The 84-foot-long Audit Room was formed out of the Steward’s Hall and a passage way, sometime between 1720 and 1740.The name suggests it was here that tenants came to pay their rents and where they might traditionally be entertained.

The floor was re-laid in 1952 with oak grown at Boughton. In the two 19th century faux-Boulle cabinets and the display case on the end wall can be seen part of the remarkable Vincennes and Sèvres porcelain collection amassed by Walter Francis, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and his wife Charlotte Anne. Collected in the 1830’s with the help of the dealer E.H. Baldock in a period of barely 18 months, it includes over 100 pieces from Louis XV’s own dining set, ordered in 1751 for Versailles. Beautifully painted, and richly edged with gold leaf the striking turquoise bleu lapis backgrounds immediately catches the eye.
Louis XV's first major dinner service

The chimneypiece, which is much earlier, c.1530, bears the motto of Sir Edward Montagu and must have been brought from one of his former homes. The long Shovel-Board table must also have had a previous home as it is known to have been made in 1702/3, for £3.17s.4d., by Roger Davis, principal joiner involved in Duke Ralph's extensions to the house.

The green silk banners woven in 1705 for the 2nd Duke’s wedding are now too fragile for regular display but are still used at family weddings.

On the South Wall is
The Market Scene. c.1570. Vincenzo Campi (c.1530-91)

Portraits facing the windows:

Dorothy Brudenell, Countess of Westmorland, by Sir Peter Lely (1610-80).

Anna Maria Brudenell, Countess of Shrewsbury by Sir Peter Lely. (see left)

Frances Brudenell, widow of the Earl of Newburgh, by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Somerset, by Sir Peter Lely.

Ralph Montagu, eldest son of Duke Ralph.

Countess of Shrewsbury (?) Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)

Fireplace:

Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of Northumberland, and later Duchess to Duke Ralph, by Sir Peter Lely.

Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu, by J.B Closterman.

Mary, Duchess of Montagu, daughter of John, 2nd Duke, by Jeremiah Davidson (1695-1745).

John Churchill 1st Duke of Marlborough, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. (see right)

Mary Churchill, Duchess of Montagu, by Enoch Seerman (1694-1745).

John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, by Thomas Hudson. (1701-79).

Sèvres Chestnut basket

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