How Britain’s Grand Mansions Became Temples to Ancient Egypt’s Mysteries
A new mystery novel has brought fresh attention to Britain’s long fascination with Ancient Egypt. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby centres on an aristocratic family obsessed with Egyptian symbolism—a theme that once gripped Victorian society. From grand country estates to occult circles, the influence of pharaonic culture runs deep across the UK.
The Victorian era saw a wave of Egyptomania, with wealthy landowners filling their homes with artefacts and Egyptian-inspired designs. Kingston Lacy in Dorset holds the UK’s largest private collection of Egyptian objects, gathered by explorer John William Bankes during his travels. Meanwhile, Cairness House in Aberdeenshire features an Egyptian Room, its walls covered in hieroglyphics forming an undeciphered message. Designed by Sir John Soane, the chamber reflects the era’s obsession with mystery and antiquity.
Other estates embraced the trend in bold ways. Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire built an entire Egyptian court, complete with sphinxes, a tomb-like structure, and a pyramid-shaped topiary. Didlington Hall in Norfolk went further, housing a museum of Egyptian art guarded by seven statues of Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess. Even Highclere Castle—the real-life Downton Abbey—displays artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb, linking aristocratic Britain to one of history’s most famous pharaohs. By the 1920s and 30s, Egyptian motifs had seeped into avant-garde circles. Surrealist artists like Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, and Leonor Fini wove pharaonic imagery into their work. Occultist Aleister Crowley, who claimed to have received The Book of the Law in Cairo in 1904, later filled his Thoth Tarot and Thelema system with Egyptian symbols. His life and mysticism partly inspired the fictional Juliette in the new novel, whose paintings mirror her father’s fixation on the ancient world.
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby ties together real historical obsessions with a modern mystery. The novel’s aristocratic family reflects a broader British tradition—one where Egyptian symbolism shaped grand houses, occult practices, and even art movements. Today, these estates and collections remain as lasting proof of a cultural fascination that never truly faded.
