It is suggested that the bed was made to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII to Elizabeth of York on 18 January 1486.

In 2010 the Redland House Hotel underwent redevelopment and the bed was at risk of being thrown away but it was spotted by an antique dealer who suggested selling it at auction.

[2][3] When Coulson finally got to examine the bed when it was delivered to his studio a few weeks after the sale he was immediately struck by the age of the wood, noting the degree of oxidisation, shrinkage, the damage caused by extensive woodworm infestation, that the carvings had been made by hand rather than by machine – all of which suggested to him that this was a bed of a considerable age.

A more detailed examination, which involved the opening of joints and the identification of later repairs, revealed evidence of medieval construction techniques, markings - clues to the original appearance and configuration of the bed.

[4] The analysis of DNA extracted from several separate parts of the bed clearly demonstrated that the wood was a species of oak native to Continental Europe (probably the Baltic Region).

DNA tests of the wood proved that it all came from a single continental European oak tree, of a type known to have been imported by the English royal family for their beds.

[5] Dendrochronology protocols decree that trees exhibiting signs of this type of infestation and deformation are excluded from the tree-ring dating database.

A match was found with a tree felled sometime after 1756 in north-eastern US but as the DNA analysis had confirmed that it was made from European oak these findings are problematic.

[11] All of the research carried out on the bed was presented at a one-day symposium at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, January 2019.

Foyle, who carried out research on the bed, described it as "one of the most significant artefacts of early Tudor history" and "the most important piece of furniture in England".

[13][2] It has been suggested that the bed was designed and built to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII to Elizabeth of York on 18 January 1486.

[1][15] It then vanishes from the historic record, surviving the wide-scale destruction of Royal furniture during the English Civil War, before reappearing in 1842 when copies of it were made but its true significance remained unknown.

[13] It is a four-poster bed with each of the posts topped with a carved lion (one of which has lost his tail) each of which holds a shield emblazoned with a rose.

[18][15][14] The bed is decorated with symbology to support Henry's claim to the throne and the connection between the king and the state as well as religious and fertility symbols.

Shaw is believed to have kept the front crest of the bed but the remainder ended up at the Redland House Hotel in Chester.