Library folio stand

The firm of Gillows of Lancaster was established by Robert Gillow in the late 1720s. It attracted clientele from the rising middle classes, whose disposable income was increasing in tandem with the Industrial Revolution. Although never at the forefront of fashionable furniture design, many of Gillows' ingenious and innovative design solutions were borrowed and even published by Messrs Sheraton and Hepplewhite. Colonel and Mrs George Wilson, a Lancaster heiress keen to patronize the best local cabinet makers, moved into their new and fashionable home of Abbot Hall in 1762, furnishing it with items made and supplied by Gillows. The Georgian rooms at Abbot Hall have undergone restoration to recreate the taste of Colonel and Mrs Wilson.