Ballroom carpet which features in Poldark and Rivals to go under the hammer

A ballroom carpet which features in BBC series Poldark and Disney’s Rivals is to go to auction.

The carpet comes from Chavenage House in the Cotswolds, which doubles as Trenwith in the BBC period drama and as a mansion in the new Jilly Cooper adaption, and will go on sale at Chorley’s on October 22.

It is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000 and was tailor made in the Sultanabad area of then West Persia around 1900.

The 26x20ft rug features a design of flowering vines and bold framed by a wide indigo border of samovar motifs, curled leaves and flowerheads, flanked by triple guard-stripes.

Thomas Jenner-Fust, auctioneer and director at Chorley’s said: “Royalty, film stars and ghosts – the Ziegler carpet at Chavenage has seen them all.

“We’re very excited to be selling it at auction. In 1904 the Chavenage owners thought it would have been social death not to have a ballroom, so they added a new wing to their house to accommodate one.

“These days people are building a party barn instead of a ballroom, but they still need a beautiful swimming pool-sized carpet to dress it, so we’re seeing a lot of interest in our upcoming sale.”

Chavenage has also hosted shoots for the BBC’s Emma, Tess Of The D’Urbervilles and Wolf Hall, along with welcoming royal family members and staging society events.

It comes ahead of Rivals being released on Disney+ in the UK on October 18.

The series stars David Tennant and Alex Hassell, and follows the drama and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England. The story delves into the cutthroat world of independent British television in 1986.

It also follows tension between Rupert Campbell-Black (Hassell) and Lord Tony Baddingham (Tennant), two of fictional Rutshire county’s most powerful men, as it is on the cusp of boiling over.