Middleton Hall Blog

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby for 1525 was dated as the 22nd October. It was described as a payment to the warden of Grey Friars in Lichfield on the commandment of Sir Henry Willoughby when Sir Henry had gone to pray in the town. The amount was 10 shillings and 8 pence, which was the equivalent of about £235.35 today. Grey Friars was the common name, as a result of the colour of the habit of the friars, for the Franciscan Friary in

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby for 1525 was dated as the 26th October. It was described as a payment to Lewis ap John for his costs to go to Wales. The amount was 3 shillings and 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £73.55 today and comparative at that time to 5 days wages for a skilled tradesman. This is the only entry that can be clearly attached to Lewis. Lewis ap John is a Welsh name, however, because John Lewissay, who wa

The Middleton Manuscripts contains a letter that bears the date the 28th October and, due to its contents, must have been written between 1575 and 1583 although its precise year is unknown. It was written by a man called Marmion to Sir Francis I Willoughby. Marmion, who at that time was the servant of Elizabeth (Bess of Hardwick), Countess of Shrewsbury, was writing of his desire to enter the service of Sir Francis. In this letter Marmion told Sir Francis of events in the Cou

The next two entries in the Middleton household accounts of 1525 were dated as the 26 th  November. They were described as Sir Henry Willoughby’s offering at William Slade’s wedding and Sir Henry’s reward to William Slade when William was married. The amount for the first was 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £7.35 today, and the amount for the second was two shillings, which was the equivalent of about £44.13 today.   There are others with the surname of Slade that

Another foreign species of tree that was introduced to Middleton Hall as a specimen tree about 150 years ago, during the tenancy of Hanbury Barclay, was the oriental thuja or Platycladus orientalis . This species is native to northern China and was first introduced to England in 1740. In China, some Taoist groups revered this tree and built temples around specimens of the tree in order to protect them from being cut down. This species, even as recently as the 19th century, wa

Amongst the foreign specimen trees that were introduced to Middleton Hall in about 1875, by the tenant Hanbury Barclay was the deodar cedar, or Cedrus deodara. Deodar cedar in the Glade at Middleton Hall, obscuring the view of the Conservatory, c.1890. The Revised English Landscape Garden Style was influenced heavily by the orient. This extended to the types of species introduced, with gardens of this Style embracing oriental plants. The deodar cedar is just one of these orie

During the tenancy of Hanbury Barclay at Middleton Hall the gardens of Middleton Hall embraced the Revised English Landscape Garden Style. His changes occurred about 1875, roughly 150 years ago. One feature of this Style was specimen trees. With certainty, it is known that three species of foreign trees had been introduced to the grounds of Middleton Hall as specimen trees before the end of the tenancy of Hanbury Barclay. This post focuses on the oldest of these three that we

Francis Willughby and John Ray undertook an experiment at Middleton Hall to discover how sap moved in trees. The results of this experiment were presented to the Royal Society in 1669. It is considered a revolutionary experiment because it was one of the earliest experiments ever undertaken to specifically investigate an aspect of plant physiology. Moreover, the result of their experiment spurred many others to also investigate aspects within this field. The idea to undertake

Francis Willughby and John Ray decided to undertake an experiment at Middleton Hall to determine whether oak trees would grow more successfully if they were grown directly from an acorn planted in the desired location instead of being moved as a sapling to the desired location. It is notoriously difficult to successfully replant an oak tree as a sapling and the basis for their theory was that they had observed that oak trees grew better where the acorns had fallen to the grou

It's National Tree Week! This year National Tree Week is the 22nd-30th November. It is organised by the National Tree Council and the aim is to get people involved in planting trees and appreciate the importance of trees to the environment. Its timing marks the start of the winter planting season, which is when the ground is most suitable for planting trees. Since the time that Middleton Hall Trust was established, we have regularly observed National Tree Weeks with tree plan

Middleton Hall Trust are very pleased to have recently received five previously unseen photographs, which were taken on a visit to Middleton Hall in 1982 by a representative of the CPRE. North view of Middleton Hall, 1982. Courtesy of Nicholas Moore. Inside the Great Hall at Middleton Hall, 1982. Courtesy of Nicholas Moore. The CPRE has a strong connection with Middleton Hall. In 1977, when the Tamworth Civic Society came across the derelict Middleton Hall, they approached th

The first entry in December in the Middleton household accounts of 1525 was undated except for the month. It was described as Sir Henry Willoughby’s payment towards the making of a chalice for St Nicholas’ Church at Wollaton, Nottinghamshire. The amount was 20 pence, which was the equivalent of about £36.77 today.   The most common definition of a chalice identifies it as a Christian religious ceremonial cup from which wine is drunk during services. However, technically a cha

One of the long-standing unknown facts for those of us researching the history of Middleton Hall has been the date of birth of Sir Hugh Willoughby, the famous Tudor Navigator. Suggestions for his date of birth have generally been somewhere in the range of from about 1495 to 1508. The determination of his birth year has been hindered because the date of the marriage between his father, Sir Henry Willoughby, and his third wife, Ellen Egerton, was also unknown. This had been est