Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens in Spalding, offers a sneak peak behind some of it’s hidden doors

An historic landmark, known for its beautiful gardens and hidden treasures, has given visitors a sneak peak behind some of its closed doors.

Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens, in Spalding, has been enlightened its followers on social media, with an interactive media campaign.

To accompany a recent Instagram series, the team behind the historic hall have shared some fun facts, including lesser known details of the stories of this landmark’s rich past.

Here are some of the ones which caught our eye…

Window shutter

This stained glass window was installed by the most famous resident of the hall, Maurice Johnson II (1688-1755), who founded Spalding Gentlemen’s Society. The window shows the crests of his ancestors.

Ice house

Built between 1750 and 1800, Ayscoughfee’s ice house was the original fridge used by the household to keep food fresh and chilled in the days before electrical refrigeration.

The house itself contains a seven foot deep chamber that is well insulated and would have been filled with ice taken from the River Welland in the winter. The covering of earth over the ice house has led generations of Spalding children to call it the ‘Witches house’ or ‘mound’.

Library (small vertical cupboard)

This small cupboard holds the Victorian library steps that would have been used by the household to reach the books on the highest shelves.

Love Lane vehicle gate

This gate would originally have been used by carriages and horses visiting Ayscoughfee when it was a private house. The current café block is on the site of the stables – which was demolished in the early 1970s.

Maurice the mummified cat

A very old tradition was to brick a cat up in the walls of a new house to ward away evil spirits.

We know that this cat wasn’t treated so cruelly, and has been given a very good home. He was named him Maurice after the six generations of the Johnson family, who owned the hall.

Aviary

The bird aviary dates back to the 1920s, and is currently home to birds including parakeets, budgies and quail. The birds are cared for daily by Ayscoughfee Hall gardeners, and have regular check-ups with the vet to make sure they’re healthy.

Door to Undercroft (Medieval cellar)

This door leads to the Medieval Undercroft or cellar, and to the tower.

Door to the spiral stairs (Tower)

This door was used to get to classrooms when the hall was a primary school in the 20th century.

Did you keep up with the campaign to see what was behind each door? Visit Ayscoughfee Hall on Instagram, to view them all.