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Peacocks and Elephants

Kedleston Hall’s Peacock Dress, a symbol of the British Raj in India, gets a makeover, and a rare but damaged painting from Dyrham Park reveals a controversial colonial past.

Kedleston Hall was once home to Lord Curzon, the viceroy of India at the height of the British Raj. The famous Peacock Dress - named for the embroidered peacock feathers that cover it - can be found in Kedleston's collection. Famously worn by Lord Curzon's wife, Mary, it's now in dire need of repair.

Meanwhile, at the baroque mansion of Dyrham Park in Gloucestershire, conservation work is needed on a rare but damaged painting of the port of Bridgetown, Barbados, which belonged to 17th-century colonial bureaucrat William Blathwayt. Barbados at the time was the centre of sugar production and intrinsically linked with the horrors of slavery, and the painting is thought to show an important but unknown event in the island's history.

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58 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Director Olly Rose
Producer Olly Rose
Director Sam Roubicek
Producer Sam Roubicek
Director Cressida Kinnear
Producer Cressida Kinnear
Producer Gemma Duncan
Producer Corinna Gallop
Line Producer Laura Miller
Assistant Producer Millie Dobres
Production Manager Nancy Gladwin
Editor Hugo Fowler
Series Editor Alex Raw
Executive Producer Sacha Baveystock
Executive Producer Sarah Spencer
Production Company Blast! Films

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