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 binominal name of Corvus corax, by which name it is still known today. The Raven in Francis Willughby

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

The 21st April 2026 is World Curlew 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 Eurasian Curlew from Ornithologia. Willughby gave the common English name of this bird as the Curlew, but noted that the males were often called the Jack Curlew. He also provided an alternative name of Numenius sive Arquata. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus gave it the taxonomical binominal name o

The 20th April 2026 is International Cuckoo 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 Cuckoo in Ornithologia. Willughby knew this bird by the name of Cuckow or Cuculus. In 1758, Linnaeus gave it the taxonomical binominal name of Cuculus canorus, which remains its modern name. The Cuckoo in Francis Willughby's Ornithologia In Ornithologia, the Cuckoo’s leng

The 14th April 2026 is World Puffin 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 Atlantic Puffin from Ornithologia. In Francis Willughby’s time, the bird that is known as the Puffin today was not known as it in England. Confusingly, what was known as the Puffin in England in his time is today known as the Manx Shearwater. Ornithologia provides many British folk names

The 11th April 2026 is National Board Game Day and to mark this day we are providing details of a board game from Francis Willughby’s Book of Games: Nine Men’s Morris. This game has been played in England since the Middle Ages, but is believed to date back much further to at least the Roman Empire. It has always been an internationally played game. It had numerous other names in English such as merels, mills and ninepenny marl. The board consisted of three squares drawn insi

The chimneys of the Tudor Barn at Middleton Hall are an important visible remnant of the first stage of the construction of Middleton Hall on its current site. This construction phase began in about 1220, during the de Marmion period of ownership and shortly after their lands had been returned to them following the First Barons’ War. This construction phase is very obvious at Middleton Hall because it used a very specific red sandstone to create sandstone plinth foundations.

The 22nd–26th March 2026 is World Osprey Week. To mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Osprey provided in Ornithologia. The Osprey is particularly problematic in Ornithologia. The size and other characteristics of the Osprey caused significant problems for Willughby, Ray and other later naturalists because it was an intermediate species that did no

The 20th March 2026 is World Sparrow Day. To mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the House Sparrow provided in Ornithologia. World Sparrow Day aims to raise awareness of the declining population of the House Sparrow, which has declined by over 60% since the 1970s in the UK and has faced a similar decline worldwide in the same time period. The cause of

The 19th March 2026 is National Poultry Day. To mark this and the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on the various medicinal uses for chickens that were detailed in Ornithologia. It is known that Francis Willughby and John Ray prepared medicines using the stills in the Stone Building at Middleton Hall. PLEASE NOTE: none of the medicinal uses detailed in this post are advised today. However, a few do bear

The 18th March 2026 is World Eagle Day and to mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Golden Eagle provided in Ornithologia. Willughby wrote that the English countrymen called this bird simply the Eagle, without any epithet of distinction, as if it were the Eagle of Eagles. It came to England yearly to build its nest and breed, especially upon the hig

The 2nd February 2026 is World Ostrich Day and to mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on some of the description of the ostrich provided in Ornithologia. Francis Willughby and John Ray had actually seen an ostrich. They saw it on their European Tour, on 30th April 1663, when they were in Brussels, in what is today Belgium. They wrote that between Coudenberg Palace and Bruxelles Pa

The 17th January is World Waterfowl Day, the purpose of which is to raise public awareness, knowledge and interest in various species of waterfowl such as ducks, swans and geese. Therefore, in this post, we will be raising awareness of one species of waterfowl mentioned in Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia that is known today as the Mute Swan. In Ornithologia, Willughby called the Mute Swan the Tame Swan or Cygnus mansuetus . Furthermore, in his earlier Catalogue of English Bi

The 5th January is National Bird Day! Birds are a very important historic topic at Middleton Hall and in 2026 they are especially so because it is also the 350th anniversary of the first publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia. In 1672, John Ray made a deathbed promise to Francis Willughby to finish Willughby’s work on natural history. With the publication of Ornithologia (Ornithology), which he compiled whilst still at Middleton Hall, Ray fulfilled part of his promis

Recently a special two-part documentary series has been shown on Channel 5 called Ice Age: Apocalypse. One might wonder why this show might have any relevance to Middleton. Over the last few years, we have been researching the much wider history of Middleton and the Ice Age has managed to make repeated and often unexpected appearances. The oldest archaeological discovery at Middleton is a Palaeolithic Acheulian ovate hand axe, which is thought to date to over 200,000 years ag

There is a partial solar eclipse visible in the UK on 29th March 2025 at 10am. To mark this event, we thought we would do a post about when one of the residents of Middleton Hall studied a solar eclipse all the way back in 1666! Francis Willughby FRS, is most renowned for his interest in nature, in particular zoology, but he was also interested in astronomy. On 22nd June 1666, he officially scientifically monitored and recorded a solar eclipse for the Royal Society. The Royal

It is often said at Middleton Hall that you are a bona fide Middleton historian when you cannot go on holiday or watch a television programme without coming across a connection to Middleton’s history! Recently Channel 5 aired a two-part documentary series called “Volcano with Dara O’Briain”. One may think that there would be little chance of connecting volcanoes with Middleton’s history but in 1664 two residents of Middleton Hall, Francis Willughby and John Ray, happened to b

In our previous post to mark British Tomato Fortnight, we mentioned that historically the tomato was viewed as poisonous. At Middleton Hall, this then invites the question of what did our famous resident botanist John Ray say about the tomato in the 17th century? John Ray’s masterpiece, Historia Plantarum , contains multiple entries that would be considered as synonyms of the tomato today. One that is particularly interesting is in the appendix to Historia Plantarum volume 2

20th May 2025 is World Bee Day! Did you know that there is a species of bee named after one of Middleton Hall’s residents? In 1802, the species Megachile willughbiella was named in honour of Francis Willughby FRS. It is commonly known as Willughby’s leaf-cutting bee and Francis was the first person to describe it and its life-cycle. On 5th May 1670, at a meeting of the Royal Society, some specimens were shown of what was thought to be worms wrapped in leaves and lodged in se