Source B is an inventory list showing that the two bedroom chambers were originally called the ‘Quines’ (Queens) chamber and the ‘Prynces’ (Princes) chamber.
This is a helpful piece of evidence to prove that Wollaton hall was intended to attract a visit from the Queen and her husband, the Prince, if she ever married. The inventory list is dated – 1609. Wollaton hall roughly taken, eight to ten years to build and as Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, construction of Wollaton hall must have been completed during Elizabeth’s lifetime.
Source A is a dated list of the members of Wollaton hall in 1598.
As we know, Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, therefore Wollaton hall must have been built and completed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Wollaton hall was intentionally constructed to be an attractive house in which Sir Francis Willoughby could live in, in style and comfort. England was now a peaceful country – no more wars! Nobles did not need to spend their wealth on building and maintaining dark and ugly castles and unsymmetrical manor houses. They could now spend their wealth on style and comfort, not on protection.
Wollaton hall was built to help prove Willoughby’s personal importance and most of all to encourage the Queen to pay a court visit to the hall. A visit from the Queen could prove very helpful! If the Queen was pleased with the visit at Wollaton hall, it could lead to Willoughby receiving an appointment in her government. This would bring Willoughby future wealth, this is what Willoughby wanted, and that would certainly bump up his bank balance.
Wollaton hall is a typical Renaissance building. Renaissance houses were an improvement compared to the old fortified manor houses. Most nobles built new, up to date homes. It could be said that Willoughby also built Wollaton hall to impress his rivals and make an attempt to be better than the other nobles. In his hall he included two beautiful chambers for the Queen and prince to sleep in. The stone plaque shows us that the hall was built with craft and skill and that it was built for generations to come for the future family of the Willoughby’s. Scholar and Barbarian carvings above the plaque show that Sir Francis Willoughby considered that he like ‘man’ was better than primitive. Willoughby was a new man with learning and knowledge. His house, ‘Wollaton hall’ helped to show this.
We know what Wollaton hall and its grounds looked like and what alterations were made to the hall, by looking at a sketch of the hall and it’s surroundings created by two Dutch artists back in 1707. By looking at the Kip and Knyff painting from 1707, we can see that little changes have taken place to Wollaton hall since the sketch was created. Also from the painting we get a clear idea of what the grounds and gardens looked like back in 1588.
Wollaton hall was originally built as one mans dream, a home for Sir Francis Willoughby and his family. In 1926, Wollaton hall and its grounds were sold to the Nottingham city council. Since then Wollaton hall’s purpose and appearance has changed dramatically. The hall’s grounds are now visited and used by the general public. Wollaton hall is now the home of Nottingham’s natural history collection and incorporates educational facilities as a part of the museum. The hall also has an array of industrial facilities, encouraging school visits to investigate past Tudor life and animal habitats.
Source F provides clear evidence about what has changed and what has remained the same to Wollaton hall and it’s grounds since 1707. Since 1588 some major changes have taken place. The courtyard including a wall and gate has been removed from the north front of the hall. The flight of stairs on the north and south frontages has been changed in shape and in style. The small panes of glass held into the window frames by strips of lead has been removed and replaced with larger modern glass sections.
On the east front of Wollaton hall, the door to gain access to the bowling green has also now been blocked off with modern Ancaster stone.
Source D, the drawing of the west front shows us the biggest change to the exterior appearance of Wollaton hall. The west front service entrance has been extended from the basement level. This gives the appearance of three main levels on the hall’s west front, whereas the north, east and south fronts of the hall only have two levels.
The basement is exposed due to the steep slope from the ground. This change occurred around the 1830’s when Sir Jeffery Wyattville was hired to improve the old fashioned appearance of Wollaton hall. On the west front of the hall, there appear to be no such details like pilasters or busts. It was thought that it would be far cheaper for Wyattville to remove all decorations from the west front, rather than pay him to sculpt new details in the same Renaissance style as those created in the past Tudor times.
The interior of Wollaton hall is where major changes have taken place. The interior alterations are decorative and structural. The interior of Wollaton hall was badly damaged by a fire in the early 17th century and was largely redecorated in the late 17th century and again in the early 19th century. On the last occasion, Wyatville knocked smaller rooms together on the ground floor to make way for a large library, saloon and dining room. Apart from this, the plan of Wollaton hall remained much the same as shown in Smythson’s drawing, complete with the three great staircases.
Source E shows the original plan for Wollaton hall’s ground floor and first floor.
It represents the positions of the five main rooms of the hall that can be found inside any Elizabethan house. The plan was drawn up in the 1580’s by master mason Robert Smythson. We know that Wollaton hall is a typical Elizabethan house because it accommodates the following rooms, which can normally be found in other houses of that period. The great hall for banquets, the parlour (the family’s private eating area), the kitchen containing a large open fire and benches for preparing food, great chambers (bedrooms that could be used by special guests) and the long gallery for the family’s leisure time, this was on the first floor.
By visiting Wollaton hall all of these rooms can be located.
However, sir Francis Willoughby insisted that the kitchen to be down in the basement area and not on the ground floor as stated in source E.
This would have made Wollaton hall a fashionable Italian style kitchen, one of the first in the country. It is likely he did this to enable there to be more space or maybe to be different and to be noticed, this is probably what he wanted.
The great hall is virtually unaltered. However, it does have two new entrances when compared to Smythson’s plan of the hall. The highly decorated screen passage still has its original pillars and strap work. The hall also includes a fine Renaissance fireplace with the Willoughby’s family coat of arms and their owl symbol. Unusually the great hall is in the centre of the hall and not on an outer wall. Windows high in the centre tower light the great hall. The kitchen can be found in the basement. It still has a large fireplace with metal spits for cooking joints of meat. Now however, it is now a boiler room full of machinery and pipes. Sir Jeffrey Wyattville extended the parlour in the 1840’s. Now it has a modern plaster ceiling and an Adam’s style fireplace, which is not from Tudor times. The great chambers were originally supposed to be luxurious for a Queen and her prince. Now all the wooden panels have been removed from the walls, although some Italian plasterwork on the ceiling still remains. Parts of these bedchambers have been employed as display areas for the natural history collection. The long gallery still exists on the ground floor, but now has become divided by two false walls into three sections. The windows are masked off and are artificially lit to show off rocks, minerals and fossil collections for public display.
The most unusual room in Wollaton hall is the prospect room. This prospect room can be found at the very top of the prospect tower. Willoughby added the prospect tower to Wollaton hall to create a more noticeable view of the hall. He also created this tower to impress his guests and give them the best view of the surrounding area. In reality the room inside it had no useful purpose and Willoughby never knew how to use the cold room inside it. Today it is due to receive repair work to the floor. Sir Francis Willoughby insisted that Robert Symthson created the tallest house in the east midlands, Wollaton hall. Having the tallest house in the east midlands would resemble wealth and power. It would have probably occurred to Willoughby, that by constructing a comfortable and decorative house just might result in a much higher chance of achieving a much-wanted visit from the Queen. She would of certainly wanted to visit a comfortable house, built decoratively and in style. The three of which, Wollaton hall has.
Wollaton halls grounds were used in the years immediately after the hall was built.
Willoughby already owned a large area of parkland in which he used to start building his new home. The land was an impressive tract of woodland containing a lake and many deer.
Elizabethans liked their homes to be noticed. They often built their homes on hilltops. Building their house on a hilltop would allow their house to be seen easily from a distance. Willoughby also wanted the elevated position of a hill in which to build his new home upon. This would show off his house to its utmost advantage. Wollaton hall was built well above Willoughby’s old house, which was on situated low ground.
Wollaton hall was one of finest examples of major building for show rather than for military purposes. A traveller coming from any direction would be able to see from far away, the amazing outline of Wollaton hall on the horizon. Wollaton hall had a prospect room and rooftop walkways. This allowed the Willoughby’s and their guest to fully appreciate the magnificent views of the surrounding grounds.
Source I is a map of Wollaton hall. Today it shows many things have changed.
It shows us that Nottingham council has sold off some of the parkland for the building of private housing estates. Also including that some of the land went towards building part of Nottingham’s ring road, Middleton Boulevard.
Although Wollaton Park is reduced in size, it still has plenty of vegetation.
Within the park, cafes and restaurants can be found. The land has been employed for many types of sporting activities. There are football pitches, a cricket pitch and a golf course. All of these would almost certainly have not been around in the 1500’s.
There is also fishing on the lake. Hot air balloons take off from the flat spaces within the parkland. Nottingham’s marathon course also uses the land. To most local people Wollaton park is a recreational and entertainment site involving flower shows, festivals, car rallies and traction engine displays.
Wollaton hall gardens have been re-designed into a more natural style.
For example, the orangery and bowling green have been altered by gently sloping lawns, flowerbeds and cedar trees. A disguised ditch known as the ‘ha ha’, replaced the ugly fence in the 1830’s.
As we know, the Nottingham council now own Wollaton hall. Longleat house however, the Thynne family still own it. They pay for its upkeep by inviting paying guests to visit the house and its wild animal safari park. At Hardwick hall, the public pay to visit the building and it is owned by the National trust. Elizabethan houses like Wollaton hall have also had to alter in order fit in with the modern times of today.
England was now a peaceful country and richer people had time and money to spare. There was a great interest in gardens for pleasure and enjoyment instead of gardens for growing food.
Wollaton hall however, had gardens for pleasure and for growing food. The gardens within Wollaton hall’s parkland had provided fresh fruit from the orchard, vegetables from the cooks garden and medicine from the herb garden. The parkland also provided fresh meat and had a wall around in to keep the Deer’s out of the gardens. The orangery building contained citrus fruits like oranges and lemons, this would certainly impress family guests.
In Tudor times there was a new interest in gardens. Houses tended to be regular or symmetrical in design. The gardens, like the houses, were extremely neat, with clear designs and clipped hedges all around. The flowerbeds were arranged formally in very neat symmetrical patterns with footpaths in between. Often they were square or triangular, but a favourite shape was called the ‘knot’ pattern because it looked familiarly like a knotted ribbon.
Patterned gardens are known as formal gardens. Rich people always wanted a shaded walk of trained trees. Topiary work, yew or box trees clipped into shapes. This was very popular. Fashionable amusements for guests such as elaborate mazes made of high clipped hedges with many false turnings containing a sundial or statue in the middle. Sometimes visitors were left wandering in the pathways for hours, helplessly searching for a way out! This was also very popular.
The garden is as much part of the English country house, as are its furniture and fittings. The garden is a work of art in its own right. In the 16th century the architect who designed the house, very often designed the garden as well. Just as Wollaton hall was regular and symmetrical so were its gardens. Its paths and terraces forming geometric patterns, punctuated at carefully measured intervals by fountains and statuary.
The master mason Robert Smythson worked on many different houses during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Before Wollaton hall he built the main frontage of Longleat house. After constructing Wollaton hall he built Hardwick hall for sir Francis Willoughby’s cousin ‘Bess’ of Hardwick.
Wollaton hall and Longleat house both have some very comparable features. Transom and Mullion windows were used on both buildings. So were decorative columns either side of the windows and Dutch gables. Finials were also added upon the rooftops. Most perceptibly, both buildings were raised upon a semi basement.
Source C is a piece of secondary evidence. R.J Unstead wrote the piece of secondary evidence during the 1970’s. He wrote it for a school textbook called ‘crown and parliament’. Although being written in modern times, source C is useful for anyone trying to decide whether Wollaton hall is an Elizabethan house or not. This is particularly useful because it lists many of the distinguishing features to look for when identifying a typical Elizabethan house owned by English noble. It mentions many of the main external, internal and site features. It would probably be possible to stand in front of Wollaton hall with source C and recognise numerous features named. Perceptible features like, large glass windows, columns and turrets on the exterior of the building could be easily recognised. It even describes the type of Tudor ‘knott’ gardens that Wollaton hall once had. It also gives good descriptions of the rooms to be found within a typical Elizabethan house as well as listing other houses with similar features. However if source C were the only piece of pictorial evidence that was investigated, many people would probably believe that all Elizabethan houses must all have the same features.
Source H is another piece of secondary evidence. It was written by an expert on Elizabethan houses called Mark Girouard on page 84 of his book ‘the Elizabethan country house.’ It firmly makes the point that the personality of the owner of Wollaton hall affected the appearance of the finished building. This tends to create the impression that if other Elizabethan houses like Wollaton hall have no common features with any other houses of that time. It might suggest Wollaton hall was totally unique.
Source H
‘The house which he built
reflects something of his
character: it is methodical
and yet crazy; in the newest
fashion yet looking back to
the middle ages; original,
extravagant, uncomfortable
and restless, to the fringe
of lunacy.’
Sir Francis Willoughby wished to gain attention by owning the tallest house in the east midlands. Sir Francis Willoughby was an over active, complicated, restless and unhappy person. His family had been involved with supporting the claim of Lady Jayne Grey to the French throne. So he felt it was his duty to show loyalty to the Tudor family and gain forgiveness from Queen Elizabeth. He anticipated in receiving a royal visit to one of his homes. He spent the huge sum of £80,000 on the construction of Wollaton hall. He insisted upon expensive decorations and details. The costs were so great he even had to borrow money from his cousin Elizabeth Shrewsbury in order to finish the new hall and its grounds.
During the same period as Wollaton hall’s construction many other costly things happened. Willoughby had an embarrassing and expensive separation from his wife that involved the queen ordering him to end his bitter public arguments. His moneymaking scheme to sell dye and Wollaton coal failed to earn money. He had to pay for the dowries (marriage gifts of money) of his three daughters. Sir Francis Willoughby spent little time in the magnificent, over decorated hall he created at Wollaton.
He later re-married and caused a quarrel that left him alone and bankrupt. Later living in London until his death in 1596. The debts he made by constructing Wollaton hall taken his family two generations to pay off.
Wollaton hall does have some unique features that are not found anywhere else. Instead of being an E or H shaped building it was rather a square shape with four corner towers. Willoughby insisted that Wollaton hall be a tall house, unchallenged in its height. It has a tall centre tower with old-fashioned tracery windows. The affect was intended to make the hall appear like an old building surrounded by a newer one. Elizabethan nobles like Sir Francis Willoughby loved anything new or different. These differences were called ‘devices.’ The centre tower was a perfect example of a ‘device’. It incorporated windows that could be said to be more suitable for a church rather than a house. Wollaton hall also contained a prospect room with no real purpose other than to look at the surrounding land.
All Elizabethan houses have similar features as well as unusual styles and details. From this point of view Wollaton hall is a typical Elizabethan house. A house like Wollaton hall was the result of the influences of master mason that built it and the wishes of the owner who paid for it. At Wollaton hall it was Robert Smythson who used all the general styles of Elizabethan architecture and it was Sir Francis Willoughby who saw new details in his collection of architectural books that he insisted be used on his house. The result was that Wollaton hall became cluttered with new details that are impressive but ‘uncomfortable’ to view and appreciate at first sight.
Wollaton hall could be said to be an attractive structure, built decoratively and attractively. The contrast between Wollaton hall and Hardwick hall for example indicates how Willoughby’s personality and style differed. Wollaton hall and Hardwick hall both had the same mason, similar features but an immense difference in appearance. Hardwick hall’s owner, Bess of Hardwick had a secure personality. Hardwick hall wasn’t over decorated. The over decorated Wollaton hall however tells us the owner had an insecure personality. Ultimately Wollaton hall was intended to reflect Sir Francis Willoughby’s personality and style, something that evidently doesn’t impress the majority of individuals.
