View source for Wollaton Hall

{{Short description|Historic house museum in Nottingham, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Wollaton Hall
| native_name = 
| native_language = 
| image = Wollaton Hall Nov2010.jpg
| alt = Tall, decorated sandstone building with a clear sky behind and people and snow on the ground in the foreground.
| caption = Wollaton Hall in the snow, November 2010
| type = [[Prodigy house]]
| locmapin = Nottinghamshire
| coordinates = {{coord|52.9480|-1.2096|region:GB|display=inline,title|format=dms}}
| gbgridref = 
| location = [[Nottingham]], [[Nottinghamshire]]
| area = 
| built = 1580–1588
| built_for = [[Francis Willoughby (1547-1596)|Sir Francis Willoughby]]
| architect = [[Robert Smythson]]
| architecture = [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]]
| governing_body = 
| owner = [[Nottingham City Council]]
| designation1 = Grade I
| designation1_offname = Wollaton Hall
| designation1_date = 11 August 1952
| designation1_number = {{Listed building England|1255269}}
| designation2 = Grade II*
| designation2_offname = Camellia House 100 Metres South West of Wollaton Hall
| designation2_date = 12 July 1972
| designation2_number = {{Listed building England|1255271}}
| designation3 = Grade II*
| designation3_offname = Doric Temple and Attached Bridge 200 Metres South-East of Wollaton Hall
| designation3_date = 10 August 1989
| designation3_number = {{Listed building England|1270389}}
| designation4 = National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens
| designation4_offname = Wollaton Hall
| designation4_date = 1 January 1986
| designation4_number = {{Listed building England|1000344}}
| designation5 = 
| designation5_offname = 
| designation5_date = 
| designation5_number = 
| website = [https://wollatonhall.org.uk/ wollatonhall.org.uk]
}}
'''Wollaton Hall''' is an Elizabethan [[English country house|country house]] of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in [[Wollaton Park]], [[Nottingham]], England. The house is now [[Nottingham Natural History Museum]], with [[Nottingham Industrial Museum]] in the outbuildings. The surrounding parkland has a herd of deer, and is regularly used for large-scale [[Wollaton Park#Events|outdoor events]] such as rock concerts, sporting events and festivals.

==Wollaton and the Willoughbys==
[[File:Wollaton Hall - 5212974326.jpg|thumb|left|Wollaton Hall, rear view]]
Wollaton Hall was built between 1580 and 1588 for [[Francis Willoughby (1547-1596)|Sir Francis Willoughby]] and is believed to be designed by the Elizabethan architect, [[Robert Smythson]], who had by then completed [[Longleat]], and was to go on to design [[Hardwick Hall]]. The general plan of Wollaton is comparable to these, and was widely adopted for other houses, but the exuberant decoration of Wollaton is distinctive, and it is possible that Willoughby played some part in creating it.<ref>Airs, pp. 52-56; Jenkins, p. 581</ref> The style is an advanced [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] with early [[Jacobean architecture|Jacobean]] elements.

Wollaton is a classic [[prodigy house]], "the architectural sensation of its age",<ref>Jenkins, p. 581</ref> though its builder was not a leading courtier and its construction stretched the resources he mainly obtained from [[coalmining]]; the original family home was at the bottom of the hill. Though much re-modelled inside, the "startlingly bold" exterior remains largely intact.<ref>Jenkins, p. 581, quoted</ref>

On 21 June 1603, Willoughby's son Sir [[Percival Willoughby]] hosted [[Anne of Denmark]] and her children [[Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales|Prince Henry]] and [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]] at Wollaton.<ref>Emily Cole, 'King and Queen in the State Apartment', ''Le Prince, la Princesse et leurs logis'' (Picard, 2014), 80: John Nichols, ''Progresses of James the First'', vol. 1 (London, 1828), 170.</ref> Charles, later [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], came in 1604.<ref>Alice T. Freidman, ''House and household in Elizabethan England: Wollaton and the Willoughby family'' (Chicago, 1989), 155, 210.</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Wollaton Hall, Nottingham (2).JPG|thumb|left|Oblique view of the main facade]]
[[File:Back of Wollaton Hall - geograph.org.uk - 334270.jpg|left|thumb|Oblique view from the rear]]
The building consists of a central block dominated by a hall three storeys high, with a stone screen at one end and galleries at either end, with the "Prospect Room" above that. From this there are extensive views of the park and surrounding country. There are towers at each corner, projecting out from this top floor. At each corner of the house is a square pavilion of three storeys, with decorative features rising above the roof line. Much of the basement storey is cut from the rock the house sits on.<ref name="auto"/>

The floor plan has been said to derive from [[Serlio]]'s drawing (in Book III of his ''Five Books of Architecture'') of [[Giuliano da Majano]]'s [[Poggio Reale (villa)|Villa Poggio Reale]] near Naples of the late 15th century, with elevations derived from [[Hans Vredeman de Vries]].<ref>Sir [[John Summerson]] (1954) Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830. (Pelican History of Art) London: Penguin Books, p31.</ref> The architectural historian [[Mark Girouard]] has suggested that the design is in fact derived from Nikolaus de Lyra's reconstruction, and [[Josephus]]'s description, of [[Solomon's Temple]] in Jerusalem,<ref>Mark Girouard, "Solomon's Temple in Nottinghamshire" in ''Town and Country'' Yale University Press, 1992, pp187-197</ref> with a more direct inspiration being the mid-16th century [[Mount Edgcumbe House|Mount Edgcumbe]] in Cornwall, which Smythson knew.<ref>Mark Girouard, Elizabethan Architecture: Its Rise and Fall, 1540–1640 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) Yale University Press 2009 p.87</ref> 

The building is of [[Ancaster stone]] from [[Lincolnshire]], and is said to have been paid for with coal from the Wollaton pits owned by Willoughby; the labourers were also paid this way. [[Cassandra Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos]] recorded in 1702 that the master masons, and some of the statuary, were brought from Italy. The decorative [[gondola]] mooring rings carved in stone on the exterior walls offer some evidence of this, as do other architectural features. There are also obvious French and Dutch influences. The exterior and hall have extensive and busy carved decoration, featuring [[strapwork]] and a profusion of decorative forms. The window tracery of the upper floors in the central block and the general busyness of the decoration look back to the [[Middle Ages]],<ref name="auto">{{NHLE|num=1255269 |desc=Wollaton Hall|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref> and have been described as "[[Gothic fiction|fantasy-Gothic]]".<ref>Airs, p. 52, quoted</ref>

==Later history==
[[File:Wollaton Hall, interior (4).JPG|thumb|The screen in the hall]]
The house was unused for about four decades before 1687, following a fire in 1642, and then re-occupied and given the first of several campaigns of re-modelling of the interiors.<ref name="auto"/> Paintings on the ceilings of the two main staircases and round the walls of one are attributed to Sir [[James Thornhill]] and perhaps also [[Louis Laguerre]], carried out around 1700.<ref name="auto"/> Re-modelling was carried out by [[Jeffry Wyatville|Wyatville]] in 1801 and continued intermittently until the 1830s.

The hall remains essentially in its original Elizabethan state, with a "fake [[hammerbeam]]" wood ceiling of the 1580s, in fact supported by horizontal beams above, but given large and un-needed hammerbeams for decoration.<ref name="auto" /> The slightly earlier roofs of the great halls at [[Theobalds House|Theobalds]] and [[Longleat House|Longleat]] were similar.<ref>Emily Cole, 'Theobalds, Hertfordshire: The Plan and Interiors of an Elizabethan Country House', ''Architectural History'', 60 (2017), p. 84.</ref>

The gallery of the main hall contains Nottinghamshire's oldest [[pipe organ]], thought to date from the end of the 17th century, possibly by the builder Gerard Smith. It is still blown by hand. Beneath the hall are many cellars and passages, and a [[water well|well]] and associated reservoir tank, in which some accounts report that an [[admiral]] of the Willoughby family took a daily bath.

The Willoughbys were noted for the number of explorers they produced, most famously [[Hugh Willoughby|Sir Hugh Willoughby]] who died in the Arctic in 1554 attempting a [[North East passage]] to [[Cathay]]. [[Willoughby's Land]] is named after him.

In 1881, the house was still owned by the head of the Willoughby family, [[Digby Willoughby, 9th Baron Middleton]], but by then it was "too near the smoke and busy activity of a large manufacturing town... now only removed from the borough by a narrow slip of country", so that the previous head of the family, [[Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton]], had begun to let the house to tenants and in 1881 it was vacant.<ref>Leonard Jacks, [http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/Jacks1881/wollaton.htm Wollaton] (1881), online at nottshistory.org.uk</ref>

Wollaton Hall was sold by the [[Michael Willoughby, 11th Baron Middleton|11th Baron Middleton]] to the Nottingham Corporation for £200,000 (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|0.2|1925|r=2}} million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}).<ref>{{cite news |title=Wollaton Hall. |work=The Times |issue=44032 |date=5 August 1925 |page=10}}</ref> Estate and personal papers of the Willoughby family were used to create the Middleton collection at the department of [[Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham]]. They include the [[Wollaton Antiphonal]] and the single manuscript holding the 13th-century post-Arthurian romance {{lang|fro|[[Le Roman de Silence]]}}.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/cu31924028044844/page/n245/mode/2up ''Historical Manuscript Commission, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton Preserved at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire'', compiled by W. H. Stevenson (London:, 1911), pp. 221-36.]</ref>

Nottingham Council opened the hall as a museum in 1926. In 2005 it was closed for a two-year refurbishment and re-opened in April 2007. The prospect room at the top of the house, and the kitchens in the basement, were opened up for the public to visit, though this must be done on one of the escorted tours. The latter can be booked on the day, lasts about an hour, and a small charge is made.

In 2011, key scenes from the [[Batman]] movie ''[[The Dark Knight Rises]]'' were filmed outside Wollaton Hall.<ref>{{cite news|last=Heath|first=Neil|title=Batman boost as The Dark Knight Rises at Wollaton Hall|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-13679676|publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]]|work=[[BBC News]]|date=16 June 2011|access-date=18 July 2012}}</ref> The Hall was featured as [[Wayne Manor]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/film/865934-the-dark-knight-rises-finds-new-home-for-batman-in-nottingham|title=The Dark Knight Rises finds new home for Batman in Nottingham|date=10 June 2011|access-date=20 August 2012|work=www.metro.co.uk|publisher=[[Associated Newspapers Limited]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/City-paid-Batman-filming/story-12854596-detail/story.html|title=City was paid for Batman filming|work=This is Nottingham|publisher=[[Northcliffe Media]]|date=30 June 2011|access-date=20 August 2012|archive-date=10 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910145103/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/City-paid-Batman-filming/story-12854596-detail/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Hall is five miles north of [[Gotham, Nottinghamshire]], through which [[Gotham City]] indirectly got its name.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-24760791 |title=The real Gotham: The village behind the Batman stories |date=1 January 2014 |author=Caroline Lowbridge |work=BBC News |access-date=4 January 2014 }}</ref>

==Gardens==
[[File:Wollaton Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1592195.jpg|thumb|Wollaton Hall seen from inside the north entrance to the park on Wollaton Road.]]
Wollaton Hall Park is Grade II* listed on the [[Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England|Register of Historic Parks and Gardens]].<ref name=NHLEGarden>{{NHLE|num=1000344|desc=Wollaton Hall|access-date=2 December 2016}}</ref>

The [[Camellia]] House<ref>[https://friendsofwollatonpark.org.uk/wollaton-hall/formal-garden/camellia-house/ Camellia House]</ref> is a listed building in its own right, as are many other buildings and structures,<ref>[https://friendsofwollatonpark.org.uk/listed-buildings/ Listed Structures and Buildings]</ref> including a [[doric order|doric]] temple and [[Ha-Ha]].

==Owners of Wollaton Hall==
* 1580–1596: [[Francis Willoughby (1547–1596)|Sir Francis Willoughby]]
* 1596–1643: [[Percival Willoughby|Sir Percival Willoughby]]
* 1643–1672: [[Francis Willughby|Francis Willoughby]]
* 1672–1729: [[Thomas Willoughby, 1st Baron Middleton]]
* 1729–1758: [[Francis Willoughby, 2nd Baron Middleton]]
* 1758–1774: [[Francis Willoughby, 3rd Baron Middleton]]
* 1774–1781: [[Thomas Willoughby, 4th Baron Middleton]]
* 1781–1800: [[Henry Willoughby, 5th Baron Middleton]]
* 1800–1835: [[Henry Willoughby, 6th Baron Middleton]]
* 1835–1856: [[Digby Willoughby, 7th Baron Middleton]]
* 1856–1877: [[Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton]]
* 1877–1922: [[Digby Wentworth Bayard Willoughby, 9th Baron Middleton]]
* 1922–1924: Godfrey Ernest Percival Willoughby, 10th Baron Middleton
* 1924–1925: [[Michael Guy Percival Willoughby, 11th Baron Middleton]]
* 1925–present: Nottingham Corporation now [[Nottingham City Council]]

==Similar buildings==
In 1855, [[Joseph Paxton]] designed [[Mentmore Towers]] in [[Buckinghamshire]], which borrows many features from Wollaton. Both properties have been used as film locations for [[Christopher Nolan]]'s [[Batman]] trilogy of films, featuring as [[Wayne Manor]] – the latter in ''[[Batman Begins]]'' and Wollaton Hall itself in ''[[The Dark Knight Rises]]''.

==Nottingham Natural History Museum==
Since Wollaton Hall opened to the public in 1926, it has been home to the city's natural history museum.<ref>{{cite web|title=Natural History Museum|url=http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1233|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408123748/http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1233|archive-date=8 April 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
On display are some of the items from the three quarters of a million specimens that make up its [[zoology]], [[geology]], and [[botany]] collections. These are housed in six main galleries:

* Natural Connections Gallery
* Bird Gallery
* Insect Gallery
* Mineral Gallery
* Africa Gallery
* Natural History Matters Gallery

The museum started life as an interest group at the [[Nottingham Mechanics' Institution]]; it is now owned by the [[City of Nottingham|Nottingham City Council]].

In 2017 the museum hosted a tour of dinosaur skeletons titled ''[[Dinosaurs of China (exhibition)|Dinosaurs of China, Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers]]''. The exhibition was attended by over 125,000 people.<ref>[https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/nottinghams-dinosaurs-china-exhibit-closes-698166 Nottingham Post - Nottingham's Dinosaurs of China Exhibit Closes After Roaringly Successful Summer]</ref>

From July 2021 to August 2022, the Nottingham Natural History Museum featured the world's first exhibit of [[Titus (dinosaur)|Titus]], a "real" ''[[Tyrannosaurus|Tyrannosaurus rex]]'' fossil which was discovered in Montana, in the United States, in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ingram |first=Simon |date=12 May 2021 |title=‘Titus’ the T. rex is coming to the UK this summer. Here's why it's a big deal |work=[[National Geographic]] |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2021/05/titus-the-t-rex-is-coming-to-the-uk-this-summer-heres-why-its-a-big-deal |access-date=2022-06-30}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Jan_Siberechts_-_Wollaton_Hall_and_Park,_Nottinghamshire_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|Wollaton Hall and grounds, painted c.1697 by Jan Siberechts
File:Wollaton Hall late 18th century print by M A Rooker after a drawing by Thomas Sandby.JPG|Wollaton Hall in the late 18th century, engraving by M. A. Rooker after a drawing by Thomas Sandby
File:Hendrik Frans de Cort - Wollaton Hall Park.jpg|''Wollaton Hall Park'', painted c.1795 by Hendrik Frans de Cort
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Grade I listed buildings in Nottinghamshire]]
*[[Listed buildings in Nottingham (Wollaton West ward)]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*Airs, Malcolm, ''The Buildings of Britain, A Guide and Gazetteer, Tudor and Jacobean'', 1982, Barrie & Jenkins (London), {{ISBN|0091478316}} 
*[[Simon Jenkins|Jenkins, Simon]], ''England's Thousand Best Houses'', 2003, Allen Lane, {{ISBN|0-7139-9596-3}}
*{{Citation | surname=Marshall | given= Pamela |authorlink=Pamela Marshall (archaeologist) | title=Wollaton Hall and the Willoughby Family | publisher=Nottingham Civic Society | year=1999 }}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Wollaton Hall}}
*{{Official website|https://wollatonhall.org.uk/}}
*[http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/wollaton/wollaton2.htm Wollaton Hall], by Lady Middleton, from ''Other famous homes of Great Britain and their stories'', edited by A H Malan (Putnam's, 1902), Nottinghamshire History website
*{{OS coord|453160_339251_region:GB_scale:10000|Map and aerial photos}}
*[http://www.nottingham21.co.uk/parks_wollaton_thumbnails.htm Photographs of Wollaton Hall from Nottingham21]
*[http://www.risepark.plus.com/wollaton_hall.html Information, photos and slide show of Wollaton Hall & Park from Rise Park Nottingham] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003054628/http://www.risepark.plus.com/wollaton_hall.html |date=3 October 2011 }}
*[https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101255269-wollaton-hall-wollaton-west-ward#.XlnFYPRkhn4 British Listed Buildings]
*[https://friendsofwollatonpark.org.uk/wollaton-hall/ Friends of Wollaton Park information on Wollaton Hall]
*[https://www.wollatonhistorical.com/ Wollaton Historical & Conservation Society] [[Category:Elizabethan architecture]] exists to protect and enhance the principal conservation areas, which include the old village and Wollaton Park

{{Nottingham Places of Interest |state=autocollapse}}
{{textile museums}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wollaton Hall}}
[[Category:Country houses in Nottinghamshire]]
[[Category:Museums in Nottingham]]
[[Category:Natural history museums in England]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1588]]
[[Category:Grade I listed houses]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Nottinghamshire]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Nottinghamshire]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Nottinghamshire]]
[[Category:Tudor architecture]]<!---late tudor influences--->