Hardwick (England)

...to consider a visit to Hardwick Hall.

Perched on the top of a hill between Chesterfield in North East Derbyshire and Mansfield in North Nottinghamshire this house can be seen from the M1 motorway. If you are travelling southbound between junctions 28 and 29 it can be seen in the distance to your left. Hardwick Hall was the family home of Elizabeth Hardwick, usually referred to as "Bess of Hardwick", who eventually became, ...
...Five hundred years ago Elizabeth Hardwick was the second richest woman in England, with a fortune surpassed only by that of Queen Elizabeth 1. With this incredible wealth came an enormous amount of power and two of her sons would become forbearers to the Dukes of Devonshire and the Dukes of Newcastle dynasties.

Elizabeth was born at Hardwick Old Hall, the ruins of which stand adjacent to the present house. She had her new house built ... more

If you have ever wondered what an old English country manor house looked like in its heyday then you might want to consider a visit to Hardwick Hall.

Perched on the top of a hill between Chesterfield in North East Derbyshire and Mansfield in North Nottinghamshire this house can be seen from the M1 motorway. If you are travelling southbound between junctions 28 and 29 it can be seen in the distance to your left. Hardwick Hall was the family home of Elizabeth Hardwick, usually referred to as "Bess of Hardwick", who eventually became, through marriage, the Countess of Shrewsbury. Hardwick Hall is now in the care of The National Trust.

Five hundred years ago Elizabeth Hardwick was the second richest woman in England, with a fortune surpassed only by that of Queen Elizabeth 1. With this incredible wealth came an enormous amount of power and two of her sons would become forbearers to the Dukes of Devonshire and the Dukes of Newcastle dynasties.

Elizabeth was born at Hardwick Old Hall, the ruins of which stand adjacent to the present house. She had her new house built for herself after she had amassed a personal wealth of over £60,000 - a phenomenal amount of money at that time. Through her first marriage at the age of just 12 she had inherited one third of the Barlow Estate in southern England. Through her second marriage she acquired the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire and further estates in the West Country from her third marriage, but it was her fourth marriage to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury that brought her the greatest wealth and made her a personal friend of Queen Elizabeth 1 herself.

It is not surprising giving her power and wealth that Hardwick Hall is a grand affair. It was built at a time when such houses no longer needed to be fortified like castles and no expense was spared. The phrase "Hardwick Hall - more glass than wall" was punned as a reference to its huge glass windows. This was at a time when glass was very expensive and considered to be a real luxury.

Robert Smythson, a leading architect at the time was drafted in. He had designed Longleat House and Wollaton Hall and was the most sought after architect of the day. Construction began in 1590 but it would take seven years to complete.

Today, Hardwick Hall is recognised as one of the finest Elizabethan houses in England and it is now cared for by the National Trust. The Old Hall, Bess's birthplace, is now in the care of English Heritage.

I visited Hardwick Hall on a recent National Heritage Open Day in September 2008 when all National Trust properties that normally have admission charges were free to enter. At normal times the admission charges are:

Adult - £9.50
Child - 4.75
Family tickets and group tickets are available.
National Trust members - free

The first thing that is noticeable about Hardwick Hall is that the driveway to the house is incredibly long. In fact it is over a mile from the entrance into the grounds and the car park at the house. The landscaped grounds around the house that you drive through are free to visit and there are several footpaths and trails that cut through them. As a child I came here quite a few times and I remember seeing herds of Fallow Deer with their distinctive white spots, which I called "Bambis". That was 30 years ago, but if you are lucky you might still catch a glimpse of one today. As far as I recall, I had never been inside the house before.

I was a little disappointed to discover that one end of the building was shrouded in scaffolding and looked somewhat ugly, but I then resigned myself to the fact that since this building is 500 years old it is perhaps inevitable that it is needs a bit of renovation.

The house didn't open until midday and we arrived about 10am so that gave us an opportunity to explore some of the grounds and also have a look at the Old Hall. Hardwick Hall itself is surrounded by a wonderful garden and orchard. There are statues made out of some of the shrubs which is a topiary lovers dream but personally I found the herb garden more fascinating. In the days of Bess this herb garden would have provided fresh food for the table and cut flowers for the house. The herb garden has been well maintained and there are placards informing the visitor of the plant names and their uses in 16th century England. It was evident that many of the plants were also grown for their medicinal properties.

To the rear of the house there is a lawn with extensive views towards the fields and woods. This is surrounded by a narrow ditch known as a ha-ha. Ha-ha's became common around such country houses because they not only kept deer and other wild animals from getting near to the house they also did not obstruct the view from the house as hedges or walls did. In the middle of the lawn there is a pond with water features and in front of the house there is a statue of Bess.

The architectural appearance of the house is very square and solid and the rear of the building is more or less a mirror image of the front. The large windows are an obvious feature as are carved turrets along the top of the roof, each of which bears the large letters "ES" (Elizabeth Shrewsbury) carved into the stonework.

On entering the house we were greeted by a very friendly lady who handed us a plan of the house and enquired if we had been before. When I said no she then explained the main areas of the house and suggested the best way to walk around so as not to miss anything. This involved starting on the ground floor at the far right hand side.

The first room that we entered contained various displays relating to the history of the house and the story of its creator. There was so much information packed into this relatively small room that had we taken the time to read every note, letter and placard on display then we would have been there most of the morning. Instead we scanned the items on display and just read the bits that seemed to be of greatest interest.

The next two rooms were both huge ballrooms. One of them had a balcony where an orchestra could perform and every bit of the ceilings in both rooms was ornately decorated. It was not explained why there were two different ballrooms but each was quite breathtaking.

The biggest wow however was reserved for the Long Gallery. As its name suggests this room is very long, more or less the full length of the house and it is where the majority of the paintings can be found. The majority of the paintings are oil paintings of family members but there are also several portraits of members of Royalty too, reaffirming Bess's connections with the most important Royals of the day. There was a portrait of Queen Elizabeth 1, looking uncannily similar to Beth (or vice versa) and another of Mary Queen of Scots, who Beth looked after at Chatsworth House during a period of her life when she was in exile.

Whilst the majority of the paintings are hung on the wall there are some that are so huge that they are simply stood on the floor on stands. Some of these are over two metres tall and I could not imagine what their monetary value would be.

In every room there are tapestries on the walls and this answered my questions why the rooms were so dark and dingy. With so many huge windows all around the house the natural daylight would have originally flooded into the rooms but because this daylight causes irreparable damage to the tapestries there are now curtains on all of the windows.

Bess was a very accomplished embroiderer as was Mary Queen of Scots and some of the tapestries on display are her own work. There is also a large tapestry that was a joint effort by the two of them that was created over a period of almost five years, during Mary's stay at Chatsworth.

Hardwick Hall contains the largest collection of 15th and 16th centuries on display anywhere in the world although some of the most valuable tapestries, including four known as the Chatsworth Hunting Tapestries are now at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

After we had fully explored the first floor we then headed off up a flight of stone stairs. One of the unusual features of this house is that each floor is higher than the one below. Another unusual feature is that the second floor is where the large stately rooms are to be found. This was possibly to show off the whole house to any guests who had to pass through the rest of the house to get to these rooms.

The upper floor is where all of the bedrooms are to be found. Most of these are fully furnished and much of the furniture is original. In 1601 Bess had a full inventory of the whole house prepared and this is one of the reasons how it is known that much of this furniture is original and was here at that time.

Every bedroom has a different style but is as grand as the next with four poster beds, drapes and plush cushions and upholstery. It seems that blue was a favourite colour and this is used in many of the rooms. There was nothing to advise the visitor which bedroom was which so I presumed (wrongly as it turned out) that the largest bedroom was Bess's. In fact when we asked the woman on the entrance as we left she told us that Bess's bedroom is only open on a few days of the year and that particular day is wasn't open. Apparently the furnishings are blue again but it isn't the largest room in the house it is one of the mid size ones. What it does have in its favour is a south westerly facing position and wonderful views.

When you leave the house the route takes you through the original kitchens, part of which has been converted into a café and restaurant and there is also a gift shop.

Overall I enjoyed my visit to Hardwick Hall but I am not sure that it is worth the standard admission charge which seems a bit steep. Having said that there is enough to do to spend a full day here (including exploring the grounds). I was also a little disappointed that Bess's bedroom was out of bounds but then again with free entry I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

Hardwick Hall
Doe Lea
North East Derbyshire
S44 5QJ
Telephone - (01246) 850430
Fax - (01246) 858424 

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