The virginals is a copy of the 1642 rectangular virginals by Thomas White at the Victoria and Albert museum. The ends of the case and the lid are made of oak and the bottom, back and front panels are made of deal. This is for reasons of economy, appearance, weight and stability. Oak would have been more expensive then, as it is now, and it might have been harder to obtain as a lot would have been taken for ship building. Deal (pine or fir) on the other hand was cheap and plentiful and probably very good quality. It had been imported from Norway since at least the 14th century.

In dramatic contrast with the rather sombre outside, the inside of the instrument is very colourful. The coffered lid and keyboard flap are painted in a rather naïve style, and the soundboard is painted with birds, flowers and arabesques. The spaces between the mouldings inside and on the front panels are entirely covered by papers or painted decoration. The decorative hinges and hasps are made of steel – the originals would of course have been wrought iron which is virtually unobtainable nowadays.

The decoration with gilded embossed papers, is a style peculiar to this type of instrument and a very few others (such as the Theeuwes claviorganum). They are made with layers of hand-made paper pasted together with starch paste and then pressed onto a block with the design cut into it. The fronts of the keys are also covered with embossed papers and these continued to be used for some years on the earlier bent-side spinets.

The virginals has a compass of four octaves C to c´´´ and is brass scaled with a pitch of A 409. The original pitch of these instruments is uncertain and they may well have had a higher pitch with iron scaling. The sound is lively and characterful if a little 'boxy'. The stand is my own design. In 1997 this instrument was used in a film about the life of Francis Tregian, the collector of the Fitzwilliam virginal book. It was made by Anne Cuneo and features the harpsichordist Patrick Ayrton. It is now on You Tube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSs029A02-U It has also been used on Mahan Esfahani's CD of English virginal music, 'Passinge mesures'. (Hyperion CDA68249).