Middleton Hall Blog

This post contains the next two entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526. The first entry was dated 8th January and was described as money to Mrs Mary Fitton, on the commandment of Sir Henry Willoughby. The amount was 6 shillings 8 pence, which was the equivalent of about £147.09 today. Mary Fitton was the daughter of Jane Harbottle née Willoughby and the granddaughter of Sir Henry Willoughby. The second entry was undated. It was described

The 5th January is National Bird Day! Birds are a very important historic topic at Middleton Hall and in 2026 they are especially so because it is also the 350th anniversary of the first publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia. In 1672, John Ray made a deathbed promise to Francis Willughby to finish Willughby’s work on natural history. With the publication of Ornithologia (Ornithology), which he compiled whilst still at Middleton Hall, Ray fulfilled part of his promis

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated as the 4th January. It was again described as money to Sir Henry Willoughby for him to play cards. The amount was 19 pence, which was the equivalent of about £34.93 today. In the previous post, we explained the origins of card playing and the nature of the deck in Tudor times. However, what type of games were played? It is known that popular card games played in the Tudor era include

Happy New Year to everyone! Welcome to another year of snapshots into the life of Sir Henry Willoughby and those at Middleton Hall through his household accounts. The 1526 accounts that have survived are more extensive than those of 1525 because not only have parts of the general household book survived but also extracts from the books covering food purchases and other Estate activities too. This is the last complete year of accounts from the lifetime of Sir Henry Willoughby

The next three entries in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby for 1525 were dated as the 31st December. All three relate to the festivities held at Middleton Hall on New Year’s Eve. The first entry was described as a reward to the players of Upper Broughton, Nottinghamshire. They received 2 shillings, which was the equivalent of about £44.13 today. The second entry was described as a reward to a player that had come from Lichfield. It was for 16 pence, wh

The next two entries in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby for 1525 were both dated as the 28th December. The first was described as a reward to the child bishop of Lichfield. It was for 6 shillings 8 pence, which was the equivalent of about £147.09 today. The second entry was described as a reward to the bishop’s servants and the amount for this was 20 pence, which was the equivalent of about £36.77 today. These entries refer to a popular English mediev

29th January 2025 is the start of the new lunar year and this year is the year of the wood snake. In Chinese astrology an animal is paired with a natural element and the last time the year of the wood snake occurred was 60 years ago. In Chinese culture the snake can represent wisdom and agility and when combined with wood it can also emphasise growth and creativity. Therefore, we thought this an opportune time to talk about snakes at Middleton Hall. The Nature Trail at Middle

The short answer to this question is no. In fact, many historical surveyors have commented on how they have given up trying to fathom why a lot of things were done in the manner they were during the Georgian Renovation of Middleton Hall! The current front door has been in that location since the last phase of the Georgian Renovation, c.1759. Before that time, that location was actually part of the north wall of the 16th century first floor external Gallery Corridor. In the ea

Recently a special two-part documentary series has been shown on Channel 5 called Ice Age: Apocalypse. One might wonder why this show might have any relevance to Middleton. Over the last few years, we have been researching the much wider history of Middleton and the Ice Age has managed to make repeated and often unexpected appearances. The oldest archaeological discovery at Middleton is a Palaeolithic Acheulian ovate hand axe, which is thought to date to over 200,000 years ag

From the time of Francis Willughby FRS in the 17th century to the modern day, the study of birds has been an important activity at Middleton Hall. In 1975, 50 years ago this year, the area around Middleton Pool was registered by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) as a significant habitat for birds. This was two years after it had also been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. At the time that it was registered it was stated that, in the vicinity of Middle

500 years ago … 1525. King Henry VIII is on the throne and his wife is still Queen Catherine of Aragon. Middleton Hall is owned by Sir Henry Willoughby and it was his principal residence. Sir Henry had been a highly skilled soldier and had been a Knight of the Body to not only King Henry VII but also King Henry VIII. However, Sir Henry was now about 74 years old. In 1911, the Manuscripts Commission published a report providing information on a number of the personal papers be

The next entry for the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 was for the 10th February. This was described as a reward paid to a minstrel of the Lord of Derby. The minstrel was paid 12 pence. This was the equivalent of about £22.06 today and at that time was the equivalent, at that time, of a day’s wage for a skilled tradesman. The Lord of Derby referenced in this entry would have been Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby. For centuries, the Earls of Derby

For this entry in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby from 1525, we get to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day a day early! This entry was described as a reward to my Master’s valentine for Saint Valentine’s Day and was dated 13th February. His gift to his valentine was 4 pence, which is the equivalent of about £7.35 today. Sir Henry Willoughby was married four times. His first wife was Margaret, the daughter of Sir Robert Markham, and she died about 1

Middleton Hall’s continually evolving form is one of its unique architectural characteristics and a large part of the form that it has today is due to John Averill’s Renovation. This Renovation began soon after John Averill, a farmer and industrialist, and his family took up residence at Middleton Hall. Although John had purchased Middleton Hall at auction in December 1924, the purchase did not immediately evict the existing tenant and thus John did not take up immediate resi

On 23rd March 1375, Sir Baldwin II de Freville died. To mark the 650th anniversary of his passing, we thought it was an opportune time to tell a brief history of this former owner of Middleton Hall. Baldwin II was born on 15th August 1317 at Tamworth Castle and was the son of Sir Baldwin I de Freville and Elizabeth de Montfort. After his father’s death in 1343, Baldwin II inherited a third of Middleton. This was during the long and very complicated period of Middleton’s owner

Hanbury Barclay was the tenant of Middleton Hall from 1872 to 1880. During his brief tenancy he made a number of alterations to the grounds of Middleton Hall, many of which are still visible today. Unfortunately, we have no precise date for when he made these alterations and so Middleton Hall Trust has given them the rough date of about 1875. Therefore, to mark the “rough” 150th anniversary, in 2025 we are writing a series of posts to highlight his alterations. Very rarely th

In the Tamworth Herald, on 14th March 1925, it was advertised that an auction was to be held at Middleton Hall on the 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th of March 1925 at the instructions of the executors of the late Egbert de Hamel. The sale was to begin at 11am each day and it added that refreshments were provided. The auction was to include all of the household furniture and, specifically, the contents of the entrance hall, banqueting hall, dining and drawing rooms, library, billiar

There is a partial solar eclipse visible in the UK on 29th March 2025 at 10am. To mark this event, we thought we would do a post about when one of the residents of Middleton Hall studied a solar eclipse all the way back in 1666! Francis Willughby FRS, is most renowned for his interest in nature, in particular zoology, but he was also interested in astronomy. On 22nd June 1666, he officially scientifically monitored and recorded a solar eclipse for the Royal Society. The Royal

One of the claims that has been made about Middleton Hall is that it was the longest continually inhabited domesticated building in Warwickshire. It was a continual residence from about 1220 to 1966. This can be claimed because, from the time of the initial construction of the Hall, there was a continual seamless inheritance or purchase of ownership. Furthermore, due to a period of shared ownership, even when one owner had their share confiscated, another still retained resid

The fourth entry in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 was only dated as March although, due to a date given for the next entry, we know that it must have been before the 29th March. This entry was the payment of a reward by Sir Henry Willoughby at the christening of Robert Jelliff’s child. The amount was 20 pence, which is the equivalent of about £36.77 today. Records indicate that Sir Henry often gave money at the christenings of family members