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The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated 12th November. It was described as a reward to a poor man of Aston who had made an ale. The amount was 20 pence, which was the equivalent of about £36.77 today. As described in a previous post, an ale was a feast centred around the drinking of ale to raise money through the sale of it. The Middleton Manuscripts suggest that this refers to Aston juxta Birmingham in Warwickshire. Often

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in November 1526 was described as the costs of John Lewissay and John Howard to go to Lenton Fair with 4 horses and staying there one se’n-night (week). The amount was 3 shillings 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £73.55 today. Lewissay and Howard were both servants of Sir Henry. Lenton Fair was established by a royal charter in 12th century during the reign of King Henry II. It was held at L

This post, the twenty-first and last in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the connecting areas specifically named as “The Hall”, “The Gallery”, “The Lobby” and “The Stair Head”. Despite only being connecting areas and passages, some were large enough to even be sub-divided into rooms in themselves. Although the inventory is a useful illustration of the household at Middleton Hall, because the house wa

This post, the twentieth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the larders. These were specifically named as “The Old Larder”, “The West Larder” and “The New Larder”. In the 1924 auction catalogue of Middleton Hall, there were still only three larders listed, but it is uncertain where these were. There was a suggestion that two may have been located in the small ground floor rooms created on the north a

This post, the nineteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the cellars, which were specifically called “The Coal Cellar” and the “The Old Cellar”. Cellars would have been situated in cool areas and, normally, underground. They were traditionally used to store wine and beer and it was only in the 17th century that they began to be used to store coal. The central courtyard, c.1984, showing two of the

This post, the eighteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms called “The Brewhouse”, “The Bottling House”, “The Buttery” and “The Chamber Over Against The Buttery”. These rooms cover the different stages of alcohol production and storage. Specifically, a brewhouse was where it was made, the bottling house was where it was transferred from its fermenting casks into the drinking barrels known

This post, the seventeenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms called “The Dairy”, “The Chamber over the Dairy” and “The Cheese Chamber”. Normally, a dairy was a production room where milk was converted into cream, butter or cheese. It could also be a storage room where they were kept. Similarly, a dedicated cheese chamber could either be where the cheese was stored or made. Both of these ro

This post, the sixteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms titled as “The Bread Room” and “The Kitchen”. Of all the rooms listed in the inventory, the Kitchen contained the most items. A bread room was a specialist production room traditionally known as the bakehouse. This was where bread was made and baked. It was normally situated in a separate building or away from the main house due

This post, the fifteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms involved in textile maintenance. They were called “The Washhouse”, “The Laundry Chamber” and “The Linen Chamber”. In medieval times the washhouse and laundry were the same room, but by the 17th century each of these rooms represented a different isolated stage: the wet Washhouse was where dirty textiles were washed; the dry Laundry

The next two entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were dated 3rd November and both related to wick yarn. The first was described as payment for 2 lea of wick yarn and the amount was 5 pence, which was the equivalent of about £9.19 today. The second was payment for the spinning of a lea of wick yarn and the amount was 1 penny, which was the equivalent of about £1.84 today. This pair of entries is interesting because it directly shows how

This post, the fourteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on one of the domestic production houses: “The Spinning House”. A dedicated spinning house was where raw fibres were spun into yarn. Spinning had been an activity undertaken on the Estate for centuries, but this inventory confirms that the activity was actually undertaken at the Hall itself. It is uncertain where the Spinning House was located

This post, the thirteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the entertaining rooms called “The Parlour” and “The Dining Room”. Before the 15th century, the great hall chamber had been where everyone within the household ate and was entertained. However, in the 15th century the parlour emerged. At that time, parlours were a private reception room, a place where a few guests would be entertained and a

"Ghost" in the doorway to the Stone Building at Middleton Hall, late 20th century. Courtesy of Philip and William de Hamel. For Halloween, this post will focus on the reported sightings of ghosts at Middleton Hall. The Hall has often played host to ghost-hunting nights and evenings. Understandably, most of these hunts have initially tended to focus on the older buildings of the Hall in the east wing. However, there has not really been a sighting of a ghost there, except for o

This post, the twelfth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms called “The Bailiff’s Chamber Hung With Painted Stuff” and the two “Maids’ Chambers”. As mentioned in the previous post on The Children’s Chamber, in this era, bedchambers were a multi-functional room, not simply for sleeping. Normally, they were located on the first floor. However, this was not necessarily true for servants’ rooms.

This post, the eleventh in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the room called “The Soldier’s Chamber”. There are three theories about the name of this room. The first theory is that it was named as a result of someone present in the household who was in the military, which may even have been many years before. What gave credence to this were the contents, which were above a basic level, and that the roo

This post, the tenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms named as “The Queen’s Chamber”, “The Best Chamber” and “The Small Chamber Between The Queen’s and The Best”. The Queen’s Chamber unquestionably relates to the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Middleton Hall in July 1575. In theory, it would have referred to what had been her chamber when she stayed at the Hall. As mentioned in the previou

This post, the ninth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms named as “Lady Barnard’s Chamber” and “The Old Lady’s Chamber”. Lady Barnard was the mother of the Emma Barnard who was the widow of Francis Willughby and had married Sir Josiah Child on 22nd August 1676. Emma’s parents were Sir Henry Barnard and Emma Charlton. It is unknown when Lady Barnard died but it is known that she was still ali

This post, the eighth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms named as “Frank’s Chamber”, “Chamber Over Against Frank’s Man’s” and two areas called “Space Before The Nursery”. There is no Frank’s Man’s Chamber nor any nurseries specifically listed in the inventory. Thus, this is confirmation that the list of rooms in the inventory was incomplete. Frank was Francis Willoughby, the eldest son of F

This post, the seventh in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the room named as Lady Child’s Chamber. This room can unquestionably be identified as the chamber of Emma Barnard, the widow of Francis Willughby FRS. She married Sir Josiah Child on 22nd August 1676. Thus, the name of this room conclusively dates the inventory to after that date. Interestingly, considering this inventory was made when the hou

This post, the sixth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms named as “The Master’s Chamber Hung” and “The Study to The Master’s Chamber”. The unanswerable question is whether this room had been occupied after the death of Francis Willughby in 1672, who was the last Master of the house, and the time of this inventory. As mentioned in the previous post on the Red Chamber and Old Study, in this e