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Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, is one of the most significant

Elizabethan country houses in England. In common with

architect Robert Smythson's other works at both Longleat

House and Wollaton Hall, Hardwick Hall is one of the

earliest examples of the English interpretation of the

Renaissance style of architecture, which came into

fashion when it was no longer thought necessary to

fortify one's home

Hardwick Hall is situated on a hilltop between Chesterfield and Mansfield, overlooking the Derbyshire countryside. The house was designed for

Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury and ancestress of

the Dukes of Devonshire, by Robert Smythson in the late

16th century and remained in that family until it was handed

over to HM Treasury in lieu of Estate Duty in 1956. The

Treasury transferred the house to the National Trust in 1959

Hardwick is a conspicuous

statement of the wealth and

power of Bess of Hardwick,

who was the richest woman

in England after Queen

Elizabeth I herself. It was one

of the first English houses

where the great hall was

built on an axis through the

centre of the house rather

than at right angles to the

entrance

Nicholas Hawksmoor

(probably 1661 – 25

March 1736) was a

British architect born

in Nottinghamshire,

probably in East

Drayton or Ragnall.[

Nicholas Hawksmoor's

St George-in-the-East,

built 1714-29

The West Towers,

Westminster Abbey

Hawksmoor was born in

Nottinghamshire in 1661,

into a yeoman farming

family, almost certainly in

East Drayton or Ragnall,

Nottinghamshire. On his

death he was to leave

property at nearby

Ragnall, Dunham and a

house and land at Great

Drayton

St Alfege Greenwich 03

the Royal Hospital, London, 1702