pp. 416-466. At the time of acquisition of the bed it was dated to about 1520 but the combination of examination of the bed’s structure and of details of the history of Crackenthorpe Hall must now suggest that it has, at least, undergone extensive restoration and adaptation.

Registered file 1369/42
Condition at acquisition 'Part of the tester renewed. Lower part of the foot post altered. Feet later additions and length probably reduced. Alterations in the sides of the bedstock perhaps made at an early date. There are mortices in the foot posts on the inner side, not answering the bedstock.'

See also RF 95/335

Crackenthorpe Hall lies close to the River Eden, two miles north-west of Appleby and 12 miles from Penrith, close to the major road A66.

The history of the Machel (or Machell) family is recorded in E. Bellasis, 'Machel of Crackenthorpe' in the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1st Series, vol. VIII, 1886, pp. 416-466. The family had been in Westmorland since early times and tradition had it that the family was descended from a Roman Centurion, Matalus Catalus. The history of the house, however is disrupted and suggests that doubts about the date of the bed may be well founded. The following notes are reference to pages in the above article:
The house was entailed to male members of the family by a settlement of 20 June 1599 (p. 435). It was enlarged in the 17th century and in 1685 it was re-fronted by Hugh Machell (p.446-447, the hall described as ‘new modelled and made shorter than before’) with advice from Thomas Machel (1647-1698), an antiquarian who corresponded with his more famous fellow antiquarians William Dugdale (1606-1695) and Anthony Wood (1632-1695).
The house was sold by Lancelot Machel (d.1788), to Lord Lonsdale in 1786, without the option to purchase being offered to anyone else in the family (p. 453, where the details of a bill of sale are noted, although this chiefly relates to the estate and there is little description of the house). It was sold for £12,000 to Richard Bellas of Brampton, acting for Lord Lonsdale (p. 453). It remained in the possession of the Lonsdale family until 1877, when it was purchased Captain Machell. He restored the older house and added a new wing (p. 455). The house was sold out of the family in 1928 (elsewhere recorded as 1929) and this may have been when the bed came to Mrs Bellamy. This article was republished as Edward Bellasis, The Machells of Crackenthorpe,1886. This break in family ownership makes it uncertain that any long history of the bed at Crackenthorpe can be assumed.

Some family manuscripts were said to have been deposited with the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle Cathedral (p. 445).
According to more recent sources, the early house was altered in both 1629 and 1663, before the major work in 1685 and the extension of the 1880s.

The arms of the Machell family show three silver greyhounds with gold collars on a black ground (formally described as ‘Sable, three greyhounds courant in pale argent collared or). It is interesting to note that these arms do not appear anywhere on the bed and the initials JJ are not immediately recognisable as Machell family initials.

This oak bed is currently on long loan to Oakwell Hall, Yorkshire. The quality of the carving on the headboard is high, including flowers and figures of doves that bear in their beaks banners with the advice to 'drede [dred] god', 'love god' and 'prayse [praise] god'. The frieze and cornice, however, are certainly from a different source and other parts of the bed may also be. Such 'making up' was very often done in the 19th century, when the overall appearance of such a bed was valued more highly than its authenticity. By tradition it was associated with Crackenthorpe Hall near Appleby in Westmorland. That house was sold out of the possession of the Machel family, who had owned it since medieval times, in 1786, although it was reacquired by a distant member of the family in 1877 and only sold finally in 1928 or 1929. Whether the bed was preserved from early times in some other family house is not known.

W.12-1943