About
Hardwick Hall is one of the greatest and most celebrated Elizabethan houses in England, a masterpiece of late sixteenth-century architecture that has stood on its hilltop site in the rolling Derbyshire countryside since the 1590s. Built for Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury — universally known as Bess of Hardwick, one of the most formidable and wealthy women of the Elizabethan age — the house is famous above all for its extraordinary quantity of glass, which led to the rhyme 'Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall' that has attached itself to the building for centuries.
The house was designed by Robert Smythson, the most accomplished architect of his generation, and represents the pinnacle of the Elizabethan prodigy house tradition — those spectacular mansions built by the wealthiest subjects of Queen Elizabeth I to display their power, taste, and cultural ambition. The symmetrical facades, the towering windows that increase in height with each storey, and the roofline crowned with Bess's initials 'ES' carved in stone against the sky create one of the most instantly recognisable silhouettes in English architecture.
Inside, Hardwick Hall preserves an exceptional collection of tapestries and embroideries that is of European significance. The tapestry collection is among the finest in any English country house, with magnificent Flemish and English pieces that have hung in the house since Bess's time. The embroidery collection, much of it worked by Bess herself and her ladies, includes panels of extraordinary skill and ambition that document the sophisticated needlework culture of the Elizabethan court.
The High Great Chamber, with its painted plaster frieze depicting scenes from the hunt and its magnificent tapestries showing the story of Ulysses, is considered one of the finest Elizabethan interiors in existence — a room that communicates the wealth and taste of its creator with undiminished power after more than four centuries. The Long Gallery, stretching the full length of the top floor and flooded with light from its vast windows, houses a remarkable collection of portraits and further tapestries.
Hardwick Hall has been in the care of the National Trust since 1959, and the surrounding estate includes formal gardens, an Elizabethan herb garden, parkland with ancient oaks, and the atmospheric ruins of Hardwick Old Hall, the earlier house where Bess was born and which she abandoned in favour of her spectacular new creation. Together, the two halls and their landscape tell the story of one woman's extraordinary rise from minor Derbyshire gentry to become the second most powerful woman in England after Queen Elizabeth herself.
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Highlights
The Elizabethan Tapestry Collection
Hardwick Hall holds one of the most important collections of tapestries in any English country house — a collection of European significance that has been in continuous display since Bess of Hardwick first hung these magnificent woven works in the 1590s. The Flemish and English tapestries include heroic narrative scenes, allegorical compositions, and decorative verdure panels that together represent the finest achievements of the late medieval and Renaissance weaving workshops.
The Ulysses tapestries in the High Great Chamber, depicting scenes from Homer's Odyssey, are among the most celebrated individual tapestries in Britain.
The survival of so many tapestries in their original setting, largely undisturbed for over four centuries, makes Hardwick an unparalleled resource for the study of Elizabethan textile arts.
The High Great Chamber
The High Great Chamber at Hardwick is widely regarded as the finest surviving Elizabethan interior in England — a room of breathtaking ambition and beauty that communicates the wealth and taste of Bess of Hardwick with undiminished power. The painted plaster frieze that runs around the upper walls depicts a vibrant scene of the hunt with deer, dogs, trees, and figures drawn from a continental print source and executed with extraordinary skill.
Below the frieze hang the great Ulysses tapestries, their rich colours complementing the painted decoration above.
The room was designed for the reception of important guests, including potentially Queen Elizabeth I herself, and every element of its decoration was calculated to impress, overawe, and communicate Bess's status as one of the most powerful figures in the realm.
Bess of Hardwick's Embroidery Collection
Hardwick preserves a remarkable collection of Elizabethan embroidery, much of it worked by Bess of Hardwick herself and her household during the long years when she was responsible for the custody of Mary Queen of Scots. The embroidered panels display extraordinary skill, depicting flowers, beasts, classical figures, and heraldic devices with a precision and ambition that reflect the sophisticated needlework culture of the Elizabethan aristocracy.
Some pieces were worked collaboratively with Mary Queen of Scots, who was an accomplished needlewoman, adding a poignant personal dimension to the collection.
These embroideries are among the most important surviving examples of Elizabethan needlework in any collection, public or private.
Robert Smythson's Architecture
Hardwick Hall is the masterpiece of Robert Smythson, the greatest English architect of the Elizabethan age, and represents the pinnacle of the prodigy house tradition — those spectacular mansions built to display their owners' wealth and cultural ambition. Smythson's revolutionary design placed the grandest rooms on the top floor, where the largest windows flood them with light, inverting the medieval convention of putting the most important spaces at ground level.
The result is a building of extraordinary visual drama — its symmetrical facades rising in tiers of ever-larger windows, crowned by the six towers bearing Bess's initials against the Derbyshire sky.
The architectural historians Nikolaus Pevsner and Mark Girouard both identified Hardwick as one of the most important buildings in the history of English domestic architecture.
Collections
The Hardwick Hall State Rooms
The principal rooms of Hardwick Hall displayed with their original and historic furnishings, tapestries, and embroideries — including the High Great Chamber, Long Gallery, and Withdrawing Chamber. The rooms are presented as close to their historic appearance as scholarship and conservation allow.
The Kitchen and Service Rooms
The ground floor service rooms including the original Elizabethan kitchen, pantry, and domestic offices — providing insight into the practical running of a great Elizabethan household and the lives of the servants who maintained it.
The Textile Conservation Studio
Hardwick's ongoing textile conservation programme is one of the most important in the National Trust, and visitors can sometimes see conservators at work on the tapestries and embroideries that are the house's greatest treasures.
Current Exhibitions
A programme of seasonal events and changing displays that highlight different aspects of the hall, gardens, and estate throughout the year — from spring wildflowers in the parkland to the atmospheric experience of the candlelit hall during winter opening weekends.