G and I are currently on a short holiday staying in a cottage in Derbyshire. It's a lovely location, just outside of Chesterfield.
We're only here for a few days and the weather has been constantly grey and drizzly, so not much opportunity to explore the countryside sadly. BUT, no matter, it's a good excuse to do one of my favourite things! Explore stately homes and castles and whatnot.
On Tuesday we visited the beauuuuutiful Haddon Hall. It's a fascinating old place, and, because the family moved out in the 1700s to another house but maintained the place, it has escaped some of the 'modernising' of the Georgians and Victorians - so not as much marble and pillars as Chatsworth (which you may have seen as the residence of Mr Darcy in the film adaptation of P&P).
Anyhoop, here are some pics and a bit of info.
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| View from the river |
The hall has been around since the 11th century and was mentioned in Domesday Book in 1087. It looks like a castle, but isn't. There was a fortified wall built in 1194, permission granted by John Lackland (future King John) at the time (
an aside: you needed royal permission to build fortified walls otherwise you might just be seen to be planning your own little kingdom... reigning kings are a tad suspicious of that kind of thing - which is a bit ironic as John was definitely planning against his brother King Richard who was crusading most of the time). Like many ye olde houses, it's be extended numerous times.
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| Courtyard |
It was a fascinating place to walk around, with many uneven floors worn down over many years, and a huge open fire in the Hall, which they had lit that day.
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| Banqueting Hall - nice fire - it's definitely a bit chilly for July! |
The chapel is beautiful, it's Norman (around 1150) with later extensions. The walls are decorated with beautiful frescoes from about1425, that were damaged and covered during the reformation, and then discovered in 1858 underneath layers of whitewash.
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| You can just make out some of the fresco around the window |
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| This fresco shows St Christopher |
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| Entrance into Hall - you can see how worn the floor is |
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| Some beautiful tapestries - 15th - 17th century |
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| The Long Gallery |
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| I've made this one extra large so you can see the signatures |
Above the picture is of signed tiles above a fireplace - you can make out King George V who has put RI next to his name which is Rex Imperator, i.e. King-Emperor the last British Emperor, his wife Mary is on there twice. According to the volunteer we chatted to Mary was quite the collector and well known for taking what she wanted from houses she visited. So it was important to hide anything you really liked before she visited - this amused me a bit. You'll also see Alexandra - which I think is Princess Alexandra, Charles is on there twice - Prince of Wales at both times of visiting, and Princess Anne. Very random but interesting. Hey, nice of you to visit, can you sign my fireplace?
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| Nice little doorway shot there |
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| The gardens were lovely. Very fragrant! |
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| It's a beautiful spot |
So that's it for Haddon Hall.
Sarah x
4 comments:
Hello Sarah, just picked up your blog from Ang at Tracing Rainbows. When I got lonely or felt a bit down at uni (nearly 50 years ago) I would cheer myself up by visiting a China shop and admiring the £££££ dinner services. Haddon Hall was my favourite pattern. Your blog post suddenly reminded me of the shop and beautiful patterns so I was delighted to see your pictures of the real Haddon Hall.
Hi Kirsten, I had no idea that there was a Haddon Hall china pattern! I must look that up. Thanks for stopping by and commenting :)
Hello Sarah, so good to 'see' you again. I've never been to Haddon Hall but it looks a most interesting place. There are so many wonderful old houses around the UK, but somehow one never quite manages to see many of them.
Hi Elizabeth, so good to 'see' you too! I do love visiting stately homes and historical places.
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