3-071-042 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Royal Visit to Welbeck Abbey, 1881. Sketches from photographs by Robert White. 'The Porter Oaks; on the top of principal tunnel; the Greendale Oak; Gothic dining room; remains of the Seven Sisters; Welbeck Abbey from the north...[Views of] the gardens, the lake, and the park, with its venerable old trees, which are some of the remains of Sherwood Forest... In the great dining-room there are evidences of [the late duke's] ingenious contrivances for economising labour. An hydraulic shaft was constructed between the great diningroom and the kitchen, and by means of this shaft waggons could be raised from or lowered to the underground passages. Rails were laid in the passage along which the waggons ran to and from a cupboard, where was also a stove, by which food could be kept hot until required to be hoisted to the diningroom. In all his improvements, he carried out his passion for subterranean work, the kitchens, pantries, and other offices being underground'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.