The Weston Room
We hold regular free exhibitions in the historic Weston Room at the Maughan Library, open to both King's staff and students and the wider public. Our exhibitions range widely in theme, drawing on the breadth and depth of our special collections and archives, and often also include items borrowed from other private or institutional collections.
Forthcoming exhibition: Enemies and Rascals
Curated by: Terence Gower & Artangel
Friday 3 July 2026 - Sunday 18 October 2026. For visitor information, including opening hours and how to make a booking, please see Artangel: Enemies and Rascals
Enemies and Rascals, a new polyphonic sound installation from Terence Gower, returns to a largely forgotten episode of North American history: the Invasion of Quebec during the American War of Independence.
Over the past three years, Gower has traced the scattered remains of this moment in public and university archives across Britain and North America, including The National Archives at Kew, King’s College London's Foyle Special Collections Library, and the New York Public Library. Drawing on extensive research, the artist interlaces multiple perspectives from the military campaign, while considering the limitations of the archive itself.
The work will be presented at the Original Cell in the Maughan Library, where the nation’s public records were formerly housed, including those relating to the governance of Britain’s colonies.
As visitors navigate between the metal and slate shelves of the Cell, they will hear accounts from congressional leaders and soldiers on the front line, proclamations by King George III, and transcripts of speeches by Indigenous leaders, asserting their own continuing sovereignty over the lands being contested by imperial and revolutionary forces.
The presentation is complemented by an exhibition of related rare books and historical documents from the period in the library’s Weston Room, curated by Gower with Katie Sambrook and colleagues at the Foyle Special Collections Library.
We digitise many of our exhibitions and also create online-only exhibitions. Please visit our online exhibitions website to explore them.
The Weston Room incorporates many features from the former Chapel of the Masters of the Rolls, including three 16th and 17th century funeral monuments.
One of these is a terracotta figure of Dr Yonge (Master of the Rolls and Dean of York, who died in 1516) which was sculpted by Pietro Torrigiano (1472-1528) who also created Henry VII’s tomb in Westminster Abbey and is said to have broken Michelangelo's nose in a tavern brawl.
There are also memorials to Richard Alington (who died in 1561, a brother-in-law of a Master) and Lord Bruce of Kinloss, a Master who died in 1616.
From 1902 until 1986 the rebuilt Chapel, now deconsecrated, provided a Museum for the Public Record Office. Stained-glass windows showing the armorial bearings of some of the 17th century Masters had been preserved, and more were added in 1899.
Restoration work for King's College London has revealed a fine mosaic flooring, probably laid in 1898.
A memorial to former staff members of the Public Record Office who died in the First World War is also sited in the room.