Research in Progress – Regional Furniture Society

Members are encouraged to attend the Regional Furniture Society’s Research in Progress day on Thursday 8 October 2026.

This meeting will be held in the Georgian Room at the Museum of the Home, 136 Kingsland Road, London E2 8EA, starting at 10.00 for 10.30 and finishing at 16.00.

Speakers will address the following:

Early Lincolnshire Windsor chair makers (Julian Parker);

Scottish long case clock cases (David Jones);

William Brear & Sons, sawyer, turner, timber merchants and chair manufacturer – a remarkable archive (Clare Conybeare);

Warwickshire church chests (Rachel Sycamore);

Identifying an early nineteenth-century Cambridgeshire long case clock design (Robert Williams);

The Cotton Archive – Creating an Accessible Resource (David Dewing).

Echo Godfrey and Maria Maniadaki will talk about the development of the Museum of the Home exhibition, ‘Splats and Spindles: Six English Regional Chairs’ from the Bernard and Geraldine Cotton chair collection (the exhibition will be open for us to view) and they will also demonstrate the latest digital resources for researching the Cotton Archive.

Cost: £35. Coffee and biscuits on arrival and a sandwich lunch are included.

Numbers limited to 40

Closing date for applications: 8 September 2026

Please return the booking form to RFS Events Team at events.rfs@gmail.com by 8 September 2026. You will be notified of payment details the following week.

Selection of furniture in the Burrell Collections, now available online via the Glasgow Museums collections navigator

At the Research in Progress meeting at the V&A on 24 February 2018, curators Rachel King and Laura Bauld gave a short presentation on the important collection of 16th century furniture in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums, which has around 400 pieces dating to the period before 1685.

The Burrell Collection has a very full and fine selection of early, mostly English, oak furniture. It is both religious and domestic in origin, ranging from choirstalls, to chairs, tables, beds, hutches and court cupboards. These vary in style, from simple to elaborate, and though some are inlaid, few are painted or gilded, with one spectacular exception being the ceremonial bedhead with erotic carved decoration made to celebrate the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves in January 1539/40. The collection also takes in architectural embellishment in wood, such as screens, panelling – including a complete room from Harrington Hall, Lincolnshire – doors, fire surrounds and screens, and an elaborate ceiling from Bridgwater in Somerset.

While the Burrell Collection is currently closed for refurbishment until 2020, much of the collection is accessible online in the new Glasgow Museums database. Full instructions for using the database are available here.