Making the Kitchens Shine

In the Historic Kitchens we have over 1000 pieces of copper in a collection which forms our batterie de cuisine, the copper pieces range from large stove-top stock pots right down to patisserie and ice cream moulds. So when it comes around to cleaning them as part of the winter clean, we are incredibly grateful to our dedicated team of volunteers. By the time we are finished it will have taken 15 volunteers four days to dust, polish and wax their way through the collection!

Some of the pieces were cleaned in the middle of last year as part of Conservation in Action, but the majority of the larger pieces wait until this time of year before being cleaned.

Volunteers hard at work

You can see the pieces on the shelves at the back are nice and shiny having already been cleaned, whilst the volunteers make their way through the piles on the table.

Shiny copper!

Michelle and Jacky moving a large stove-top pot, ready to be cleaned.

Rows of copper being put back on the shelves once they have been cleaned - now all we need is a bit of sunshine for them to sparkle in!

Come and visit the Historic Kitchens when we reopen on March 15th to see our clean copper for yourselves, you can also discover more about the lives of the servants who worked here through our new exhibition in the Servant's Corridor.

Sarah

Conservation Assistant