Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall (grid reference SK463637), in Derbyshire, is one of the most significant Elizabethan country houses in England. In common with architect Robert Smythson's

other works at both Longleat House and Wollaton Hall, Hardwick Hall is one of the earliest examples of the English interpretation of the Renaissance style of architecture, which came into fashion when it was no longer thought necessary to fortify one's home

Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

Hardwick Hall is situated on a hilltop between Chesterfield and Mansfield, overlooking the Derbyshire countryside. The house was

designed for Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury and ancestress of the Dukes of Devonshire, by Robert Smythson in the late 16th century

and remained in that family until it was handed over to HM Treasury in lieu of Estate Duty in 1956. The Treasury transferred the house to the

National Trust in 1959. As it was a secondary residence of the Dukes of Devonshire, whose main country house, Chatsworth House, was in

nearby Chatsworth, it was little altered over the centuries and indeed, from the early 19th century, its antique atmosphere was consciously

preserved.

Background Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

Hardwick is a conspicuous statement of the wealth and power of Bess of Hardwick, who was the richest woman in England after Queen Elizabeth I herself. It was one of the first English houses where

the great hall was built on an axis through the centre of the house rather than at right angles to the entrance. Each of the three main storeys is higher than the one below, and a grand, winding, stone

staircase leads up to a suite of state rooms on the second floor, which includes one of the largest long galleries in any English house and a little-altered, tapestry-hung great chamber with a spectacular plaster frieze of hunting scenes. The windows are exceptionally large and numerous for the 16th

century and were a powerful statement of wealth at a time when glass was a luxury, leading to the saying, "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall" (or, in another version, "more window than wall"). Sir Nikolaus Pevsner writes, "The little rhyme is: 'Hardwick Hall, more window than wall.' " [1] The Hall's

chimneys are built into the internal walls of the structure, to give more scope for huge windows without weakening the exterior walls. There is a large amount of fine tapestry and furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries. A remarkable feature of the house is that much of the present furniture and

other contents are listed in an inventory dating from 1601. Hardwick Hall contains a large collection of embroideries, mostly dating from the late 16th century,

many of which are listed in the 1601 inventory. Some of the needlework on display in the house incorporates Bess' monogram "ES", and may have been worked on by Bess herself.

Features

Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

Hawksmoor was born in Nottinghamshire in 1661, into a yeoman farming family, almost certainly in East Drayton or Ragnall, Nottinghamshire.[1] On his death he was to leave property at nearby Ragnall, Dunham and a house and land at Great Drayton. It is not known where he received his schooling, but it

was probably in more than basic literacy. George Vertue, whose family had property in Hawksmoor's part of Nottingham shire, wrote in 1731 that he was taken as a youth to act as clerk by 'Justice Mellust

in Yorkshire, where Mr Gouge senior did some fretwork ceilings afterwards Mr. Haukesmore [sic] came to London, became clerk to Sr. Christopher Wren & thence became an Architect'.[1]

Nicholas Hawksmoor Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

Wren who hearing of his 'early skill and genius' for architecture, took him as his clerk at about the age of 18. His early drawings in a sketch-book,

containing sketches and notes some dated 1680 and 1683, of buildings in Nottingham, Coventry, Warwick, Bath, Bristol, Oxford and

Northampton.[2] His somewhat amateur drawings, now in the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Collection, shows that he was still

learning the techniques of his new profession at the age of 22. His first official post was as Deputy Surveyor to Wren at the Winchester Palace from 1683 until February 1685.[1] Hawksmoor's signature appears on a

brickmaker's contract for Winchester Palace in November 1684.[2] Wren was paying him 2 shillings a day in 1685 as assistant in his office in

Whitehall.[2]

Life Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

From about 1684 to about 1700, Hawksmoor worked with Christopher Wren on projects including Chelsea Hospital, St. Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich Hospital. Thanks to Wren's influence as Surveyor-General, Hawksmoor was named Clerk of the Works at Kensington Palace (1689) and Deputy

Surveyor of Works at Greenwich (1705). In 1718, when Wren was superseded by the new, amateur Surveyor, William Benson, Hawksmoor was deprived of his double post to provide places for Benson's brother. "Poor Hawksmoor," wrote Vanbrugh in 1721. "What a Barbarous Age have his fine, ingenious

Parts fallen into. What wou'd Monsr: Colbert in France have given for such a man?"[3] Only in 1726 after William Benson's successor Hewett died, Hawksmoor was restored to secretaryship, though not the

Clerkship of the works - this post was given to Filtcroft. In 1696, Hawksmoor was appointed surveyor to the Commissioners of Sewers for Westminster, but was dismissed in 1700, ' having neglected' to attend

the Court several days last past'. He then worked for a time with Sir John Vanbrugh, helping him build Blenheim Palace for John Churchill,

1st Duke of Marlborough, where he took charge from 1705, after Vanbrugh's final break with the demanding Duchess of Marlborough, and Castle Howard for Charles Howard, later the 3rd Earl of Carlisle. In July 1721 John Vanbrugh made Hawksmoor his deputy as Comptroller of the Works. There is no doubt

that Hawksmoor brought to the brilliant amateur the professional grounding he had received from Wren, but it is also arguable that Wren's architectural development was from the persuasion of his formal pupil,

Hawksmoor.

Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15

Mo

ham

med

Bag

han

em 10

076

15