When in the U.K. on the recent trip, visiting castles and manor houses formed part of my research. Today I used a tiny part of that research in the book I’m writing — Book 3 of The Forsaken Lands.
I just wrote this:
Flattening herself against the solid oak of the linenfold panels, Sorrel stared at the King.
I’d never come across “linenfold” panels until I visited The Vyne Estate, a National Trust property in Hampshire, and I was fascinated.
Along this gallery, once walked Queen Katherine of Aragon and King Henry VIII. Still later he came back, this time with Anne Boleyn on his arm…
I got shivers just walking down this long gallery, thinking of the feet that had trodden those floors, the eyes that had feasted on those panels, the men and woman who had lived and walked here.
Not to mention the long-forgotten artisans who created these lovely wooden panels.
I used to have a bedroom set which included two large wardrobes, and I do mean large, with linenfold panels The dresser was the same. Most attractive. I wish I still had them but wardrobes are unnecessary around here anyway.I bought them at auction, in England, probably about 45 years ago.
Any idea when they dated from? Apparently this was first done in the 16th century, but has had various periods of popularity since.
I would have said Tudor or Elizabethan but from what you wrote, maybe not.