Rob
Four Star General
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Messages
- 26,622
Last weekend we visited Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, home to the famous Bess Hardwick , courtier, business woman, mother and head of a family embroiled in Elizabethan intrigue and affairs. By marrying well (she outlived four husbands)she rose from near poverty to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful woman in England and a close friend of Elizabeth the first. In fact so trusted was she that her and her husband were given the unenviable job of 'Looking after' Mary Queen of Scots for fifteen years before her execution, moving from one stately home to another, a task so stressful that Bess's husband finally suffered a nervous breakdown and Elizabeth relieved them of their 'Guest' .
The grounds of Hardwick were also commandeered by the Army and RAF during WW2 and every Parachutist or Glider troop that landed on D Day went through training at Hardwick. There is a large pond in the grounds, when it was dredged in the 1970s they found SIX HUNDRED bicycles in the mud at the bottom. It turns out that when Soldiers and airmen had missed the last Bus back to camp from the local town, they ' commandeered' the bikes from the town and then threw them in the pond to get rid of the evidence!
A really lovely Elizabethen stately home full of wonderful and original paintings and embroideries (some said to have been done by MQS during her captivity)and if you are ever in Derbyshire highly recommended. (owned and run by the National trust)
Rob
The grounds of Hardwick were also commandeered by the Army and RAF during WW2 and every Parachutist or Glider troop that landed on D Day went through training at Hardwick. There is a large pond in the grounds, when it was dredged in the 1970s they found SIX HUNDRED bicycles in the mud at the bottom. It turns out that when Soldiers and airmen had missed the last Bus back to camp from the local town, they ' commandeered' the bikes from the town and then threw them in the pond to get rid of the evidence!
A really lovely Elizabethen stately home full of wonderful and original paintings and embroideries (some said to have been done by MQS during her captivity)and if you are ever in Derbyshire highly recommended. (owned and run by the National trust)
Rob
