BY GILLOWS, CIRCA 1830-40

The Lancaster and London furniture-making firm, Gillows, made approximately fifteen to twenty billiards tables per year and were the first cabinet-makers to do so, from the late 18th Century onwards. The design for this table with its 'stout reeded leg' conforms to one drawn up by the firm for James Heywood, which was made in 1833 and numbered 1077 (S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, London, 2008, I, p. 421, pl. 522); as well as one made circa 1833-34 for Beriah Botsfield (1807-63) of Norton Hall, Daventry, numbered 1081 and now in the Judges' Lodgings Museum, Lancaster (ibid., pp. 422-3, pl. 523 & 525d). A very close related table is at Dunham Massey, Cheshire; and a further example, numbered 1086, is at Speke Hall, Merseyside.