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

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

The 23rd June is International Widows Day. This Day encourages the celebration of the strength of widows. It also aims to draw global attention to the problems that they face, such as poverty, social exclusion, abuse and discrimination in regard to inheritance rights. Furthermore, it seeks to create opportunities for widows to be able to support their themselves and their families. In the spirit of this, this post will highlight the numerous widows who had ownership of Middle

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

The Stone Building is the oldest surviving building at Middleton Hall and was constructed in about 1285. This structure replaced an earlier timber-framed structure on the same site, the foundations of which remain today. However, over the eras extra doorways were added and removed, not all of them obvious today. Stone Building at Middleton Hall, showing the west wall before restoration revealing location of four doorways (2 bricked up), 2007. Photograph taken by Audrey Bagby.

The 6th June is Butterfly Education and Awareness Day. To mark it, this post contains the description of the Old World Swallowtail butterfly from Historia Insectorum, which was published posthumously under the name of John Ray in 1710 but was based upon the research and work begun by Francis Willughby. Ray gave this butterfly a descriptive name of “Papilio alis amplissimis, flavicante & nigro coloribus pulcherrime variegatis, interioribus caudatis”, which translates as “A But

The 31st May 2026 is World Parrot Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will recount a tale of King Henry VIII’s parrot that was published in Ornithologia. In Ornithologia, in the general comments and observations about parrots, it was written that parrots not only imitated the human voice, but in wit exceeded all other birds. The evidence of this had been provided through examples in so many texts that