In the 15th century, the Willoughby family began to collect books, manuscripts and documents. This formed the Willoughby Library. The family prized these books, even mentioning them in their wills. Over the generations, the family accumulated numerous valuable medieval texts, manuscripts, leaflets, documents, newspapers and books on a very wide range of subjects from the classics to language, religion, romance, plays, art, history, law, travel, foreign countries, medicine, na

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