The Great Hall

The entrance portal, incorporates a vast perpendicular window, copied from Henry VII's chapel at Westminister. The deep entrance hall with a staircase rises majestically to Piano Noble, in the manner of Beckford's Fonthill and directing the visitor to the great gallery.

The Gallery

The gallery spans the whole garden front of the house and is over 23 metres (120ft) long. The inspiration for this room is Horace Walpole's fan faulted gallery at Strawberry hill, but the scale of Charleville is considerably grander.

The two mantlepieces lavishly carved with oak leaves and acorns are transcribed by the Bury and Moore family mottos. The Bury motto: Fortis Cadre Cedre Non Potest.

This translates as "A strong man may fumble but never fall".

More of the Gallery

While the Moore's motto Virtus Sub Cruce ad Aethra Tendens means "Virtue increases under a cross until it reaches the heavens".

The opposite wall is broken by three full length windows decorated of almost equal richness, in between which are gothic bookteables and side tables to match.

The Gallery Ceiling:

The ceiling is of plaster fan vault seven bays long, with a row of gigantic pendatives sailing down the middle.

Along one wall is the great doorway and two lavishly carved fireplaces all originally grained wood.