He found the hundred-year-old house lacking comfort – the Calverts had never lived there – and set about a renovation programme including the addition of a grand staircase, fireplaces and dado rails as well as a servants' wing to the north (much of which was demolished in the 1970s).

The first Earl's daughter, Almeria Carpenter, had been mistress to Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh[9] and her portrait by Angelica Kauffmann is displayed in the dining room.

[11] Talbot was the second son of Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury and inherited Kiplin Hall on condition that he legally change his surname to Carpenter, marry a Protestant and submit to a seven-yearly examination of his faith by a team of Anglican clergy.

He instructed the architect William Eden Nesfield to add a further floor to the Gothic-style drawing room and the space was converted to a Jacobean-style library.

His second wife, Beatrice de Grey, was prominent in the Arts and Crafts movement and the Hall contains some beautiful works by local craftsmen in this style.

[12] In 1937 Sarah Turnor shared ownership of the Hall with her first cousin, Bridget Elizabeth Talbot, daughter of the Admiral's youngest brother, Alfred.

[12] From 1937 until 1958 she tried to interest the National Trust in taking over Kiplin but it remained largely indifferent, considering the Hall of little historical significance and insisting that the north and south wings, which were later additions, would have to be demolished.

[13] In addition some of the rooms were converted to flats for officers’ use and it was used by men from the 1st Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment as a place to recover after being rescued at Dunkirk.

Specific programmes include Victorian Childhood, Portraits, Patterns and Materials, Nature Detectives and the Second World War – How children lived (KS2 only).

Lectures are presented each morning and students participate in afternoon field excursions that include historic, literary, landscape and architectural sites of interest.

[16] The University of South Carolina has a summer course (Hist 786) in England to "provide comparisons with U.S. theory and practice in archives administration, museum management, and historic preservation.

It offers behind-the-scenes tours of museums and historic sites, as well as meetings with curators, archivists, administrators, and government officials to discuss the practice of public history in the UK."