GETTY^ IMAGES/AWL^ IMAGES/ALAMYHardwick Hall
A rival’s triumph
Built for the indomitable Elizabeth
of Shrewsbury (‘Bess of Hardwick’),
the new hall at Hardwick, near
Chesterfield in Derbyshire, was
completed in 1597. It was no
ordinary country residence but
a new style of ‘prodigy house’
rivalling Queen Elizabeth’s palaces
in scale and magnificence. Each of
the three main storeys was taller
than the one below, and there were
so many windows that it inspired
the rhyme “Hardwick Hall, more
glass than wall”. The most striking
element, though, was the use of
Bess’s initials ‘ES’ crowning each
of the six towers, surmounted by
a countess’s coronet – a stridently
self-confident statement by one of
the queen’s greatest rivals.
nationaltrust.org.uk/hardwick-hallHampton Court Palace
Her father’s pleasure complex
In 1515 Thomas Wolsey began
transforming Hampton Court from
a Surrey country house into a
magnificent palace – a process
completed by Henry VIII, who took
it for himself. Today it is the largest
surviving Tudor palace in the world.
Elizabeth visited many times as
a young girl, and attended her
half-sister Mary here during one of
her phantom pregnancies. While
staying at Hampton Court in 1562
Elizabeth, who had been queen for
less than four years, contracted
smallpox and almost died. She
never forgave the palace, and
seldom visited thereafter. She
did, though, reserve some secret
rooms for the practice of alchemy –
the mystical ‘science’ that attempt-
ed to turn base metals into gold.
hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palaceEach of the six towers
of Hardwick Hall,
which was completed
in 1597, is topped with
the initials ‘ES’The Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace,
built for Henry VIII between 1532 and 1535, is
spanned with an ornate hammer-beam roofElizabethan lives / Magnificent homes