Haddon Hall

“…be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it. And when you resent the ache in your heart, remember: You will be dead and buried soon enough.”

— Paul Harding, Tinkers

Monsal Head
We made a brief stop to see this well-known, beautiful valley.
**Monsal Viaduct**—once a railway bridge, now a public foot and bicycle path.

The lush **Monsal Dale** (valley) with the River Wye winding through.

Eyam Plague Village

The village of Eyam (pronounced eem) is famous because of its association with the Great Plague of London in 1665. In that year, a chest of clothes was sent from London to Eyam, and soon some forty percent of the villagers were dead as infested fleas had made their way into the linen and so too the people of Eyam.

What made the village so special was the self sacrifice they made to ensure the disease did not spread. Led by the rector William Mompesson, the entire village took the courageous and compassionate action to isolate themselves to prevent carrying the disease to surrounding communities. By this heroic action, the Plague never spread to the surrounding villages.

This was also a do-over for Amanda and me. Amanda has always had a fascination with the plague and its history. When we visited this area in 2009 we knew about Eyam, but ran out of time to visit. We have always regretted the fact, so this was our chance to fix a mistake.

Where it all began—In this home, now known as Plague Cottage, lived a widow, Mrs Mary Cooper, and her two sons, Edward and Jonathan.

Her new husband, Alexander Hadfield, also lived here, along with Mr Hadfield’s employed hand, George Viccars.

George Viccars was a tailor, and tradition states that Viccars ordered cloth from London where the plague was raging fiercely. Viccars found the cloth to be damp on arrival so he put it before a fire to dry. Within a few days, Viccars fell ill and died of a strange fever.

Suspicion was not aroused until fifteen days later when the widow Cooper's 4-year-old son Edward also died, to be followed soon after by near neighbors at the Thorpes, Hawkworths, and Sydall households.

Mary’s other son and new husband also succumbing, she lost 13 relatives in all. Mary alone survived.

The Sydall family, who lived opposite, lost seven members.

To the left of Plague Cottage is **Rose Cottage**—Nine members of the **Thorpe** family lived here. They all died.

The **Hawksworth** family—Peter, Jane, and their 15-month-old son Humphrey lived here, to the right of Plague Cottage. Peter was the town’s third victim on September 23, 1665, followed by Humphrey. Jane was the sole survivor in the household. Including her in-laws, she lost 25 relatives. Despite the apparent success of women in this few cases; overall, young women faired worst of all throughout Eyam.

“Ring a ring of roses
A pocket full of posies
Atishoo, Atishoo
We all fall down.”

— Familiar Nursery Rhyme

This popular nursery rhyme is thought to refer to the Bubonic Plague of 1665-6. The “roses” refer to the purple patches that developed on the chest of the victim. Also, a "Ring o' Roses" is a burial wreath. The “posies” are thought to be the nosegays of herbs carried to ward off the plague. Sneezing was another symptom. “We all fall down”—there was no known cure for the plague.

The Plague Window (1985) in Eyam’s St Lawrence's Church, tells the story of the plague and depicts sites and people connected with the story.

This very fine Anglo-Saxon (Mercian) cross stands 8 foot tall and dates from the 8th-9th centuries. It was apparently set up by missionaries from the north at Cross Low on the moors to the west of Eyam.
Originally it was a wayside preaching cross that was 10 feet high and certainly must have looked very spectacular, but now it is only 8 feet high due to it being knocked about a bit in more recent times and losing one of its base sections.
In the 18th century, the cross was discovered beside a trackway on the moors, from where it was brought to the churchyard of St Lawrence’s Church. For a long time it stood abandoned and uncared for in the corner of the churchyard. Eventually it was restored and placed in the churchyard where it now stands proudly. The cross is said to be the only one of its type in the Midlands that retains its cross-head.

As part of three-part plan developed by rector William Mompesson and the ejected Puritan minister Thomas Stanley, plague victims were buried as quickly as possible and as near to the place they died, rather than in the village cemetery—no more public funerals. When someone died, the family simply dragged them into a field and buried them.
While Mompesson and Stanleythe developed their plan for controlling the plague within Eyam, William Mompesson’s wife Catherine tended the sick—support that ultimately cost her her life on August 25, 1666. She was the only plague victim buried in the churchyard. Her husband was eventually buried near her in 1709.

Many who lived here in **Merrill Cottage** died. However, Andrew Merrill survived by going to the edge of Eyam Moor and building a crude hut in which he lived with his pet cockerel until the plague was over.

Nine members of the **Wilson** family died here at West End Cottage.
The story of Eyam is one of tragedy and heroism in equal measure. Given the extreme suffering inflicted on Eyam, imagine the result if Mompesson and Stanley had not shown such insightful leadership. Of course, this tale hit home especially hard with the COVID-19 pandemic. There were many similarities that we related to much more in 2023 than if we had visited back in 2009.

“Let all who tread the green fields of Eyam remember, with feelings of awe and veneration, that beneath their feet repose the ashes of those moral heroes, who with a sublime, heroic and unparalleled resolution gave up their lives, yea doomed themselves to pestilential death to save the surrounding country. Their self sacrifice is unequalled in the annals of the world.”

— William Wood, Local Victorian Historian

Ever since our first visit Haddon Hall in 2009, it has held steady as one of our absolute favorite places.

Haddon means heather-covered hill. Haddon Hall was built and developed from the 12th to the early 17th centuries, before lying dormant for over two hundred years. It was restored in the 1920s by the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

The suspended period of dormancy meant the estate was never “upgraded” during the modernizing period of the Georgians and Victorians. It is this fact, perhaps more than any other, that gives Haddon its unequalled ethereal olde world appeal. Haddon is widely considered to be the country’s finest fortified Medieval manor house.

With nine hundred years of history, it is one of the oldest houses in the country and moreover one of the only houses in England to have remained in one family’s ownership for its entire existence.

Entry to the property is through an old stone **gatehouse** (Amanda in 2009), after which you round a small bend and arrive at an ancient bridge over the River Wye (different than the one in Wales).

Beyond the bridge rises Haddon Hall, like a perfectly-constructed CG castle—only its real!

Perhaps you will not find her common now.

In the 1987 Princess Bride film, Prince Humperdinck’s kingdom of “Florin” was filmed at Haddon Hall.

It is here that Humperdinck announced his betrothal to Princess Buttercup.

The production added an extra tower to give a more imposing appearance.

The Queen of Putrescence
It was here that Princess Buttercup dreamt she was accosted by the old woman.

Old Woman: Boo. Boo. Boo.
Princess Buttercup: Why do you do this?
Old Woman: Because you had love in your hands, and you gave it up.
Princess Buttercup: But they would have killed Westley if I hadn't done it.
Old Woman: Your true love lives. And you marry another. True Love saved her in the Fire Swamp, and she treated it like garbage. And that's what she is, the Queen of Refuse. So bow down to her if you want, bow to her. Bow to the Queen of Slime, the Queen of Filth, the Queen of Putrescence. Boo. Boo. Rubbish. Filth. Slime. Muck. Boo. Boo. Boo.

Haddon Hall as seen in The Princess Bride.

The **Banqueting Hall** with minstrels' gallery (right), kitchens, and parlour date from 1370—amazing.

The character of this room is so unique that it is highly sought after as a filming location.
Beside The Princess Bride and Pride and Prejudice, it was also used for Jane Eyre, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth, Lady Jane, and The Other Boleyn Girl (among others).
Haddon Hall was used recently to film **Firebrand** by Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, which just debuted this week at Cannes. It is the story of Henry VIII’s sixth and last wife Catherine Parr, based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s novel Queen’s Gambit—with Jude Law as Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as Parr. Can’t wait to see it!

This is the passageway between the kitchen and the Banqueting Hall. These stones have been in place for over 650 years!
Amanda is standing at the door used as the entrance to the “inn at Lampton” in the 2005 *Pride and Prejudice*.

The “Lampton” in the 2005 *Pride and Prejudice*, in front of the Banqueting Hall’s grand fireplace.

On the steps below you can see a set of Elizabethan dog gates. There are two such gates at Haddon—the others are at the entrance to the chapel. These gates give a rather sweet insight to the past as they imply dogs were a big part of Haddon's life and that they were largely free to roam.
However apparently this did not extend to the chapel and Dorothy Vernon obviously did not want them in her glamorous new first floor apartments.

Keira Knightly passes the dog gate in Pride and Prejudice.

“Every ship but your four fastest, you mean.”
Haddon’s Banqueting Hall was also used as Prince Humperdinck’s chamber. (I have no idea what is the significance of the pink arrow; I stole the image from the internet.)

This tapestry in the Banqueting Hall was presented to the Vernon family by none other than King Henry VIII. Why? Read on…

In our Harvington Hall post from April 17 you can see our visit to Worcester Cathedral and the burial place of Arthur, Prince of Wales.

At the young age of 12, Prince Arthur was betrothed by his father Henry VII to Catherine of Aragon.

Due to his young age, Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon Hall was made governor and treasurer for Arthur.

Sir Henry set aside a “Prince's Chamber” in Haddon for Arthur’s frequent visits between the ages of 7-16. Sir Henry found the young Prince to be amiable and developed an affectionate regard for him. Sir Henry’s son likewise adored Prince Arthur with brotherly affection. The Prince is said to have enjoyed his time at Haddon so much that he always left it reluctantly

In September 1501, when Arthur was just 15 years old, he was at Haddon when he learned he had been married to Catherine of Aragon by proxy.

He and Catherine were soon after sent to Ludlow Castle to learn the life of court as part of their training to rule. Less than 5 months after their marriage, Arthur died in 1502.

Had Arthur lived, he would have succeeded his father as King of England. Instead, his younger brother Henry VIII ascended to the throne in 1509 and took Catherine as his first wife.

Henry VIII initially claimed that Catherine was so young she had never consummated the marriage to his older brother, and it was therefore acceptable for him to marry her. Later, he would claim that Catherine had slept with his older brother, so he wanted the marriage annulled (so he could marry Anne Boleyn).

All things are wearisome, more than one can say…What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun…No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Ecclesiastes 1:9&11

So, Henry VIII gave the tapestry to Haddon Hall for their care of his older brother before he died.