Rode Hall is home to an important collection of English porcelain and pottery amassed by successive generations of the Wilbraham family since the mid-eighteenth century. This collection began when Mary Bootle married into the Wilbraham family. An heiress to two fortunes, her love of fine china was a legacy which has continued through to the present day. Since 1980, the collection has been significantly enhanced by the current custodian of Rode, Sir Richard Baker Wilbraham, 8th Bart. His acquisitions especially reflect Mrs. Bootle’s early patronage of porcelain, both Chinese and English, and the family’s subsequent interest in Victorian Arts and Crafts pottery, particularly the designs of Walter Crane who, as a young man, often visited Rode.
Much of Rode’s collection has a horticultural theme which mirrors not only the ceramicist’s continuing interest in the natural world but also the Wilbraham’s long-standing love of gardens.
Other Rode collections include portraits, watercolours and the highly acclaimed Gillow furniture.