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The Audit Gallery was created shortly before 1746 for it was included in the plan surveyed that year. The fine stone fireplace with the motto of Chief Justice Montagu dates from before 1557 and must have been moved from one of the principal rooms, possibly the Parlour or the Great Chamber. Parts of the fireplace were repaired or replaced in the eighteenth century; the lower pilasters appear to have been reset the wrong way up and immediately above them are carved seahorses, the crest of the Brudenells. George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan, married Mary Montagu, daughter of the 2nd Duke, and inherited Boughton in 1749.