Middleton Hall Blog

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 was the final entry under the heading of July but again did not have a specific date. It was described as the costs of Sir Henry Willoughby at Nottingham, staying there one night and a day with 16 persons. The amount was 13 shillings 3 pence, which was the equivalent of about £292.35 today. It is known that Sir Henry was in possession of a property in Nottingham. This explains why there are no

The 15th July 2025 marks the 350th anniversary of the death of an owner of Middleton Hall, Cassandra Ridgeway, the wife of Sir Francis II Willoughby. Cassandra was born in 1598 and was the daughter of Thomas Ridgeway, Treasurer of Ireland, Baron of Torrington and Earl of Londonderry, and Cicely MacWilliam, who had been a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I. Cassandra and Sir Francis were married in October 1610 at Rathfarnham Castle in South Dublin, Ireland. It was also writt

The 13th to the 28th July 2025 is the Festival of British Archaeology and what better time than this to do a post on an archaeological find at Middleton Hall! In 1977, an Iron Age torc, known as the Middleton Torc, was found at Middleton Hall in the area adjacent to the Tudor Barn. It was found by fieldwalking. A torc was a large metal neck-ring that was open at the front and could be made as a single piece or from multiple metal strands twisted together. The Middleton Torc

It’s National Moth Week 2025 (19th-27th July)! Sycamore Moth (Acronicta aceris) in the Large Walled Garden at Middleton Hall, 2010. Photograph taken by Harvey Skelcher. When John Ray was compiling Historia Insectorum , he wrote that he thought that he had managed to describe every variety of English butterfly, which actually he nearly had, but despaired because he thought he would never manage to describe all of the different species of moths. Small Fan-Footed Wave Moth (Idae

The 28th/29th July 2025 marks the 450th anniversary of the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Middleton Hall and the knighting of Sir Francis I Willoughby. Portrait of Sir Francis I Willoughby. Courtesy of Lord Middleton Francis Willoughby is likely to have been a reluctant host for the Queen. This is because he was definitely a reluctant knight. It was said that Queen Elizabeth thought that Francis should be knighted because he was one of the wealthiest, most landed and most infl

In every year of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, primarily over the summer, the Queen and her court went on a progress. During these progresses the Queen would visit various towns throughout England and she would stay in the homes of members of the aristocracy. At the end of July 1575, her progress took her to Middleton Hall, where she stayed for two days and a night. In this post, we are considering what the preparations for her visit would have involved. It is thought that Queen

The next entry in the Middleton accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 again concerned Sir Henry’s activities in relation to his commission from the King to quell the Lammas Day Rebellion in Coventry. This is the last reference to this event in our papers. The entry was dated the 14th August 1525 and it was described as Sir Henry’s costs for going to Coventry on that day with Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and for 140 of Sir Henry’s men that had accompanied him. It ad

On Sunday 13th August 1525, Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, Sir Henry Willoughby, Sir Edward Ferrers and Thomas Trye sent another letter to King Henry VIII in regard to their involvement in quelling the Coventry Lammas Day Rebellion of 1525. This also appears on the calendar of State Papers for King Henry VIII. This letter reveals that the Marquess, Henry, Edward and Thomas and their men had travelled from Astley Castle to Kenilworth Castle, a distance of about 12 miles

The next document that we know of that refers to Sir Henry Willoughby’s involvement in quelling the Coventry Lammas Day Rebellion of 1525 is a calendar entry in the State Papers of King Henry VIII. It concerns a letter, dated Saturday 12th August 1525 and was sent from Astley Castle, Warwickshire. This document confirms the information in the Middleton accounts entry from the 11th August that stated that Sir Henry stayed at Astley for two days. This letter was sent to King He

This post contains two entries from the Middleton accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525. The first of these concerned Sir Henry Willoughby’s activity in relation to his commission from King Henry VIII to quell the Lammas Day Rebellion in Coventry. This entry also correlates with the request in the letter by Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, for them to meet in response to receiving their commissions. However, the entry also provides information as to where and when they

The second document in the Middleton Manuscripts that concerns the Lammas Day Rebellion of 1525 in Coventry was a letter sent by Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, to Sir Henry Willoughby. Unfortunately, this letter is undated. However, its contents and later entries in the Middleton accounts and official documents mean that it was probably sent about the 8th August 1525. Thomas addresses the letter to his “loving cousin, Sir Henry Willoughby”. In the letter he informed Sir

The first document in the Middleton Manuscripts relating to the quelling of the Coventry Lammas Day Rebellion was dated the 6th August 1525. It was the commission sent by King Henry VIII to Sir Henry Willoughby instructing him to take part in repressing the riot. The following is a transcription of the letter (some words have been altered to modern English to help legibility): To our trusty and well-beloved servant Sir Henry Willoughby, knight. Trusty and well-beloved, we gre

On Lammas Day in 1525, a rebellion began in Coventry. Sir Henry Willoughby was one of the people sent by King Henry VIII to quell this rebellion. A number of documents relating to this, either in the form of letters in the Middleton Manuscripts or entries within the Middleton accounts, have survived. In a series of posts relating to this event, we will be highlighting these records, but first: What was the Coventry Lammas Day Rebellion of 1525? This rebellion was one of many

The 16th December 2025 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of the novelist Jane Austen, who was born on that day in 1775. Jane Austen had a connection to the Willoughby family of Middleton Hall and her knowledge of this connection is recognised as being evident in her novels. Memorial to Jane Austen in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey, 2022. Photograph by Maggie Jones, PD, via Wikimedia Commons . Emma Barnard was the wife of Francis Willughby FRS. Her sister Elizabeth marrie

The next entry in the Middleton accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 was described as a reward to my Lady Abbess of Polesworth’s maids when Mistress Alice was fetched home from Polesworth. This entry was dated as the 18th August and the amount was 16 pence, which was the equivalent of about £29.42 today. Mistress Alice was Sir Henry Willoughby’s youngest daughter. Polesworth Abbey often appears in our records. It had a long connection with Middleton, from the 12th century

The next entry in the Middleton accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 is one of the few remaining ones for this year that specifically refers to the activities of Sir Henry. This entry was dated as 22nd August and was described as being his costs to Feckenham Forest in Worcestershire and rewards to the keepers of the Forest. It added that he had gone there with “my lord prior” of Kenilworth and Sir Edward Ferrers. The amount was 34 shillings 6 pence, which was the equivale

John Peel, a merchant and MP, was tenant of Middleton Hall from 1854 until his death in 1872. The 18th August 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of his daughter Anne, who died on that date in 1875 in an accident that was reported extensively in all the newspapers of the time. Two memorial items were created for Anne and both of these are located at Middleton. John’s eldest daughter, Louisa, had married Edward Stanley Heywood. In August 1875, they, along with two of

2025 is the 350th anniversary of the construction of a specific architectural feature at Middleton Hall: the brick corner fireplaces. We know that these were constructed in the year of 1675 because of the hearth taxes. This recorded that there were 26 hearths at Middleton Hall in 1674 and 30 in 1676. The difference was caused by the addition of the corner fireplaces. Corner fireplaces were first introduced and fashionable for a very short period in the late 17th century. The

The 26th September 2025 is European Day of Languages and we thought this a very opportune day to mark the 350th anniversary of the publication of John Ray’s Nomenclator Classicus or Dictionariolum Trilingue or, in English, Trilingual Dictionary. This was a comparative dictionary between English, Latin and Greek. John Ray developed this dictionary in order to teach Francis Willughby’s three children their languages and he first published it in 1675. At this time, the childre

2025 is, roughly, the 300th anniversary of the Georgian Renovation of the John Ray Building, which is believed to have taken place in about 1725. A large amount of the form of the John Ray Building today is the result of this Renovation. Before this Renovation, the John Ray Building, which had been constructed in 1647, was a typical box timber-frame structure with a gable roof. Afterwards, it did not essentially have either of these. At the time of its first construction, a l