GCSE History (8145)

Resource pack for the 2025 specified site, Hardwick Hall,

Derbyshire
Elizabethan England, 1568–1603
The purpose of this pack is to provide you with guidance and resources to support your teaching
about Hardwick Hall, the 2018 specified site for the historic environment part of Elizabethan
England, 1568–1603.It is intended as a guide only and you may wish to use other sources of
information about Hardwick Hall. The resources are provided to help you develop your students’
knowledge and understanding of the specified site. They will not be tested in the examination, as
the question targets AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (explaining second order
concepts).

General guidance.
The study of the historic environment will focus on a particular site in its historical context and
should examine the relationship between a specific site and the key events, features or
developments of the period. As a result, when teaching a specified site for the historic environment
element, it is useful to think about ways of linking the site to the specified content in Parts 1, 2
and/or 3 of the specification

There is no requirement to visit the specified site as this element of the course is designed to be
classroom based.

Students will be expected to answer a question that draws on second order concepts of change,
continuity, causation and/or consequence, and to explore them in the context of the specified site
and wider events and developments of the period studied. Students should be able to identify key
features of the specified site and understand their connection to the wider historical context of the
specific historical period. Sites will also illuminate how people lived at the time, how they were
governed and their beliefs and values.

The following aspects of the site should be considered:

• location
• function
• the structure
• people connected with the site e.g. the designer, originator and occupants
• design
• how the design reflects the culture, values, fashions of the people at the time
• how important events/developments from the depth study are connected to the site.

Students will be expected to understand the ways in which key features and other aspects of the
site are representative of the period studied. In order to do this, students will also need to be aware
of how the key features and other aspects of the site have changed from earlier periods. Students
will also be expected to understand how key features and other aspects may have changed or
stayed the same during the period.

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Background Information on Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
Who built Hardwick Hall?
Hardwick Hall was built by Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. She became Countess of
Shrewsbury when she married her fourth husband, George Talbot, in 1567. He was the 6 th Earl of
Shrewsbury.

Who was Bess of Hardwick?

Elizabeth, known as Bess, was born in a small manor house on the site of Hardwick old Hall in
1527. Her father was a gentleman who owned a few hundred acres. He died within a year of
Bess’s birth. He left each of his daughters a small sum of money, about £26. When Bess became a
teenager she went into the service of Sir John Zouche, head of a great Derbyshire family. This
would have been normal practice for the children of Tudor gentry.

Who did Bess marry?

Her cousin, Robert Barlow, from another Derbyshire, gentry family was also in the household.
Bess looked after him when he was ill at the Zouche family home in London. Their family thought
that it was a good idea for them to marry which they did in 1543. Unfortunately Robert died a few
months after the wedding. As his widow, Bess inherited a third of his income, which was £66 a
year by 1588. At the time this would have been a respectable sum of money but not a fortune.

Bess was a childless widow and she continued to serve in a noble household by attending the
Marchioness of Dorset, the mother of Lady Jane Grey. Here she met Sir William Cavendish, an
elderly and rich government official. He had made a lot of money during the Dissolution of the
Monasteries, and now owned much land and properties scattered over 5 counties. He fell in love
with Bess and, after their marriage, to please his new wife sold all his property and consolidated
his wealth by buying new property in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, including the house and
estate of Chatsworth in 1549. Bess had 8 children with Sir William Cavendish.

William Cavendish died in 1557 leaving Bess with Chatsworth and a large amount of property. In
1559, 2 years later, she married again this time to Sir William St Loes. Sir William was a rich
landowner with property in Devon and Cornwall, who had already been twice married. As Sir
William’s family name was older and better established than the Cavendish’s, it was another step
up the social ladder for Bess. Furthermore, the marriage brought with it access to court as Sir
William was a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth and Captain of her Guard. Bess’ third marriage
lasted only 5 years, until the winter of 1564, when Sir William died. It left Bess very wealthy. She
was on the marriage market again and represented quite a wealthy catch. There was much gossip
at court about whom she might marry next!

Bess’s fourth marriage, in 1567, was spectacular. Her husband was 40 years old and the head of
one of the oldest, and richest families in England. He was George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, a
widower with 6 children. He had inherited a large amount of money and used it to become even
richer. He had a vast amount of agricultural land, owned coal mines and glassworks, iron foundries
and ships. Most of his land was also in the Midlands and it complemented the properties already
owned by his new wife, Bess.

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Why was Hardwick Hall built?
Bess’s marriage to the Earl of Shrewsbury soon ran into trouble when, early in 1569, he was given
the job of guarding Mary Queen of Scots. Bess made things worse when she arranged the
marriage of her daughter, Elizabeth, to Charles Stuart, the brother of Mary Queen of Scots’ ex-
husband, Lord Darnley thus creating a claim to the English throne for any of their children. Bess
had arranged this without her husband’s approval and much to the fury of Queen Elizabeth.
Shrewsbury thought that his new wife was risking his good relations with the Queen for the sake of
her own family. And there were troubles as Shrewsbury had to fund the imprisonment and
guarding of Mary, Queen of Scots from his own resources. His wealth was also being drained by
the large amounts of money that Bess was spending on the remodelling of Chatsworth house.
Bess and Shrewsbury had their first serious row in 1577 and by 1584 the marriage had broken
down completely.

As their relationship worsened, they argued over the ownership of Chatsworth which the Earl of
Shrewsbury wanted to keep as his family home. So in 1583 Bess bought the house and property at
Hardwick where she had grown up, from her brother, James. From 1585 to 1590 she enlarged and
remodelled the old house, which is known as Hardwick Old Hall.

Shrewsbury died in 1590 leaving Bess, in her early 60s, one of the richest people in England.
Almost immediately Bess started to lay the foundations for a new larger, grander house a few
yards away from Hardwick Old Hall. Bess decided that she would concentrate her efforts on the
place where she had been born. She was content to leave Chatsworth to her eldest son Henry,
who had taken her husband’s side during the marital quarrel, and whom she heartily disliked. Her
new home at Hardwick which she spent the next 13 years building and furnishing would eventually
go to her favourite son, William, after she died in 1608.

Who designed Hardwick Hall?

The man most responsible for the design of Hardwick Hall was Robert Smythson. He had been
working for Bess on the remodelling of Hardwick Old Hall. Smythson was an architect and surveyor
although he trained originally as a stonemason. At this time in Elizabethan England it is perhaps
misleading to use the term ‘architect’ because the role of an architect was only just beginning to be
developed. The design of the building was probably the result of several influences, including the
patron and family, friends, Smythson and the craftsman at the time. However looking at the way
that the design and splendour of Hardwick Hall is so well integrated, it’s hard to avoid the
conclusion that Smythson was the inspiration.

In what ways does Hardwick showcase Elizabethan building and architecture?

Hardwick demonstrates the Elizabethan concern for symmetry and order. The house is
symmetrical on all 4 sides and displays symmetry in many different ways. The height of each story
progressively increases. Servants went about on the ground floor, Bess on the first floor and
potential Royal visitors on the second floor. In this way the design of the house is a model of what
the Elizabethans thought should be the divine order of the universe.
The familiar rhyme that, ‘Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall’ was truer of Hardwick than other
Elizabethan houses. The chimneys had internal flues so as not to interfere with the external
impression of glass. Glass was a status symbol and the greatly increased height of the windows at
Hardwick made them all the more impressive.
Hardwick was made from local materials from Bess’s own properties which were in turn used by
local craftsmen. Wood came from trees that grew on Bess’ land and the glass and the iron from
her glassworks and ironworks at Wingfield. Lead came from her workings at Winster or Aldwark,
and the stone from her quarries at Ashford in Derbyshire.

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 Resources

A A photograph of Hardwick Hall from the West

The photograph shows the west side of Hardwick Hall, with its 3 floors and extra rooms on top
of the towers. Bess’s stonework initials proudly surmount the towers on the side of the
building. The west side loggia can be seen on the ground floor and entrance.
B The layout of Hardwick Hall
The plan of Hardwick Hall shows its 3 main floors. On the first two floors, the hall can be seen
as a prominent feature bisecting the building. Bess’ personal quarters are on the south side of
the 1st floor. On the 2nd floor are the grand state apartments and the Long Gallery which runs
from north to south along the east side of the whole building.
C An artist’s cutaway drawing of Hardwick Hall
Looking down upon the building from the south-east, this drawing shows the east side loggia,
stairs, and a cutaway of the furnishings and decoration of the gallery and state rooms on the
2nd floor.
D An aerial photograph of Hardwick Hall and grounds
The photograph shows Hardwick Hall from the East, its outbuildings, gardens and grounds. It
shows the remains of Hardwick Old Hall to the west.
E An artist’s impression of the inside of Hardwick Hall
The picture shows an Elizabethan banquet with entertainment in one of Hardwick Hall’s state
rooms.
F The detail of a tapestry from Hardwick Hall
Bess of Hardwick had a great interest in needlework which shows itself, for example, in wall
hangings and carpets at Hardwick. This tapestry showing a biblical scene, the ‘Sacrifice of
Isaiah’, reflects that interest and her preference for edifying images of an intellectual and
classical nature. The woman in blue on the right of the tapestry is thought to be Bess herself.
G A photograph of the Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall.
This view of the whole room shows the fireplace, plaster ceiling, pictures, tapestries, windows,
and seating. It is 162 feet long and is the largest surviving Elizabethan long gallery.
H A painting by William Henry Hunt in 1820 of the Mary Queen of Scots room at Hardwick
Hall.
This painting shows the elaborate furnishings and is representative of the bed chambers at
Hardwick Hall. Although Mary Queen of Scots never visited Hardwick, her presence in
England contributed to the building of Hardwick Hall. This room was created to satisfy the
myth that Mary had been at Hardwick.
I An extract adapted from a lecture about Bess of Hardwick by Mary S Lovell (2006)
Part of a lecture by Mary S Lovell speaking to the Royal Oak Foundation in Boston. Lovell is
the author of a bestselling biography, ‘Bess of Hardwick – First Lady of Chatsworth.’ This
extract describes the character of Bess, and suggest reasons for her wealth and success.
J An extract adapted from ‘The Building of England’ by Simon Thurley (2013)
This extract describes the distinctive characteristics of Elizabethan country houses, their style
and technology.
K An extract adapted from research into the furnishings and decorations of Hardwick
Hall (2005)
This extract from recent research examines the internal contents of Hardwick Hall such as
wall hangings, carpets, furniture, pictures etc. and explains what they tell us about Bess and
the Elizabethans.
L An extract adapted from ‘Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan country house’ by
Mark Girouard (1983)
This brief extract explains who the architect and important craftsmen were who built
Hardwick, and some of the reasons for its unique design.

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Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire Resources

Resource A A photograph of Hardwick Hall from the West

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Resource B The layout of Hardwick Hall.

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Resource C An artist’s cutaway drawing of Hardwick Hall

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Resource D An aerial photograph of Hardwick Hall and grounds.

Resource E An artist’s impression of the inside of Hardwick Hall.

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Resource F The detail of a tapestry from Hardwick Hall.

Resource G A photograph of the Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall.

Resource H A painting by William Henry Hunt in 1820 of the Mary Queen of Scots room at
Hardwick Hall.

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Resource I An extract adapted from a lecture about Bess of Hardwick by Mary S
Lovell (2006).

What sort of person was Bess of Hardwick?

Bess was an affectionate woman, with a dynamic personality who loved her family and friends and
was loved in a romantic sense by at least two of her four husbands. She was ambitious for her
family, and became a high achiever in what was very much a man’s world. She was also
intelligent, loyal, shrewd, a brilliant financier, a fulfilled woman and self-confident in her
achievements. She possessed great charisma, and made friends easily, being well liked and
respected by those in her circle.

Who were Bess’ friends?

Bess was no great beauty so how was it that she managed to attract four highly personable, rich
and eligible men as husbands? How did she manage to have a Parliamentary bill against her
squashed after the death of her second husband, William Cavendish? How did she survive over 50
years at the centre of the snake pit that was the Tudor Court, remaining good friends not only with
the Queen but with the key figures of the age? These included William Cecil, Robert Dudley, and
Sir Francis Walsingham, all of whom often lent her their support. Would they have done so had she
been the shrew that history painted her as. I quote what Queen Elizabeth said about her, ‘I assure
you there is no lady in this land that I better love or like.’

Was Bess just lucky?

Shrewsbury’s death left Bess free to do as she wanted. She not only had her own properties
returned to her - those of Barlow, Cavendish, and St Lowe, but now she was also entitled to a
widow’s dower of 1/3 of the annual income from the massive Shrewsbury estates. After the Earl
died, this income would come in annually while there were also the Earl’s savings, making her
mega rich by the standards of the day.

However Bess improved on that situation greatly over the next 15 years when, as she had no
husband to impede her, she considerably increased her fortune. Even before the Earl died, Bess
had started thinking about building another great house, Hardwick Hall, adjacent to her own family
home. Her household accounts reveal that she ran her financial affairs like a modern day tycoon.
There were five separate parts to Bess’s business dealings; farming, sheep and cattle farming,
mining; she had mines and foundries, quarries for stone and slate, she also had factories for
brick and glassmaking. She dealt with land, renting property and leasing land and, financially, she
loaned money. She was always happy to lend money to any scheme she thought might prosper
but she never loaned a groat without a mortgage to secure the agreement, so if the scheme failed,
and quite a lot did, she had land or property to compensate her, because then as now, you couldn’t
go wrong with property.

She had many natural assets on her land, including timber slate, stone, lead, and bricks which she
used for her own building projects. This was just as the great building boom of the English
Renaissance began to take off so she began selling these to others, making herself yet more
money. For example the new Hardwick Hall needed acres of glass for the revolutionary design.
Unfortunately the only glass supplier in the area was her estranged son-in-law, Gilbert Talbot, now
the Earl Shrewsbury, who was fighting Bess over the widow’s dower which he couldn’t afford to
pay. Because of the quarrel he refused to supply her with glass, so Bess set up her own
glassmaking factory and her business prospered.

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Resource J An extract adapted from ‘The Building of England’ by Simon Thurley (2013)

What were the trends discernible in country housebuilding after the Reformation?

Symmetry
The first trend was an increasing preference for symmetry. There were many houses from the 14 th
century onwards that were essentially symmetrical in appearance; a trend which included entrance
facades (1) and within central courtyards. External elevations (2) were designed, first of all, to
express the form and hierarchy of rooms inside and, secondly, to make an exciting silhouette.
From the 1580s, houses that had inward facing symmetry now projected their symmetry to the
outside facades. This made it impossible to work out the interior layout or function of rooms from
the outside.

The plan of the House

A result of this was that it was less necessary or fashionable to have an internal courtyard. This led
to the adoption of the double or triple piles (3). Before the 1540s buildings were almost always one
room deep with a single pitched roof. A double row of rooms needed double pitches, M–shaped,
and with a valley gutter between them which was complicated to get right and easy to get wrong.
Later Elizabethan houses had broad lead roofs that could cover a double or triple pile, with gently
stepped, flat roofs leading to gutters around the edges.

Roofing technology
During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the lead market was flooded with reclaimed roofing and
the English lead industry was all but destroyed. In the 1560s, with the increasing adoption of the
lead-hungry double pile, and for munitions, demand soared. This increased demand was met by
technological advances pioneered in the Mendips Hills of Somerset, and then adopted in the main
lead fields of Derbyshire where the invention of smelting mills with waterwheel powered bellows
and tall chimneys transformed the industry. In Derbyshire production increased from 300 fothers
(4) a year in 1572 to over 3,000 by 1600. This huge increase in productivity encouraged
architectural ambition and the double pile opened up a whole new range of possibilities in planning.

The Great Hall

Despite the increasing popularity of double pile houses, most continued to be planned round a hall.
But the nature and position of the Great Hall was changing from rooms which were symbols of their
feudal duty to their tenants and where the owner carried on a public life. The Great Hall at
Burghley, built in 1578, was the last to have an open timber-work roof, ending an English tradition
that had lasted unbroken since the Romans. Increasingly halls had flat plastered ceilings such as
the one at Audley End; after 1600 most were built, as at Montacute, Somerset (c. 1590) of only one
storey rather than the double height. The double or triple pile allowed another innovation, which
was to turn the great Hall through 90° and placed it in the middle of the house running from front to
back. This is what Robert Smythson built at Hardwick Hall in 1590. These new halls were more
practical, warmer and, with wall fireplaces, less smoky. Single-storey halls opened up new
possibilities in planning the upper stages of the house as there was no longer a major interruption
on the first floor. This enabled first floors to be approached by elegant staircases that often lead to
the great chamber directly above the hall.

Windows
Bay windows had at first been commonly used in Great Halls but during the later 15 th century had
become popular in other domestic rooms, adding interest to the facades and provided internal
spaces for private conversation. During the 16th century they were made into every imaginable
shape and size, affecting the plan and silhouette of most great buildings.
Late medieval church builders demonstrated the possibilities of very large windows. In the early
16th century these began to be used in domestic buildings but greater use was held back by the
cost and availability of glass. Before the reign of Elizabeth, glassmaking in England was almost
extinct, and the vast quantities of glass needed for churches, cathedrals and high status houses

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were imported. A royal patent in 1567 was granted to two Dutch craftsmen, Jean Carré and
Anthony Becku, to make window glass and from the 1570s onwards the glass industry expanded
to meet the rapidly rising demand for big windows. In the late 1560s around 900 cases of glass
were being imported annually but by 1590 there were at least 3000 cases made domestically,
wiping out the need for imports. The bay windowed buildings of the 1570s to the 1610s were
remarkable. On a south facing facade they made rooms very bright and warm, even in spring and
autumn; but, of course, in winter they made them unbelievably cold which is why by the 1620s,
there was a reaction against big windows.

Long Galleries
Another feature of large houses was the growing popularity of the Long Gallery. Houses were
provided with galleries that were attached at one end to the principal living rooms, often supported
on arcades or loggias, enabling the occupants to view the surrounding landscape. Galleries at
Burghley, for instance, were integrated into the courtyard plan and not discernible from outside.
Many, as at Hardwick Hall were positioned on the top floor of the house sometimes taking up most
of the floor. Between 1570 until the end of the 1620s every house of any pretension had a gallery
at least a hundred feet long. These galleries retained their primary purpose of providing a masterly
view of the geometrically laid out gardens below, but this increasingly became combined with
displaying artworks. Dynastic paintings were particularly popular, as were tapestries and
sometimes sculpture.

Staircases
The increasing tendency to locate the most prestigious rooms at the top of the house was boosted
by a revolution in engineering. Before the 1580s stairs that were not a single straight flight had
been built around a solid central newel (5). In the 1580s it was realised that it would be possible to
dispense with the newel and replace it with a timber framework. This created exciting possibilities
for decoration and spatial effect, but not as exciting as the next development. This was to omit the
central framework altogether and cantilever the steps out from the wall, creating an open well.

Gardens and Grounds

Hunting rather than horticulture was fundamental to the setting of most mediaeval houses but from
the 15th century, owners increasingly wanted to have more substantial gardens close to their
homes for relaxation. Cultivated gardens were normally near to the residential parts in walled
enclosures and often contained aviaries or shady bowers covered in vines. Many were combined
with fishponds, streams or artificial lakes, and adjacent areas were often planted as orchards.
From this time gardens were laid out in square ‘quarters’ surrounded by low fences, and by the
1590s the area devoted to horticulture around the high status houses was very substantial.

1 Façade - the face or main front of a building

2 Elevation – a vertical side of a building
3 Pile - A pile is a row of rooms: a single-pile house is therefore one with a single row of rooms; a
double-pile house is two rooms deep, sometimes, but not always, with a corridor between the two
rows.
4 Fother - One fother = c. 1,118 kg.
5 Newel – the central supporting column or post in a spiral staircase.

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Resource K An extract adapted from research into the furnishings and decorations of
Hardwick Hall (2005)

Bess was a strong-minded patron, whose taste, and practicality, led to the changes. The addition
of loggias, for example, may be considered a choice based on a sense of fashion, whilst the
rearrangement of rooms owes more to domestic practicality.

The layout of the House. Bess’s household varied between thirty and forty people based at
Hardwick. This was not a particularly large household but it had to operate within appropriate social
codes, which were reflected in the divisions of space within the house. Hardwick, like other grand
Elizabethan households, was organised like a little court with Bess at the centre and round her
radiated three circles which were her own immediate family, the upper servants, and the lower
servants.
The backbone of the layout is a processional route which leads from ground level to the formal
receiving rooms on the second floor, with everything else fitting round it. The route is from the Hall,
by way of the great stairs, to the suite of rooms containing the ‘High great Chamber’, with the 'With
drawing Chamber' beyond leading to the 'Best bed Chamber' and its associated service rooms,
and the `Gallery’. As the visitor approached, the house appeared in and out of view just as,
teasingly, once inside the building, the route to the state rooms takes many turns. And before the
main house, the gatehouse served as a reminder and a symbolic link with an earlier 'feudal age’.

The Hall. The decline in the medieval function of the hall is not unique to Bess's house. The
practical function of the hall had been downgraded from the heart of the aristocratic household to
one of a serving area. However the entrance hall at Hardwick is still a large space calculated to
impress the visitor by its size.

Bess’s rooms. As with most contemporary aristocratic houses, Bess's accommodation at

Hardwick Hall consists of a withdrawing chamber, bed chamber and inner chambers. The screen in
the hall marks a symbolic division between the public and private areas, where the mistress could
not only observe but, more importantly, be observed. The Chapel. The lower part of the Chapel
served most of the household whilst the upper part was reserved for Bess, and provided an area
where they could worship in private, as the Queen did at Hampton Court.

Wall hangings. Bess possessed a large collection of wall-hangings. Tapestries followed a

hierarchy, with those containing silk or metal thread displayed in the rooms of highest status.
Coarser wool tapestries serve for lesser rooms. At Chatsworth there had been elaborate panelling
to decorate the walls and the lack of it at Hardwick, either through choice or, more likely, through
financial necessity, meant that Bess had to go on a major tapestry-buying spree during her last
visit to London in 1591.

Carpets. Study of Bess's carpets shows that she had one of the larger collections of the period,
although well behind the royal collection and Robert Dudley’s. As with many of her contemporaries,
the bulk of her collection consisted of Turkish carpets but she was unusual in the number of
needlework and richly decorated fabric carpets which she owned. These also reveal a hierarchy
with needlework carpets at the top, followed by the fabric examples. Carpets were also used by her
to emphasise the status of certain pieces of furniture, especially the best bed, and certain chairs
which she, or her most important guest, might occupy.

Beds. Beds dominate the room especially when hung with textiles. As well as having a practical
function, beds could be used for displays of wealth, social status, and taste. The beds at Hardwick
in 1601 show that the hangings were more important than the beds themselves, although it is
apparent that gilded beds were chosen for the best bedrooms: an effect of magnificent display is
created with rich fabrics, varied ornament and eclectic mixing of textures, colours and styles,
although this does seem a little old-fashioned.

Furniture. Bess put a high value on her French furniture. For example amongst the wealth of inlaid
stools are six ‘French stools’ which form a set. Although Bess may have diminished the impact of

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this set by dividing it amongst three rooms, she may have gained a greater audience by sharing it
out in this way. Bess’s fondness for French furnishings was a taste she shared with Robert Dudley.
The French furnishings show that for much of the most ostentatious furniture Bess was reliant on
pieces remaining from Chatsworth House of twenty years earlier. For general, everyday furniture,
however, the accounts reveal a great deal was made at Hardwick, as if Bess were acknowledging
that the demonstration of status required quantity as well as quality. Bess's expenditure was not
lavish and represents careful evaluation of costs against benefits. Bess used hierarchies of
materials in the furnishings to reinforce the hierarchies established by the architecture, the public
and private spaces and to send clear social messages.

Pictures. Bess was not a connoisseur, but she is revealed as an owner who was fully aware of the
potential of pictures as part of a great house's furnishings. She did not believe 'as for most
Elizabethans, pictures were primarily wall furniture'.

What messages did the paintings, heraldry and wall hangings send to people?
Bess varied the decorative themes according to the different audiences to be found in the different
social spaces of her house. The Lowe Great Chamber gives an emphatic message about Bess's
family. A portrait of Bess herself is joined by pictures of her husbands and children. The only
‘intruders’ into the family circle are Queen Elizabeth, Lord Burghley and the Virgin Mary. These
pictures give a very clear statement of family authority and continuity, with four generations of the
family being represented.
It is significant that family identity is asserted in a room which had a number of functions and was
probably one of the busiest in the house. Thus the message would be received there by a great
number of people, most of them Bess's social inferiors. Bess uses heraldry throughout the house
to back up the statement about the identity of Bess, and her Hardwick family lineage. Bess
celebrates Queen Elizabeth but at the same time, shows herself as a good subject of her Queen.
Bess views Queen Elizabeth as a figure of authority and power, as shown clearly in the full-length
portrait.
Simple statements of ancestral and continuing authority, were suitable for the lowest status public
areas. She wished to be identified with an educated, courtly world which would understand and
delight in references and allusions to classical literature and mythology and to current fashions in
imagery. So these more intellectually challenging themes are explored in the high status areas of
the second floor, where they would be seen by the educated and courtly upper class visitor, able to
understand their messages.

CONCLUSIONS

The Style of Hardwick Hall. Bess was been shown to be aware of court tastes but was to have
been detached from them by distance, age, gender and possibly education. Bess chose to fill her
house with a very rich visual and intellectual decorative scheme, and it is therefore clear that she
wished to imitate some aspects of the prevailing courtly taste for deeply allusive and metaphorical
imagery with which to test and amuse her visitors whilst displaying her own sophistication.
Hardwick was created towards the end of a very long life, and whilst it is often seen as
representing the last years of the sixteenth century, it has been shown that many of the contents
had been made earlier in the 1570s for Chatsworth. William Cavendish probably had a
considerable influence on his younger wife’s development of a sense of style, of what was suitable
for people climbing the social ladder, and of what could be achieved with a lavish display of
possessions. From 1568, Bess was only an occasional visitor to court and relied heavily on other
people to inform her of changing tastes.
The choice of Smythson as architect suggests a desire to be modern but to stay with the favoured
architect of her own immediate circle. The furnishings display the same concern to be luxurious
without being ostentatious or financially extravagant. Despite her great wealth, Bess did not spend
a large amount on them, re-using old items where possible and spending prudently where new
purchases were necessary. Hardwick was not created to be the house of a dynasty or of a queen,
it was created to be the monument of one woman. However, whilst seeking this immortality, Bess
remained cautious, she `would not have any superfluity or waste of anything, preferring 'that which
is needful and necessary'.

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Resource L An extract adapted from ‘Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan country
house’ by Mark Girouard (1983)

Who designed Hardwick?

Hardwick remains the supreme triumph of Elizabethan architecture. In November 1591 John
Rodes, who had carried out much of the external work at Wollaton*, was employed for the masonry
at Hardwick. He was helped by his brother, Christopher, who had also been at Wollaton. Some of
the exterior decoration was left to other masons. The marble chimney piece and doorway in the
best bedroom was the work of Thomas Accres, a marble carver who had also been at Wollaton.
He was probably responsible for much of the remaining marble work throughout the house. So
three of Smithson’s principal workmen at Wollaton reappeared at Hardwick. The detail at Hardwick
owes much to Flemish pattern books. Other influences are from the Italian Renaissance and the
influential architectural writing of Sebastiano Serlio. This is evident in the chimney pieces and
fireplaces in the Lower Withdrawing Chamber.

What is distinctive about Hardwick?

The result is a house of great and romantic beauty which its setting adds to the general effect of
the house. Externally the house is as rigorously symmetrical as Wollaton. Flemish ornament is
seen in the crests on the towers and the use of Bess’s initials on every tower. The loggias are a
somewhat unusual feature, because although not new to England, Hardwick is the first example of
a loggia in a house without an internal courtyard. The original plans show the loggia was intended
to run right round the house at ground level in a rectangle. A certain amount of improvisation was
needed to make the house fit the rigid symmetry of the exterior. Several of the great windows are
false with a stone wall behind them, or provide light to 2 floors of low ceilinged rooms instead of
one single lofty one.

One of the advantages of putting the best state rooms upon the top floor was their approach could
be made very long and magnificent. Another was the splendid views from the windows. And a third
was that in quiet seasons they could easily be sealed off and forgotten. The disadvantage was of
course their remoteness, the great number of steps that have to be climbed and the route from the
kitchen to the high great chamber is an immensely long one. It provided a ceremonial route for
what was an essential feature of any grand Elizabethan entertainment, the formal procession of
waiters carrying up each course of a meal.

No discussion of Hardwick can ignore the influence of its builder as Bess was not the sort of
person to leave the details of her house to others. Many of the idiosyncrasies are due to her, such
as the increased height of the towers in the middle of the building. It is clear she had a passion for
height, light, squareness, and symmetry but one only has to compare the old with the new
Hardwick to see how Smythson transformed her somewhat crude ideas into a work of art.

* Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house built between 1580 and 1588 for Sir Francis
Willoughby, who made his money from coal mines. Robert Smythson was the architect of Wollaton
Hall which was an exciting and sensational design.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND PUBLISHERS

Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright holders have been unsuccessful and AQA
will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements in future papers if notified.

Resource A © eye35/Alamy
Resource D © Richard Bird/Geograph
Resource E © J980043-Hardwick Old Hall Banqueting Hall © Historic Environment (recon artwork)
Resource F © NTPL/John Hammond 50214
Resource G © National Trust Images / Andreas von Einsiedel
Resource H © Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth. Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees/Bridgeman Images
Resource I © Mary S Lovell
Resource J © S Thurley, The Building of England, 2013, and reprinted by permission of Harper Collins Publishers ltd.
Resource K © Dr Gillian White

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