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, she mentions the Queen’s masque, “put off till Candlemasday, Mrs Care is in it whoe ioyes not much (by her countenance & dressing herself) in her match though it weare her owne choyse”. This may be a reference to a sister of Katherine Cary, Grace’s husband’s first wife. Thinking of Grace’s planned visit to England, the Countess remembered her own mother Grace Mildmay’s laughter in the pantry at Apethorpe, writing:

“I pray you reioyce yourself remember my mother & her first servant Miss 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

… I pray you reioyce your self, remember my mother, … 9 January 1626/7

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

South end of the hall at Apethorpe, the pantry was through the door on the right, to the right, from Charles Latham and H. Avray Tipping, In English Homes, 3 (London: Country Life, 1909), p. 64

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..

Apethorpe, spices and wine, week 14-21 October 1627
Apethorpe kitchen account 20 October 1627
  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. ↩︎

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