Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall
"More glass than wall"
Type	Prodigy house
Location	Doe Lea, Ault Hucknall, Derbyshire
Coordinates	53°10′08″N 1°18′32″W / 53.1688°N 1.3088°W / 53.1688; -1.3088
OS grid reference	SK 463 637
Built	1590–1597
Architect	Robert Smythson
Architectural style(s)	Renaissance
Owner	National Trust
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Hardwick Hall
Designated	11 Jul 1951
Reference no.	1051617
Location of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire

Hardwick Hall is an architecturally significant Elizabethan-era country house in Derbyshire, England. A leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, the Renaissance style home was built between 1590 and 1597 for Bess of Hardwick to a design of the architect Robert Smythson. Hardwick Hall is one of the earliest examples of the English interpretation of this style, which came into fashion having slowly spread from Florence. Its arrival in Britain coincided with the period when it was no longer necessary or legal to fortify a domestic dwelling.

The British Army's 1st Parachute Brigade was formed at Hardwick Hall in 1941. The Airborne Forces Depot and Battle School was located on the grounds of the estate from 1942 to 1946.

After centuries in the Cavendish family and the line of the Earl of Devonshire and the Duke of Devonshire, ownership of the house was transferred to the Treasury in 1956 and then to the National Trust in 1959. The building was approaching ruin and required stabilisation and restoration.^[1]

The Hall is fully open to the public and received 298,283 visitors in 2019.^[2]

Hardwick Hall is surrounded by the 2,500 acre Hardwick Estate which contains meadows, woodland and ponds, the eastern side of Hardwick Estate extends into Nottinghamshire.