Stowe House
Thursday, 23rd April 2026 from 5.30 to 7.30 pm
Stowe, Buckingham MK18 5EH
Last year’s winner of the George Clarke Prize, Dr Ralph St Clair Wade, presents his latest research on the Gothic Library at Stowe. The prize encourages new scholarship based on the estate’s extensive archive of more than 350,000 papers based at the Huntington Library in California. Dr Wade lectures in the History of Art at Cambridge University.
The Library is significant as the only Gothic interior designed by the distinguished classicist Sir John Soane. But why the departure from Stowe’s famous classicism? This talk takes a fresh look at the room’s accepted origin story and considers the role of Mary, Marchioness of Buckingham, and her Catholic chaplain, Charles O’Connor.
Booking essential. Your free ticket includes a welcome drink on arrival at 5.30 pm.