Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent

"Finchcocks" is an English historical early Georgian-era manor house built in 1725 and located in Goudhurst, Kent. Between 1970 and 2016, the estate belonged to English pianist and renowned collector of early keyboard instruments, Richard Burnett (1932—2022) and his wife Katrina Eveline Burnett, née Hendrey (b. November 1937), housing the Finchcocks Living Museum of Music. Open to the public between 1976 and December 2015, Burnett's unique collection featured over 115 harpsichords, clavichords, early fortepianos, square pianos, organs, and other rare keyboard instruments and related ephemera. In 2012, Finchcocks earned the Best Musical Museum in England award. In 2015, when 83-year-old Burnett retired due to hearing loss, Richard and Katrina decided to sell the estate. The "Richard Burnett Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments" auction, co-hosted in May 2016 by Dreweatts and Bloomsbury Auctions, brought over £1,136,000 — donated to Burnett's Finchcocks Charity for Musical Education, an organization they established in 1984 to promote and strengthen early music education, both for performers and instrument-builders. The Burnett family relocated to a smaller private residence in Kent and retained 14 particularly valuable instruments, now known as the "Richard Burnett Heritage Collection." The current Finchcocks owners, a local entrepreneur Neil David Nichols (b. February 1979) and his wife, Harriet Catherine Nichols (b. July 1980), who purchased the estate for over $3 million in 2016, pledged to continue Burnett's musical aspirations and legacy; after renovations and restorations, the Finchcocks reopened to the public again, displaying the 14-piece Burnett's heritage collection (on loan from Katrina) and launched a piano school for children and adults. Notable instruments from ex-Richard Burnett's collection Fortepianos ♫ Gustaf & Wilhelm Andersson: ca.1890 barrel piano ♫ John Broadwood & Sons (13×): 1792–ca.1870 grand, square, upright, and cabinet upright models ♫ Muzio Clementi (10×): ca.1800–1825 grand, upright grand, square, and cabinet upright models ♫ Sébastien Érard: 1792 square piano ♫ Johann Fritz: ca.1815 grand piano ♫ Conrad Graf: ca.1820 and 1826 grand pianos ♫ Pleyel et Cie: ca.1840 upright and 1842 grand pianos ♫ Michael Rosenberger: ca.1800 grand piano ♫ Robert Stodart: 1787 grand piano ♫ Johann Baptist Streicher: 1867 grand piano ♫ Anton Walter und Sohn: ca.1800 square piano ♫ Johannes Zumpe with Gabriel Buntebart (1726—1794): 1769 square piano Organs 𝄞 John Byfield: 1766 chamber organ 𝄞 Longman & Broderip: ca.1790 barrel organ Harpsichords ♬ Joaquim José Antunes: 1785 single-manual ♬ Honofrio Guarracino: 1668 virginal ♬ Jakob Kirckman: 1756 double-manual ♪ Georg Friedrich Schmahl: 1807 fretted clavichord