New 2026 tours will give visitors the chance to see rare collection at Knowsley Hall

New guided tours around Knowsley Hall will give visitors a rare chance to see the famous Derby Collection.

Owned by Lord and Lady Derby, it includes original Edward Lear paintings, Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio and the Bosworth Horn!

Rose Winn, social media and marketing executive for Knowsley Hall said:

“The Derby Collection items have only been shown to the public a handful of times,”

“The Bosworth Horn is an early sixteenth-century English carved bull’s horn used for ceremonial drinking at banquets and is said to have been found on the battlefield at Bosworth in 1485.”

Carved with an image of King Henry VII between the coats of arms of the Stanley and the Strange families it’s thought to be dated just after 1506.

Rose adds:

“The hallmarked silver mounts and brass mouthpiece were added in London in 1808 and presented to the 15th Earl of Derby before 1887. It was rediscovered in the silver vault at Knowsley Hall in 2019.”

And she reveals: “While Edward Lear is primarily known for his limericks and nonsense verse, he was also a prolific landscape watercolourist who spent time working and living at Knowsley Hall with the 13^th Earl in the 1800s, and we are lucky enough to hold an incredible collection of works of the exotic animals and menageries on the Estate.”

This year’s annual open days will take place between May 12-14 and May 18-19 and will focus on the Earl and Countess of Derby’s remarkable family connections which include some of the key global players before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War.

Rose has hinted too at the possibility of some very special visitors to the tour:

“Lord and Lady Derby are deeply interested, and connected to, their family history and, as this year’s focus is the 250^th anniversary of American Independence, they may drop by the tour to share their research on the family’s connection to the event!”

Knowsley Hall curator Gareth Williams will guide guests through every state room in Knowsley Hall for each tour, taking in centuries old paintings in the Entrance Hall, before going through the striking Jacobean Room, the opulent Green Drawing Room and – Rose’s personal favourite – the Walnut Drawing Room: “It’s an incredibly grand yet cosy Louis XIV inspired drawing room, completely clad in intricately carved walnut panelling. It is breathtaking.”

Guests will also be led through the Library, the Stucco Ballroom, and the State Dining Room which is shrouded in paintings of Earls and Countesses of Derby past and present.

“Words simply do not do the hall justice,” says Rose. “It truly is a sight to see in person.”

Rose explains the annual tours and open days are important to the Derby family:

“The history of people is for the people.

“The Derbys have ties to so many local areas, but their legacy extends across the globe and has had era-defining effects on society. 

“That may sound dramatic, but it was the Lady Margaret Beaufort, wife of the 1^st Earl of Derby, who persuaded King Richard to side with Henry I in The War of the Roses! It’s important to share these stories, not only for educational purposes, but for inspirational purposes too.

“It feels like Lady Derby and Gareth discover something new every few weeks at Knowsley – and visitors can find out more on the tour.”

Book or find out more about the tours and Knowsley Hall here.

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