Hardwick Old Hall

Hardwick Old Hall in North East Derbyshire was built by the redoubtable Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, or Bess of Hardwick as she is more often known, between 1587 and 1596.

 It is maintained by English Heritage and you can wander around the atmospheric ruins to your hearts content.

 I visited here some years ago but this time there was a new reception area, exhibition and shop and there did seem to be more of the building open to view than I remembered from my previous visits.

Open to view are apt words as everything is open to the outside world and the blue sky above.  Pigeons and swallows accompany you on your way around.

 On and on up the stairs as you head for the blue skies above.

 There are many of the Italianate plaster over mantles left

 Showing how grand and up to date for the time the old hall was.

 You can climb up the stairs right up to the fourth floor where the Hill Great Chamber was. Above was a lead roof with walkway where guests would walk to take in the views across the countryside.

 Before this hall was finished Bess had started to build another one close by, this time using architect Robert Smythson who was also architect of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.

 There is a myth that the old hall was abandoned in favour of the new one but it was in fact intended that each should complement the other and the older hall wasn't partly demolished until 1745. 

 

 The ruins were left and made part of the grounds and gardens when trees were planted within the ruins in the 1790s.  Given that this is the time for the fashion and appreciation of both the Gothic and the Picturesque movements you can see why this might have been done.

 

 The views from the top of the old hall across the countryside are amazing.  It's an area I know well as I grew up in a village no more than three miles away and we learnt at school about Hardwick Hall and Bess of Hardwick.

The countryside stretches for miles and you wouldn't know that the M1 motorway is down there somewhere.  You can see both Hardwick Halls and nearby Bolsover Castle from the motorway standing proud on their hills for all to see and be impressed by.

From the other sides you can look down over the stable block where the National Trust now have their administrative buildings, shops and cafe.  This had changed since our last visit as we remembered coming into the grounds from the opposite direction and showing our passes at a kiosk near the gate of the new hall.  The National Trust now own and maintain the new hall, gardens and grounds. 

When we were at school we also learnt the saying 'Hardwick Hall more Glass than Wall' and looking over from the ruins of the old hall to the new one you can see that this is true.  I'll take you to the new hall in another post.

Lincoln Castle

I've been meaning to write this post for ages and have only just got round to it.  At the end of April on our wedding anniversary (36 years) we decided to visit Lincoln and see what they had done to the Castle since our last visit many years ago.  We were grateful to Louise who very generously gave us her return tickets to both the castle and cathedral.  You may remember that I featured some photos of the cathedral in one of my Five on Friday posts.

We decided to visit the Castle first so after we had parked the car, which was surprisingly quite easy, we made our way to the entrance.  I hadn't been into the Castle grounds since the 1980s and early 1990s when a friend of ours was curator there and we used to meet up with her and her husband at the Christmas Market and eat in the Wig and Mitre just at the top of steep hill.

As it was still a bit chilly we decided to look around inside first.  The main part of the exhibitions are in the old Victorian Prison building.  The Magna Carta exhibition was fascinating especially the film in the little film theatre but no photos were allowed in there so I can't show you anything.  The staff were very friendly and helpful all the way round.  We went into the female (below) and then the male (above) sides of the prison.

Inside the cells were interpretations of what life would have been like for the prisoners and some of their individual stories were told.

The stories were told on information panels but also by interactive means

short films projected onto the cell walls

and computer touch screen graphics and information.  You can, if you wish, dress up as one of the prisoners or one of the staff.

 In the prison chapel the prisoners were kept separate so they couldn't communicate with each other

After our prison visit it was time to do what I'd most been looking forward to which was walk around the castle walls.  It had got a little warmer and the sun was out but the wind was quite brisk as we ascended the modern, spiral staircase to reach the walls.

 The views were amazing! 

 We spent ages just gazing and absorbing the atmosphere.  I was listening to one of their information tapes too as I walked around but kept pausing it to take in the views.

 As I said in my previous post I love all the 'higgldy piggldy' roof tops in this part of the city

 The walls are quite easy to walk around with numbered stopping point for the commentary.

More roofscapes, I love the tiles and chimney pots.

 The grassy area is where the early prison building was sited before the later one was built.

Halfway round and a view back to the observatory tower

In the distance is Ellis' Mill built in 1798 on the site of an earlier mill.  It is just behind the Museum of  Lincolnshire Life which I featured in an earlier post.

We made our way around the walls, finding interesting views both inside the walls and out.

On the left of the photo above is the 1820s Crown Court and former debtor's prison now the new Heritage skills centre

On the home stretch now - within the walls of the Lucy tower under the trees are the graves of prisoners who were hanged here - just marked by their initials. A bit spooky but quite sad too.

The back of the Victorian Prison

Up to the Observatory tower and right up to the top - this got to my knees a little and the wind was quite robust up here so we didn't stay long.

Back to the entrance and a look in the shop where Paul bought a lovely book on Medieval cookery which is fascinating.  The we decided to have lunch in the cafe just sandwiches and coffee but they were very tasty and well presented.

After lunch we set out to visit the Cathedral but that is another story.