The 30th September is National Sporting Heritage Day and one of the aims of this day is to highlight the importance of archival records of sports. The definition of a sport is “any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules”, and this is what distinguishes a sport from a game. Francis Willughby made a similar distinction between “games of exercise” and “games of wit”, stating that the word game was most properly used for card, table and

The 26th September is European Day of Languages and, to mark this, this blog will give a brief history of Middleton Hall in Welsh. Welsh is an important language in the history of Middleton Hall. For centuries, the Willoughby family were Welsh speakers due to their business interactions with the Welsh. Many of their servants were also native Welsh speakers and, as a result, Welsh words are present throughout the Middleton Manuscripts. Furthermore, it is known that Francis Wil

The 16th September is Plover Appreciation Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the European Golden Plover in Ornithologia. Willughby’s description of the plumage is now known to be accurate for this species in its winter non-breeding plumage. Willughby knew this species by the name of the Green Plover or Pluvialis viridis. He also noted that it was known as Parda

John Ray is one of the most famous residents of Middleton Hall, but his origins were humble and he rose through the social and reputational strata due to opportunities provided by his occupation. This post will focus on the nature and some of the challenges of being a parson-academic in the 17th century that Ray faced. John Ray was born on 29th November 1627 in Black Notley in Essex. His father was the village blacksmith and his mother was the village herbalist. In that era,

The 5th September 2026 is International Vulture Awareness Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of a Griffon Vulture provided in Ornithologia. In 1663, Francis Willughby, John Ray, Philip Skippon and Nathaniel Bacon began their scientific European Tour in which they visited numerous European countries and documented their experiences and observations. They wrote that

The 15th August is British Bird of Prey Day. To mark this day, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Honey Buzzard in Ornithologia. Willughby was the first person in the world to identify the Honey Buzzard as a distinct species. Willughby commented that, in size, it was equal to or exceeded the Common Buzzard and it was also very like it in the shape of its body, just somewhat l

The 4th August is Owl Awareness Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the descriptions of the Tawny Owl in Ornithologia. Ornithologia had two entries and multiple names for the Tawny Owl, which is known today by the official binomial name of Strix aluco. The first entry was called the Common Brown Owl, Ivy Owl, Screech Owl or Strix. The second was called the Grey Owl or Strix cinere

In July 2026, a record-breaking 36-year-old Avocet, which had originally been ringed as a chick in Norfolk in 1990, was identified at RSPB Middleton Lakes. The Avocet is included within Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia and this post will focus on part of his description. Willughby commented that he had seen many Avocets at Rome and Venice during the European Tour he went on with John Ray, Philip Skippon and Nathaniel Bacon. He also noted that this species often frequented the

The 27th June to 5th July 2026 is Swift Awareness Week. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post focuses on part of the description of the Common Swift in Ornithologia. Willughby knew this bird by the name of not only the Swift but also the Black Martin and Hirundo apus. The latter name was also the official binomial name given to it by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. However, this was changed to Apus apus following the

The 27th June is International Guillemot Appreciation Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post focuses on the description in Ornithologia of the Common Guillemot. In Ornithologia, Willughby provided various local names for this species. He noted that the Welsh and the Manx called it a Guillem. Those in Northumberland and Durham called it a Guillemot or Seahen. Around Scarborough in Yorkshire it was called a Skout and, final

Football is one of the games included in Francis Willughby’s Book of Games. However, the version he described has some notable differences to the modern game. Hence, this post will aim to place his description in its historical context, which was in the era when the game transitioned from an unstructured “mob” version to a more defined, albeit still violent, version with rules. One of the earliest known references to football was by William FitzStephen in 1174 who described

The 13th June is International Pigeon Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post focuses on the impact of what the inclusion of numerous fancy pigeon breeds in Ornithologia had. Ornithologia provided information on what Willughby identified as 17 different breeds of fancy pigeons including breeds known today as Runts, Pouters, Fantails, Carriers, Turbits, Barbs, Ringbeaters and Tumblers. What he described wer

The 11th June is International Day of Play. This awareness day was established by the United Nations. It recognises, and attempts to promote and protect, children’s right to play and the essential ability of play to develop cognitive skills, physical skills, social skills and well-being. Francis Willughby’s Book of Games contains numerous games identified as children’s games, some even written in his manuscript by the hand of a child. In this post, the focus will be on part o

St John’s Church in Middleton village contains a number of significant memorials and burials that relate to the owners and residents of Middleton Hall. The oldest of these memorials is the brass effigies on the floor of the chancel for Sir Richard Bingham, Justice of the King’s Bench, who died on 22nd May 1476, and his wife Margaret (de Freville/Willoughby), who died on 8th January 1492/3. Margaret had inherited the Middleton Estate from her brother. Brass of Sir Richard Bing

The 20th May 2026 is World Bee Day. To mark it, this post will focus on the description of the Western Honey Bee provided in Historia Insectorum, which was written in Latin. That book was published posthumously in 1710 by the Royal Society under the name of John Ray but it was based on the observations and notes of Francis Willughby. What is commonly known today as the Western Honey Bee was called the Common Honey Bee or Apis domestica seu vulgaris alvearium by Ray and Willug

On 31st August 1994, the school in Middleton village, what was at that time called Middleton First School, closed. It is now known as The Old School House Day Nursery and is a childcare facility. The school was located on Church Lane, directly adjacent to the west of St John’s Church, and it had a very long connection with the owners of Middleton Hall. The school was historically part of the Middleton Estate and the property of the owners of the manor. In 1924, when the Estat

In the Domesday Book of 1086, it was recorded that a church was present at Middleton. However, the Church present today is believed to have been initially constructed in the 12th century. This was when the Middleton Estate was in the possession of the de Marmion family. They additionally had the advowson of St John’s Church at Middleton. An advowson enabled someone to propose who would hold the ecclesiastical position at a specific church. Advowsons recognised the role of the

The 27th April 2026 is International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Common Raven in Ornithologia. Willughby gave its common English name as the Raven and also knew it as Corvus. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus gave it the taxonomical binomial name of Corvus corax, by which name it is still known today. The Raven in Francis Willughby'

The next two entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were dated 26th April. The first was described as Sir Henry’s reward for the christening of the child of “Corssor” and the amount was 12 pence, which was the equivalent of about £22.06 today. It is unknown who Corssor was and no other mention of him has been found. The second entry was a reward to a friar from Coventry that brought aqua vitae to Middleton Hall and the amount was 20 pence

The 25th April 2026 is World Penguin Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of a description of a penguin in Ornithologia. The species in Ornithologia that actually bore the name penguin was the now extinct species known today as the Great Auk. The Great Auk is considered by many as the “original penguin”. When Western seamen visited the Southern Hemisphere and came across birds with a