Inside Hardwick Hall

Following on from my previous post about the gardens at Hardwick, we'll take a look inside the Hall now. I didn't take many photos, many of the rooms are rather dark in order to preserve the exhibits inside. Things such as textiles and watercolours are light-sensitive and would deteriorate so light levels are carefully monitored.

Looking down from the gallery at the west end of the Great Hall. This gallery is the only link on the first floor between the two ends of the house.

Hardwick is famed for its tapestries, there's a huge collection hung in just about every room. They were mostly sourced and collected by Bess in the later part of the sixteenth century. Even the walls in the staircases are covered with them.

Bess used tapestries to show her wealth and status.

The Gideon Tapestries are hung in the Long Gallery. This room runs the whole length of the east side of the house and was used for entertaining guests and for taking exercise in the form of walking when the weather was bleak. The Gideon Tapestries are a set of thirteen Brussels tapestries which portray the Old Testament story of Gideon. They cost Bess £326 15s 9d in 1592 and it was the largest and most expensive purchase she made for the house.

The Best Bedchamber was the State Bedroom reserved for Bess's most important guests.

The curtains weren't drawn in this room, you can see that the windows allow plenty of light to enter.

My favourite areas of any large house are the servant's quarters and the kitchen. At Hardwick, the servants were housed in the Old Hall so there was nothing to see here but I did enjoy looking in the kitchen.

The kitchen lies below the level of the other rooms in the coldest part of the house on the north side. In Bess's time, cooking was carried out over huge open fires.

Such a stunning collection of copper pots and pans.

This is the earliest surviving cooking range in the kitchen. Each 'stove' was heated separately by burning charcoal in the grates beneath.

The room next door, still on the north side of the house, provided the perfect, cool conditions for making pastry products.

The ovens.

Through the window at the rear of the house, there's that view again.

Bess of Hardwick died on the 13th of February 1608 at Hardwick Hall. She was in her eighties. She's buried in Derby Cathedral. After her death, Hardwick Hall passed to her son, William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire. His great-grandson, William, was created 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694. The Devonshires preferred Chatsworth for their principal seat so Hardwick became a hunting retreat. During the Second World War, the army leased 53 acres of the estate to establish a camp where the 1st Parachute Brigade and later the 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions were formed. After the war it was turned into a Polish resettlement camp for allied soldiers. The last occupant of Hardwick Hall was Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire. Upon the death of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, it was decided to hand the house over to HM Treasury in lieu of Estate Duty. The Treasury handed the house over to the National Trust in 1959 but the Duchess remained in the house until her death in 1960.

If you get the chance to visit Hardwick I would highly recommend it. Bess of Hardwick was such an interesting woman in history and the property is fascinating.