Taking their cue from Girouard’s ‘Life in the English Country House, traditional readings of dining-related space in upper and middle class homes have labelled dining rooms as masculine, based on the separation of men and women after dinner. More recent work on country houses has challenged this, arguing that spaces should be seen as multi-functional, especially in the eighteenth century. By the nineteenth century, the physical separation of diners was in any case declining, while at the same time women were taking a firmer control over the domestic environment, especially the dining room.

In my PhD research I considered the role of women in planning dinner and as performers at the meal itself, as well as looking at the physical spaces of dining and how they related to the wider house. Dinner became a crucial arena for the negotiation of gender, as well as for the expression of household status and, when guests were present, establishment of shared identity. However, this took place within the context of a highly stratified class system. Class plays a huge role in this area, especially when it comes to furnishing dining rooms, which can be seen as a pivotal room for the communication of family identity.