Mary Mildmay Fane, Countess of Westmorland, wrote to her daughter Grace Fane, Countess of Home, at Dunglass Castle in Scotland, with court news, medical advice, and occasional cheerful recollections. In January 1627, thinking of Grace’s planned visit to England, she remembered her own mother Grace Mildmay’s laughter, writing:

“I pray you reioyce yourself remember my mother & her first servant M^iss Wilkes locked into the pantrie at Apthorp when they held ther sides with laughing; My sister Fane & my brother presents ther servisses to your self & your lord; they with the rest of your frends hops to see you in Englande next summer, a litle carriage will remove your stuff”¹

Looking at the 1629 inventory of Apethorpe, the pantry was next to the hall, which was possibly the scene of theatrical entertainment as well as the dining space for larger groups.² The contents were a tun of claret, a tierce of sack, a long table, a short table with a green carpet, a cupboard, a form, three stools, four cushions, and a square trunk to keep plate in.³

Sack and claret, as household commodities, were recorded with the spices by the Apethorpe kitchen clerk. During a week in October 1627, when notable house guests included Sir Robert Bevis and Sir Jefford Thorney, the sack and claret were not touched, and a quart of white wine was served instead, or possibly used by the cooks. This sample week of the Apethorpe kitchen clerk’s account was sent to Scotland, presumably as an example of good practice. The clerk’s chamber at Apethorpe was probably at the north end of the hall, and the kitchen, larder, and scullery were in a wing to to the west..

1. NRAS 217, papers of the Earls of Moray, Box 5 no. 304, Apethorpe 9 January 1626/7. ↩︎
2. Marion O’Connor, “Entertainments and Poems by Lady Rachel Fane”, Malone Collections, 17 (2016), p. 162. ↩︎
3. Kathryn. A. Morrison, Apethorpe: The Story of An English Country House (Yale, Historic England, 2016), pp. 412, 414. ↩︎