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

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

The 10th May 2026 is the 400th anniversary of a letter in the Middleton Manuscripts, which was written on 10th May 1626 by Dorothy Hastings née Willoughby to her sister, and owner of Middleton, Bridget Willoughby. Bridget was the eldest daughter of Sir Francis I Willoughby and Elizabeth Littleton and Dorothy was their second surviving daughter, according to the family history account of Cassandra Willoughby. In 1587, Dorothy married Sir Henry Hastings and her marriage dowry i