Wollaton Hall facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wollaton Hall |
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Wollaton Hall in the snow, November 2010
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| Type | Prodigy house |
| Location | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire |
| Built | 1580-1588 |
| Built for | Sir Francis Willoughby |
| Architect | Robert Smythson |
| Architectural style(s) | Elizabethan |
| Owner | Nottingham City Council |
| Website | wollatonhall.org.uk |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Wollaton Hall | |
| Designated | 11 August 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1255269 |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name: Camellia House 100 Metres South West of Wollaton Hall | |
| Designated | 12 July 1972 |
| Reference no. | 1255271 |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name: Doric Temple and Attached Bridge 200 Metres South-East of Wollaton Hall | |
| Designated | 10 August 1989 |
| Reference no. | 1270389 |
| Official name: Wollaton Hall | |
| Designated | 1 January 1986 |
| Reference no. | 1000344 |
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Wollaton Hall is a grand old house from the 1580s. It sits on a small hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. This amazing building is now the Nottingham Natural History Museum. You can also find the Nottingham Industrial Museum in its other buildings. The park around the hall is huge and has a herd of deer. It's often used for big outdoor events like concerts and festivals.
Contents
Building Wollaton Hall: A Grand Project
Wollaton Hall was built between 1580 and 1588. It was made for Sir Francis Willoughby. People believe the famous architect Robert Smythson designed it. He also designed other big houses like Longleat and Hardwick Hall. Wollaton Hall's design was very popular and copied for many other homes.
The house is a type of building called a "prodigy house." These were huge, fancy houses built to show off wealth. Even though Sir Francis Willoughby wasn't a top royal advisor, building Wollaton Hall cost a lot. He mainly got money from his coalmining business. The original family home was actually at the bottom of the hill. The outside of the hall still looks much like it did hundreds of years ago.
In 1603, Sir Francis's son, Sir Percival Willoughby, welcomed royalty to Wollaton. Anne of Denmark and her children, Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth, visited. Later, Charles I came in 1604.
Exploring the Hall's Design
The main part of Wollaton Hall has a huge central room that is three stories tall. This room has a stone screen and galleries at each end. Above it is the "Prospect Room," which offers amazing views of the park and countryside. There are tall towers at each corner of the house. Each corner also has a square, three-story building with fancy decorations on top. Much of the lowest floor is carved right out of the rock the house sits on.
The building is made from Ancaster stone from Lincolnshire. It's said that the stone was paid for with coal from Sir Willoughby's mines. Some stories say that master builders and statues came from Italy. You can see Italian, French, and Dutch styles in the decorations. The outside walls and the main hall have lots of detailed carvings. These carvings include patterns called strapwork and many other decorative shapes. The windows on the upper floors and the busy decorations make the hall look a bit like older, medieval buildings.
Wollaton Hall Through the Years
After a fire in 1642, the house was empty for about 40 years. It was used again after 1687 and changed inside many times. Paintings on the ceilings of the staircases were done around 1700. More changes were made in the early 1800s.
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The main hall still looks mostly like it did in Elizabethan times. It has a wooden ceiling that looks like a "fake hammerbeam" roof. This means it has large decorative beams, but they are not actually holding up the roof.
Nottinghamshire's oldest pipe organ is in the main hall's gallery. It's from the late 1600s and still needs to be blown by hand to make music. Below the hall, there are many cellars and tunnels. There's also a well and a water tank. Some stories say that an admiral from the Willoughby family used to take a daily bath in this tank!
The Willoughby family was known for its explorers. One famous explorer was Sir Hugh Willoughby. He died in the Arctic in 1554 while trying to find a sea route to China. A place called Willoughby's Land is named after him.
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By 1881, the house was still owned by the Willoughby family. However, it was getting too close to the busy city of Nottingham. So, the family started renting it out. In 1925, Nottingham City Council bought Wollaton Hall.
The council opened the hall as a museum in 1926. It was closed for two years for updates and reopened in 2007. Now, you can visit the "Prospect Room" at the top of the house and the old kitchens in the basement. You need to join a guided tour for these areas.
In 2011, parts of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises were filmed outside Wollaton Hall. The hall was used as Wayne Manor in the movie. Interestingly, Wollaton Hall is only five miles north of a village called Gotham, Nottinghamshire. This village is where Gotham City indirectly got its name!
Beautiful Gardens and Park
Wollaton Hall Park is a very special place. It's listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. This means it's an important historical park.
The Camellia House, which is a greenhouse for camellia flowers, is also a historic building. Many other structures in the park, like a doric temple, are also listed as important.
Who Owned Wollaton Hall?
- 1580–1596: Sir Francis Willoughby
- 1596–1643: Sir Percival Willoughby
- 1643–1672: 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)
Other Buildings Like Wollaton Hall
In 1855, a designer named Joseph Paxton created Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire. This building looks a lot like Wollaton Hall. Both Wollaton Hall and Mentmore Towers have been used as film locations for the Batman movies! Mentmore Towers was used in Batman Begins, and Wollaton Hall was used in The Dark Knight Rises as Wayne Manor.
Nottingham Natural History Museum
Since 1926, Wollaton Hall has been home to Nottingham's natural history museum. The museum displays many items from its huge collection of specimens. These include animals, rocks, and plants. The collection has about 750,000 items!
The museum has six main galleries:
- Natural Connections Gallery
- Bird Gallery
- Insect Gallery
- Mineral Gallery
- Africa Gallery
- Natural History Matters Gallery
The museum started as a group interested in nature. It is now owned by the Nottingham City Council.
In 2017, the museum hosted a special exhibit called Dinosaurs of China, Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers. More than 125,000 people came to see the dinosaur skeletons!
From July 2021 to August 2022, the museum showed the world's first exhibit of Titus. Titus is a real Tyrannosaurus rex fossil. It was found in Montana, USA, in 2014.
Images for kids
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Oblique view from the rear
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Wollaton Hall in the late 18th-century (engraving by M. A. Rooker after a drawing by Thomas Sandby)
See also
In Spanish: Wollaton Hall para niños
- Grade I listed buildings in Nottinghamshire
- Listed buildings in Nottingham (Wollaton West ward)
