It's not all skin and bones...

The ethnography and natural history collections at Tatton Park are very special. Maurice Egerton, the last Baron to live in the mansion, travelled all over the world acquiring fascinating objects to bring home for display.

Butterflies collected by Maurice on his travels ©Tatton Park

Over the last few weeks, the Mansion Conservation Assistants have been working behind the scenes to improve the storage conditions of these collections. We have been rearranging boxes and shelving to group objects systematically and to make sure that they have the space and conditions they need to stay well-preserved in storage. At the same time, we've been able to condition check the objects, update our inventory system and generally become more familiar with the collection.

Tiger skull collected by Maurice ©Tatton Park

The store is a real treasure trove of weird and wonderful objects, many of which are too sensitive to be on display. Our elephant skull and three enormous tusks needed three people to move into position. Boxes of birds’ eggs and butterflies had to be carefully inspected and wrapped. Handling some objects can prove dangerous if the right precautions are not taken, so gloves are essential for animal skins and taxidermy that may have been treated with mercury or arsenic many years ago. Our collection of swords, spears and arrows are on low shelves to minimise injury should they fall.

Each box and shelf has photographs and labels to show what it contains, and the contents are wrapped and padded with acid-free tissue. We hope that this will make the collection more accessible in future and keep it safe and secure for many years to come.

You can see Maurice’s collection of wonderful objects in the Maurice Egerton exhibition in the mansion and learn more about Maurice’s adventures around the world. Also, during October half term, why not join us at the mansion and parkland during Skin and Bones week – a celebration of all things natural history. You will have the chance to meet experts, see exciting objects not normally on display and go on fascinating trailer rides with the rangers to learn more about the natural world around us.

Find out more about Skin and Bones event in the Mansion.
Hope to see you there!

Sarah and Catherine in the Mansion