Hardwick Hall and Hardwick Old Hall - visited 22th July 2024

This was the last big ol' house we visited on our holiday last week.

Hardwick Hall is an Elizabethan 'prodigy house', which is a large fancy Elizabethan or Jacobean English country house built to show off wealth or status with MASSIVE windows (and other features haha). It was built between 1590-1597. The story of Bess Hardwick whose house it was is fascinating. She was the second richest woman in England, second only to Elizabeth I and survived four husbands. Her last husband, the Earl of Shewsbury, was the keeper of Mary Queen of Scots who was essentially the prisoner of Elizabeth I. He ended up being her keeper for 15 years and it broke his health and finances and by extension broke down his relationship with Bess and probably killed him in the end. 

Hardwick Hall is a National Trust house and has been wonderfully preserved. It was used in the filming of Malfoy Manor in Harry Potter, except they added some turret roofs. They also filmed in the entrance Hall.

Malfoy Manor - you can see that a bit of CGI has created roofs on the turrets

Here's Bess - she looks very much like Elizabeth I

Hall looking toward the door

Hall looking away from the door

Muniments Chamber - documentation relating to land ownership, etc. Bess had a LOT of property

Mary Queen of Scots

Elizabeth I

Long Gallery

Thomas Cavendish and the ill fated Catherine of Aragon

Another Thomas Cavendish and the best husband ever (NOT) - Henry VIII

Cabinet thought to have been owned by Mary Queen of Scots - it smells of spices so they wondered if it was some kind of place to pray (i.e. the spice smell is incense) it opens up.

Detail on cabinet - the weird creature is a dolphin, obviously carved by someone who has never seen a dolphin haha, it looks like the Loch Ness Monster with false teeth

Embroidery panel by Mary Queen of Scots while in captivity under Bess's husband, the design is so interesting - you can see the thistles representing Scotland (Queen of Scotland), Lily of France (Queen of France) - there is also a caged cat in the top left corner with mice playing outside (a hint at 'while the cat's away the mice will play) and finally you see the Rose of England (a strong hint of her belief that she should be Queen of England too). It was all very bold for a captive Queen no wonder Queen Elizabeth was suspicious of her haha!

Withdrawing chamber

The Great Kitchen - some of these appliances are later additions, not Elizabethan as during that time cooking was done over open fires, they are 17th-19th Century.

Hardwick Old Hall

There is also the ruin of Hardwick Old Hall at the site. This is where Bess lived prior to building Hardwick Hall. It was a manor house when Bess was born in 1527 and extensions and extra floors were added over the years until it became quite a rabbit warren of rooms and floors.

It became a ruin as the stone was used to build Chatsworth House. The Duke of Devonshire is from the family of Bess Hardwick, as is King Charles III through his mother. Elizabeth II.

Well that's it for Hardwick Hall, I hope you enjoyed visiting with me!

Sarah x