Staff hope to unlock secrets at 500-year-old Northamptonshire mansion where Princess Diana grew up
There are hundreds of 'miscellaneous keys' at Althorp House, but staff do not know which locks they belong to, as Katie Ridley reports
Staff at Princess Diana's childhood home are on a mission to match hundreds of keys with their locks - hoping to uncover secrets that may have been hidden for hundreds of years.
Althorp House in Northamptonshire, owned by Diana's brother Earl Spencer, is 500 years old and has more than 90 rooms.
Caretaker Sophie Pedley said she came across "a selection of miscellaneous keys" and thought it would be a good project to work on.
She said: “There are a select few pieces that don't have any keys and that are locked, and we don't know why they're locked.
"We don't know how long they've been locked for, and we don't know whether there are any pieces, any lost hidden items within these pieces of furniture."
Ailsa McTernan and Lily Lowe have been tasked with matching all of the keys with the correct locks.
Ms Lowe said: “We've just been moving through the house and seeing pieces of furniture with key holes.
"It goes really quickly, the time when we're doing it, actually. We spend quite a lot of time just testing different keys. We've not got very scientific approach to it, really.”
One particular favourite - which has been unlocked - is an 18th-century Japanese lacquerware cabinet.
Ms McTernan said: “It's giving us an opportunity to discover some items that might be inside.
"So far, unfortunately, we haven't found any.
"But just to see the interior, some of the works, can shed light on the items themselves and help enrich our understanding of these historical pieces.”
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