The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated 2nd October. It was described as payment for 4 ells of cloth for smocks for Mistress Jane. The amount was 2 shillings 8 pence, which was the equivalent of about £58.84 today. The Mistress Jane referred to in this entry is Jane Harbottle, the widowed daughter of Sir Henry. An ell was an historic unit of measurement, particularly used in the fabric trade. The word ell comes from the Ol

The next five entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were dated 25th September. The first was described as Sir Henry’s offering at the rood of Nottingham and the amount was 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £7.35 today. The second was described as alms given at the same place and the amount was also 4 pence. The third was described as payment for 2 yards of fustian for a doublet for Master Catesby and the amount was 16 pence, whi

One of the key occupations within the domestic household was the cook. Over the centuries there have been innumerable cooks employed at Middleton Hall. The first documented cook at Middleton Hall was in the late 13th century and he was William, the cook of Philip de Marmion, 5th Baron Marmion of Tamworth. However, this post will focus on two specific cooks at Middleton Hall separated by over 300 years: William Darby; and Evelyn Dixon. In medieval and Tudor times, the occupat

Living under one roof, working long hours side by side, sharing mealtimes, bedrooms and even chamber pots, it is unsurprising that so many servants working in domestic service found a second family amongst their fellow servants. Many workers took jobs where they could find familial companionship in their workplace, which was a great source of comfort when miles from home. In some cases, however, servants found themselves working alongside their actual relatives and we have a

There have been many governesses at Middleton Hall over the centuries. This post will focus on one: Elizabeth Tilley. She is known to have been a governess at Middleton Hall during the early part of the tenancy of the de Hamels. Governesses in the Victorian era normally came from a middle-class background, were educated and unmarried. However, they would also lack the financial means to be able to live independently. Thus, this form of paid work was viewed as a way of providi

The servants that are most frequently recorded in the historic documents of Middleton Hall are the gentlemen servants, especially those that were the stewards or bailiffs. This post will focus on one of them, John Hall, who, for over a decade, was additionally in sole control of Middleton Hall. Although the steward was the chief of the servants, in Tudor times they were not generally considered to be a servant. This was because the steward ran the estate in the absence of t

The theme for Heritage Open Days in 2026 is “Everyday Histories”. This theme aims to draw attention to the daily working lives of our ancestors. For Heritage Open Day Week, from 11th to 20th September 2026, Middleton Hall Trust will run a series of blogs highlighting various “ordinary” workers from its long history. References to the people who worked on the Estate have survived from Middleton Hall’s earliest time, albeit they are extremely patchy. Most that are referred to,

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated 10th September. It was described as a reward to the officers of the Lady Abbess of Polesworth, when Sir Henry spent one night there on his way to the manor of Thomas Grey, 2nd Lord Marquess. The amount was 2 shillings 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £51.48 today. This entry in the Accounts reveals that the visit of the Marquess to Middleton Hall was part of a journey that

The 18th July to 2nd August 2026 is the Festival of British Archaeology. To mark this, this post will focus on another archaeological discovery at Middleton: The Middleton Jewel. On 10th September 2014, Colin Pearson, a metal detectorist, discovered the Middleton Jewel in a field near the crossroads at the entrance to Middleton Hall. It is an extraordinarily rare find with only a handful of this type of artefact having ever been found in Britain. The Middleton Jewel was subse

One of the more unusual industries to take place at Middleton Hall was the commercial production of water lilies. These water lilies were sold to hotels, such as The Savoy and The Ritz in London, who used them as table decorations. It is believed that this trade began in the Victorian era and continued for decades until just after the Second World War, when it became commercially unviable. Middleton Hall was most noted for its white water lilies. In fact, when Middleton was d

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

The 3rd June is World Bicycle Day. Middleton Hall has a surprising connection with the history of the bicycle. In 1896, Kathleen de Hamel, who was the eldest daughter of Egbert and Ernestine de Hamel, tenants of Middleton Hall, invented the bicycle flower basket when she was just 13 years old. As a result of her invention, she was featured in the cycling magazine The Wheelwoman on 19th December 1896. The Wheelwoman was a short-lived magazine that was published in the middle o

The first entry for June in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was undated. It was described as payment for half a yard of black cloth for bands for the gentlewomen’s kirtles. The amount was 6 pence, which was the equivalent of about £11.03 today. The kirtle was the main garment in a medieval woman’s wardrobe and remained popular through the Tudor era. However, by the 17th century, it only remained commonly worn by middle or lower-class women. T

In St John’s Church at Middleton is a 15th century memorial brass of Sir Richard Bingham and his wife Lady Margaret de Freville. This brass is unusual in two ways. Firstly, it is a double brass. These are not very common as the majority of medieval brasses are of single figures, especially amongst those that have survived. However, the second aspect makes the Bingham brass extremely uncommon and very intriguing. The representations of Richard and Margaret are in reversed posi

Middleton Hall Trust received an enquiry asking whether it was true that the residents of the Church Row Cottages in Middleton Village had been farm workers on the Middleton Estate, maybe circa 1840. The answer is complicated as, yes, they were often inhabited by farm workers who worked on the various farms around the Estate but they were also Estate woodsmen, an Estate carpenter, gardeners, servants, a shoemaker, washerwomen, Chelsea Pensioners and more. St John's Church,

The 15th April 2026 is World Art Day. A number of reproductions of paintings of the Willoughby family are on display at Middleton Hall. To mark World Art Day, this post will focus on the artistic history of two of these paintings. The original paintings of Sir Francis I Willoughby and his wife Elizabeth Littleton were commissioned on 13th September 1573. In the Middleton household accounts, it was recorded that Sir Francis paid 10 shillings (about £119.11 today) for his portr

The next three entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were undated except for the month. However, from their location in the accounts, it can be determined that their date was probably either the 2nd or 3rd of April. The amount for each of these individual entries was 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £7.35 today. The first entry was described as a reward to the young men of the town (Middleton village) that gathered for the chur

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was undated except for being in March. It was described as money paid to the wives of Slade and Robert James to cover their costs for watching with a prisoner that was hanged at “Basset Cross”. The amount was 3 shillings 10 pence, which was the equivalent of about £84.58 today. Both Slade and Robert James are known to have been servants and tenants of Sir Henry Willoughby at Middleton. The pla

The 8th March is International Women’s Day and the theme for 2026 is “Give to Gain”. This campaign theme aims to improve gender equality through generosity, collaboration and reciprocity via the sharing of resources, knowledge or time. In the spirit of this, a woman from Middleton Hall’s history stands out: Ernestine de Hamel (née Donovan). Ernestine was born on 20th July 1857 in Brighton, Sussex. She was the daughter of Alexander Donovan, Deputy Lieutenant, and Ellen Poulett

This post contains the next two entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526. The first entry was dated 8th January and was described as money to Mrs Mary Fitton, on the commandment of Sir Henry Willoughby. The amount was 6 shillings 8 pence, which was the equivalent of about £147.09 today. Mary Fitton was the daughter of Jane Harbottle née Willoughby and the granddaughter of Sir Henry Willoughby. The second entry was undated. It was described