These pages were produced by Roy Mat for his Wilford & Clifton Index in 1997
	The Clifton Hall Page's Room

The Page's Room or 'Painted Room' as it sometimes known, is one of the smallest rooms in the hall.   The black and white squares that make up the smooth marble floor can only be described as a chessboard.   The walls are covered with small paintings of men at arms from the 17th century.  Each painting is the same size and style showing a Musketeer or Pikemen standing against a dark background readying a weapon.   The soldiers all look to me to from the Civil War period and so could date back to 1642.   The dating of the paintings is further hinted at by the Clifton Hall Introductory Guide by Anne Bloomfield which describes them as 'after Jacob de Gheyn, 1609' and so perhaps are pre-civil war European soldiers.  As with the Octogan Hall picture of Sir Arthur Clifton, the paintings are very dark and require professional cleaning to bring out the once bright colours.  One pikeman picture has been punctured by a coin sized hole.   A painting above the fire place is much larger showing Christ being carried down from the Cruicifiction.  Shockingly, it has a set of neat holes drilled in it as if somebody at some stage tried to mount a shelf over it!  To the south-west of the room is a delicate, black and white door with a thin black column either side and a gold and white Stag crest mounted above.  The crest is that of the Griffith family who married into the Clifton family in the fifteenth century.  With the exception of the inclusion of the paintings, the room is alleged to have remained largly unchainged from times King Charles visit in 1632.
 

Paintings Of Soldiers, Possibly Dating Back To 1645, Photographed October 1997

In One Corner Of The Painted Room Is A  Vicious Looking  'Man-Trap'.     A Sort Of 'Old-English Land Mine' Probably  Used To Deter Poachers.

The Page's Room Door With The Griffith  Family Coat Of Arms