This post, the seventeenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms called “The Dairy”, “The Chamber over the Dairy” and “The Cheese Chamber”. Normally, a dairy was a production room where milk was converted into cream, butter or cheese. It could also be a storage room where they were kept. Similarly, a dedicated cheese chamber could either be where the cheese was stored or made. Both of these ro

This post, the sixteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on the rooms titled as “The Bread Room” and “The Kitchen”. Of all the rooms listed in the inventory, the Kitchen contained the most items. A bread room was a specialist production room traditionally known as the bakehouse. This was where bread was made and baked. It was normally situated in a separate building or away from the main house due

This post, the fourteenth in the series detailing the rooms and contents of Middleton Hall as described in the 1676 inventory, focuses on one of the domestic production houses: “The Spinning House”. A dedicated spinning house was where raw fibres were spun into yarn. Spinning had been an activity undertaken on the Estate for centuries, but this inventory confirms that the activity was actually undertaken at the Hall itself. It is uncertain where the Spinning House was located

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.

One of the claims that has been made about Middleton Hall is that it was the longest continually inhabited domesticated building in Warwickshire. It was a continual residence from about 1220 to 1966. This can be claimed because, from the time of the initial construction of the Hall, there was a continual seamless inheritance or purchase of ownership. Furthermore, due to a period of shared ownership, even when one owner had their share confiscated, another still retained resid

The Georgian Renovation of Middleton Hall was one of two major renovations in its history that completely changed its appearance. It began in 1707 and was not completed until 1762. This Renovation was started by Thomas Willoughby, 1st Lord Middleton, but he could only begin it with the permission of his mother Emma (nee Barnard) because Middleton Hall was still her dower house at that time. Neither Emma nor Thomas nor even Thomas’ son, Francis Willoughby 2nd Lord Middleton, l