2-982-181 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Queen's Visit to Birmingham - Reading of the Address of the Interim Managers to Her Majesty in the Great Gallery of Aston Hall, 1858. Queen Victoria opens a public amenity. 'The great gallery of Aston Hall was covered throughout with a carpet designed and made expressly for the occasion, the pattern being a Tudor rose and fleur-de-lis. The large window at the extremity has been fitted with stained glass, appropriately designed and suppled by Messrs. Chance, of Spon-lane. In the centre of the room, west side, was placed a dais, covered with a rich carpet of maroon ground...[Queen Victoria said] "The improvement of the moral, intellectual, and social condition of my people will always command my earnest attention; and, in opening the Hall and Park to-day, I rejoice to have another opportunity of promoting their comfort and innocent recreation".' From "Illustrated London News", 1858.