The 'lift' (or hoist, or dumb-waiter) never fails to fascinate small children, who remain nonetheless strictly forbidden to ride in it. Surprisingly enough, no-one is actually known to have tried; although it is always possible that a few rides have been stolen without any of the direly prophesied consequences to either adventurer or equipment...

It runs from just inside the main door up to the dining-room on the second floor, although in practice it is used either to transport heavy items up to the first-floor kitchen or to dispatch food up from the kitchen to the dining-room on the floor above. In construction it is simple and (so far) robust: a wooden cage that runs up and down on sash-cords within a covered framework of laths and battens, with no form of propulsion other than pulling on the outside loop of cord, and no form of braking other than the friction of the mechanism itself. The 'lift-shaft' presents a somewhat ramshackle appearance up the inside wall of the kitchen, but is panelled in as part of the dividing partition on the second floor.