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Hardwick Hall
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Hardwick Hall
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“Hardwick Hall in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside is often described as being built more of glass than anything else. It was built for Bess of Hardwick in the sixteenth century. She may even have worked alongside Robert Smythson, the architect, to design it. Beth, born Elizabeth, married her first husband aged just 15 - in an attempt to solve her family’s financial problems. Unfortunately her young husband died a year later leaving Bess without an inheritance, as he too was just a minor. Bess was employed by the mother of Lady Jane Grey, which was how she met her second husband – the rich Sir William Cavendish. He, too, proved short lived and died within 10 years. Bess remarried into the aristocracy but outlived her third husband as well. Her fourth and final marriage was to the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. It is believed that they fell out and she moved out of their marital home of Chatsworth to Hardwick Hall. She had the old building rebuilt using some of the funds she had accumulated (each of her husbands had been better off than the one before. The total fortune she inherited is evident in the size and grandness of the house. Three storeys high, each storey is taller than the one below. They are all adorned with vast, expensive, glass windows. The detailed furnishings, artwork and four storey-high façade of the house are complemented by the gardens and parkland which make up the exterior of the estate. ”
Doe Lea, Chesterfield, Derbyshire
S44 5QJ
Visit Website
17 Mar-28 Oct: Wed, Thur, Sat, Sun 12-4:30pm
Adult: £8.18
Child: £4.09
Family: £20.45
See more Historic Homes in East Midlands:
- Belton House
- Burghley House
- Calke Abbey
- Canons Ashby House
- Chastleton house
- Chatsworth House
- Elton Hall
- Eyam Hall
- Gunby Hall
- Haddon Hall
- Hardwick Hall
- Hardwick Old Hall
- Kedleston Hall
- Kirby Hall
- Lyddington Bede House
- Rushton Triangular Lodge
- Woolsthorpe Manor
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