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

Anciently baron was a term given to the nobility but these barons were divided into two types. The first were the greater barons who held their lands by knight service directly from the king. The second were the lesser barons who were the lords of the manor. Despite being called it, the lesser barons could not use the term baron or lord as a title. The greater barons were offered the opportunity to attend the King’s Council, which evolved into Parliament and subsequently the

The 7th June 2025 is Butterfly Education and Awareness Day and, to mark this, we thought we would write about “Mr Ray’s Purple Streak Butterfly”. This was the English common name given by James Petiver in 1702 to the butterfly that is commonly known today as the Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus) . James Petiver was a friend and sometime assistant of John Ray. Petiver was subsequently described as “the father of British butterflies” as a result of his detailed work on the i

The 15th July 2025 marks the 350th anniversary of the death of an owner of Middleton Hall, Cassandra Ridgeway, the wife of Sir Francis II Willoughby. Cassandra was born in 1598 and was the daughter of Thomas Ridgeway, Treasurer of Ireland, Baron of Torrington and Earl of Londonderry, and Cicely MacWilliam, who had been a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I. Cassandra and Sir Francis were married in October 1610 at Rathfarnham Castle in South Dublin, Ireland. It was also writt

2025 is the 350th anniversary of the construction of a specific architectural feature at Middleton Hall: the brick corner fireplaces. We know that these were constructed in the year of 1675 because of the hearth taxes. This recorded that there were 26 hearths at Middleton Hall in 1674 and 30 in 1676. The difference was caused by the addition of the corner fireplaces. Corner fireplaces were first introduced and fashionable for a very short period in the late 17th century. The

The 26th September 2025 is European Day of Languages and we thought this a very opportune day to mark the 350th anniversary of the publication of John Ray’s Nomenclator Classicus or Dictionariolum Trilingue or, in English, Trilingual Dictionary. This was a comparative dictionary between English, Latin and Greek. John Ray developed this dictionary in order to teach Francis Willughby’s three children their languages and he first published it in 1675. At this time, the childre

The 16 th  October 2025 is the 300 th anniversary of the death of Emma Barnard who was an owner of Middleton Hall. She was the wife of Francis Willughby F.R.S. and she died on the 16 th October 1725.  Portrait of Emma Willoughby née Barnard. Courtesy of Lord Middleton. Emma was born about 1646 and was the younger daughter of Sir Henry Barnard, a Turkey merchant, and Emma Charlton. Francis Willughby, rather notoriously, could not be encouraged into marriage until his brother

Francis Willughby and John Ray undertook an experiment at Middleton Hall to discover how sap moved in trees. The results of this experiment were presented to the Royal Society in 1669. It is considered a revolutionary experiment because it was one of the earliest experiments ever undertaken to specifically investigate an aspect of plant physiology. Moreover, the result of their experiment spurred many others to also investigate aspects within this field. The idea to undertake

Francis Willughby and John Ray decided to undertake an experiment at Middleton Hall to determine whether oak trees would grow more successfully if they were grown directly from an acorn planted in the desired location instead of being moved as a sapling to the desired location. It is notoriously difficult to successfully replant an oak tree as a sapling and the basis for their theory was that they had observed that oak trees grew better where the acorns had fallen to the grou

It's National Tree Week! This year National Tree Week is the 22nd-30th November. It is organised by the National Tree Council and the aim is to get people involved in planting trees and appreciate the importance of trees to the environment. Its timing marks the start of the winter planting season, which is when the ground is most suitable for planting trees. Since the time that Middleton Hall Trust was established, we have regularly observed National Tree Weeks with tree plan