Haddon Hall is an English country house on the
River WyeThe River Wye is a limestone river in the Peak District of Derbyshire, England. It is in length, and is one of the major tributaries of the River Derwent, which flows into the River Trent, and ultimately into the Humber and the North Sea....
at
BakewellBakewell is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, deriving its name from 'Beadeca's Well'. It is the only town included in the Peak District National Park, and is well known for the local confection Bakewell Pudding...
,
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, one of the seats of the
Duke of RutlandEarl of Rutland and Duke of Rutland are titles in the peerage of England, derived from Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. The Earl of Rutland was elevated to the status of Duke in 1703 and the titles were merged....
, occupied by Lord Edward Manners and his family. In form a medieval manor house, it has been described as "the most complete and most interesting house of [its] period".
History
The origins of the hall date to the 11th century.
William PeverelWilliam Peverell , was a Norman knight, and is shown in 'The Battle Abbey Roll' to have fought at the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
, illegitimate son of William the Conqueror, held the manor of Haddon in 1087, when the survey which resulted in the
Domesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
was undertaken. The
Vernon familyThe Vernon family was a wealthy, prolific and widespread English family with 11th century origins in Vernon, France.-Vernon of Shipbrook, Cheshire:...
acquired the Manor of Nether Haddon by the 13th century marriage to the Haddon heiress. Though it was never a castle, the manor of Haddon was protected by a wall from 1195, when Richard Vernon received permission to build it.
Dorothy Vernon, the daughter and heiress of Sir George Vernon (c. 1503 – August 31, 1565), the wealthy owner of Haddon Hall, married John Manners, the second son of
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of RutlandThomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, 13th Baron de Ros of Helmsley was created an earl by King Henry VIII of England in 1525.-Family background:...
in 1563. Sir George supposedly disapproved of the union, possibly because the Manners were Protestants, and the Vernons were Catholics, or possibly because the second son of an earl had uncertain financial prospects. According to legend, Sir George forbade John Manners from courting the famously beautiful and amiable Dorothy and forbade his daughter from seeing Manners. Shielded by the crowd during a ball given at Haddon Hall by Sir George in 1563, Dorothy slipped away and fled through the gardens, down stone steps and over a footbridge where Manners was waiting for her, and they rode away to be married. If indeed this happened, the couple were soon reconciled with Sir George, as they inherited the estate on his death two years later. Their grandson, also
John Manners of HaddonJohn Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited the peerage....
, inherited the Earldom on the death of his distant cousin, the seventh Earl of Belvoir Castle.
His son, also
John, the 9th EarlJohn Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland and 9th Earl of Rutland was the son of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland and Frances Montagu. His maternal grandparents were Sir Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton and his wife Elizabeth Jeffries...
, when made Duke of Rutland in 1703, moved to
Belvoir CastleBelvoir Castle is a stately home in the English county of Leicestershire, overlooking the Vale of Belvoir . It is a Grade I listed building....
, and his heirs used the Hall very little, so it lay almost in its unaltered 16th-century condition, as it had been when it passed in 1567 by marriage to the
Manners familyEarl of Rutland and Duke of Rutland are titles in the peerage of England, derived from Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. The Earl of Rutland was elevated to the status of Duke in 1703 and the titles were merged....
. In the 1920s, another
John Manners, 9th Duke of RutlandJohn Henry Montagu Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland was the son of Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland and his wife Violet....
realised its importance and began a lifetime of meticulous restoration, with his restoration architect Harold Brakspear. The current medieval and
TudorThe Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
Haddon includes small sections of the 11th-century structure, but mostly comprises additional chambers and ranges added by the successive generations of the Peverel, Avenel, Vernon and Manners families. Major construction was carried out at various stages between the 13th and the 17th centuries. The banqueting hall (with minstrels' gallery), kitchens and parlour date from 1370 and the St. Nicholas Chapel was completed in 1427. For generations, whitewash concealed and protected their pre-Reformation frescoes. There is a 16th-century
Long GalleryLong gallery is an architectural term given to a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In British architecture, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were often located on the upper floor of the great houses of the time, and stretched across the entire...
.
The 9th Duke created the walled
topiaryTopiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
garden adjoining the stable-block cottage, with clipped heraldic devices of the boar's head and the peacock, emblematic of the Vernon and Manners families. Haddon Hall remains in the Manners family to the present day.
Layout
The hall stands on a sloping site, and is structured around two courtyards; the upper (north-east) courtyard contains the Peverel or Eagle Tower and the Long Gallery, the lower (south-west) courtyard houses the Chapel, while the Great Hall lies between the two. As was normal when the hall was built, many of the rooms can only be reached from outside or by passing through other rooms, making the house inconvenient by later standards.
In literature and the arts
The hall has figured prominently in a number of literary and stage works, including the following, all of which describe the Vernon/Manners elopement:
- A light opera, called Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall is an English light opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Sydney Grundy. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on September 24, 1892 for a modestly successful run of 204 performances...
, with music by Arthur SullivanSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
and a libretto by Sydney GrundySydney Grundy was an English dramatist. Most of his works were adaptations of European plays, and many became successful enough to tour throughout the English-speaking world...
, premiered in London in 1892.
- A novel called Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall
Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall is a 1902 historical novel written by Charles Major. Following the life and romances of Dorothy Vernon in Elizabethan England, the novel became the year's third most successful novel according to the New York Times annual list of bestselling novels...
was written in 1902 by American Charles MajorCharles Major was an American lawyer and novelist.Born to an upper-middle class Indianapolis family, Major developed an interest in both law and English history at an early age and attended the University of Michigan from 1872 through 1875, being admitted to the Indiana bar association in 1877...
and became a best seller.
- A play of the same name, based Major's novel, was written by American playwright Paul Kester. It debuted on Broadway
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1903.
- Fred Terry
Fred Terry was an English actor and theatrical manager. After establishing his reputation in London and in the provinces for a decade, he joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree where he remained for four years, meeting his future wife, Julia Neilson...
and his wife Julia NeilsonJulia Neilson was an English actress best known for her numerous performances as Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, for her roles in many tragedies and historical romances, and for her portrayal of Rosalind in a long-running production of As You Like It.After establishing her reputation in a...
adapted that play for London, calling it Dorothy o' the Hall, where it played in 1906.
- A 1924 film, starring Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, was adapted by American screenwriter Waldemar Young (grandson of Brigham YoungBrigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
) from the Major novel.
- The Hall features in Philip Hensher
Philip Michael Hensher FRSL is an English novelist, critic and journalist.Hensher was born in South London, although he spent the majority of his childhood and adolescence in Sheffield, attending Tapton School. He did his undergraduate degree at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford before attending...
's 2008 novel, The Northern Clemency
Frederick BootyFrederick William Booty was an artist, living in Brighton, England, who was also the author of the first postage stamp catalogue in English, and the first illustrated stamp catalogue anywhere.- Education :...
, the English watercolourist, painted Haddon Hall several times, including pictures of the peacocks in the gardens.
In cinema and television
The interior and exterior of the home (including the Long Gallery) were used in 1986 as Prince Humperdinck's castle in
The Princess BrideThe Princess Bride is a 1987 American film based on the 1973 novel of the same name by William Goldman, combining comedy, adventure, romance, and fantasy. The film was directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay by Goldman...
.
Franco ZeffirelliFranco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
chose Haddon Hall as the location for his 1996 film of
Jane EyreJane Eyre is a 1996 film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. This Hollywood version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is similar to the original novel, although it compresses and eliminates most of the plot in the last quarter of the book to make it fit into a 2-hour...
, and the Hall featured in the 1998 film
ElizabethElizabeth is a 1998 biographical film written by Michael Hirst, directed by Shekhar Kapur, and starring Cate Blanchett in the title role of Queen Elizabeth I of England, alongside Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Sir John Gielgud, Fanny Ardant and Richard Attenborough...
. It also appeared in the 2005 film version of
Pride & Prejudice. Since then, it has appeared on television in 2006 as
Thornfield HallThornfield Hall is the home of the male romantic lead, Edward Rochester, in the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Thornfield Hall is also where a large part of the action takes place....
in
Diederick SanterDiederick Santer is a British television producer and is best known for his work on the popular BBC television soap opera EastEnders, a post which he assumed on 23 October 2006 and left on 1 March 2010...
's 2006
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
version of
Jane EyreJane Eyre is a 2006 television adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. The story, which has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations is based on the life of the orphaned titular character...
and was so used again 2009 and in Cary Fukunaga's
2011 filmJane Eyre is a 2011 British romantic drama film directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. The screenplay is written by Moira Buffini based on the 1847 novel of the same name by Charlotte Brontë...
of
Jane Eyre.
The hall was the setting for
A Tudor Feast at Christmas, a BBC2 documentary recreation of a Tudor banquet (first broadcast Christmas 2006) by the team of academics from
Tales from the Green ValleyTales from the Green Valley is a historical documentary TV series in 12 parts, first shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005.The series was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion TV. It was directed and produced by Peter Sommer. The Series Producer was David Upshal...
. In 1990, Haddon Hall was the set for the castle of the giants at Harfang in the BBC's adaptation of
The Silver ChairThe Silver Chair is part of The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels written by C. S. Lewis. It was the fourth book published and is the sixth book chronologically. It is the first book published in the series in which the Pevensie children do not appear. The main characters are...
, one of C.S. Lewis's
Chronicles of Narnia.
Sources
External links