Solving the Mysteries of Hardwick Old Hall
The real challenge for me in writing Noble was divining just how much decline had taken place at the halfway mark of the Old Hall’s history. How much roof and flooring remained by 1816? What was reasonable to think had survived in that timeframe? My visit to Hardwick Old Hall more than four and a quarter centuries after it was built did little to corroborate my choices, but neither did I find a wealth of evidence that what I wrote was an impossible extension of the truth.
My Nikon lens was able to capture from afar some of the important visual statements I make in my story. English Heritage says on its site that these “giant figures on the overmantel may represent Mars and Hercules,” a claim that post-dates my research and writing. While it only matters who Mallory believed them to be at the time, I’m hoping a robust debate on the true identity of these gents will ensue as a result of my story. I’d love to nail this one down. (But Mallory will be sticking with Gog and Magog, regardless.)
The fireplace in the upstairs chamber where Edwin has his “Waterloo moment” is indeed large enough to walk into, but as you see, there is no floor at all to be walked on today. Two hundred years ago the house had been neglected for at least fifty years. I thought it not outrageous to suppose some, but not all, flooring and roofing would be intact.
The website now available on Hardwick Old Hall was not on the internet when I researched and wrote about this wonderful old structure, and so I did not have the floor plan from English Heritage to work with. The material I did find online is long gone, but hopefully somewhat accurate since I relied on it heavily in constructing Edwin’s search of the premises. If you’ve read my book and are curious, click here for the PDF floor plan.
It struck this American as odd that the Old Hall is administered by English Heritage and not combined with its next-door neighbor under the auspices of the National Trust. Sadly, the Old Hall was not open to the public when we visited. I am hoping I can return one day to view the interior, such as it is, and walk in Edwin’s footsteps as he seeks to liberate the hall’s treasures, whatever they might be.
Follow me across the street now to experience the grandness of the “new” hall and its prime mover, the Brilliant Bess of Hardwick.