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

This post, the fifth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms named as “The Red Chamber” and “The Old Study”. Both of these rooms were mentioned in the previous post on The Chapel, having been entered on the inventory list either side of “The Space Into The Chapel”. As a result, it is thought that these rooms may have been situated close to where the 1391 Chapel was located on the north side of M

This post, the fourth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the “The Chapel” and “The Space Into The Chapel”. Although these areas are named with what should have been an easily identifiable title, there is a considerable lack of certainty over their precise locations. Today, it is known that Middleton Hall only ever contained one private chapel, which was located centrally on the north side of the Hall

This post, the third in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the room identified as “The Garret”. At this time, Middleton Hall had only one building with a garret. Today, it would be referred to as the attic of the John Ray Building. When the John Ray Building was constructed in 1647, it included a new architectural feature that had only been introduced to England in the mid-17th century. This was the cre

The 17th October is the International Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This day aims to raise awareness of protecting “living heritage”, specifically aspects such as: oral traditions and stories; traditional proverbs and sayings; social practices; rituals; performing arts; and traditional crafts. In the spirit of this Day, this post will focus on some of John Ray’s proverbs. In 1670, whilst he was living at Middleton Hall, John Ray published the first edition of A Collect

This post, the second in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the three rooms named as “Mr Ray’s Chamber”, “Mr Ray’s Study” and “The Room Betwixt Mr Ray’s and The Still Chamber”. These are the only rooms that specifically mention John Ray by name. The fact that he is named is one of the reasons that the inventory is believed to date from about 1676, which was when he left Middleton Hall. John Ray resided

Over the centuries, many inventories of Middleton Hall have been conducted. These were normally taken upon the death of an owner. One inventory, although being undated, is believed to date to just after Emma, the widow of Francis Willughby, married Sir Josiah Child on 22nd August 1676. It was unquestionably taken before 1687, which was when a further inventory was taken upon the clearance of certain items from Middleton Hall by Francis and Emma’s children. The inventory would

The Stone Building is the oldest surviving structure at Middleton Hall. Documentary evidence and architectural features date this structure to between 1247 and 1285. One of its most noted original features is its barrel-vaulted roof and many of the roof’s timbers have been identified as 13th century. Given the structural alterations that occurred at Middleton Hall over the centuries, it is fair to describe its survival as miraculous. The 5th October 2026 is World Architecture

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 22nd August 2026 is the 350th anniversary of the marriage of Emma Barnard, the widow of Francis Willughby, to Sir Josiah Child. She was his third wife. This was a key point in the history of Middleton Hall, because afterwards, as a direct result of this marriage, Middleton Hall was never again the primary residence of the Willoughby family. In a previous post, we explained that Emma’s father had arranged this marriage with the aim of securing the finances of the Willoughb

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

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 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

The 25th July is World Drowning Prevention Day. This awareness day seemed an opportune time to tell the cautionary tale of a knight who drowned in the moat at Middleton Hall and illustrates the necessity of learning about S.A.F.E. (Stay Away From the Edge), as the Canal & River Trust advises. The moat at Middleton Hall is deceptive because it is very deep. Middleton Hall Trust excavated it to a depth of more than three metres without reaching the bottom. In the 16th century,

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