Another cold misty day
Hardwick Old Hall was built between 1587and 1596 by Bess of Hardwick. In 1590 before the Old Hall was completed she started to build another house beside it, the New Hall. The two halls wre intended to compliment each other like two wings of one building.
Bess died in 1608, leaving her son William Cavendish in charge of Hardwick. The Cavendish family, the Dukes of Devonshire, came to prefer Chatsworth Hall (they are still at Chatsworth) and partially dismantled the old hall in the 1750’s which gradually became more ruinous. In 1793 it’s open interior was planted with specimen trees.
In order to pay death duties, the Cavendish family handed the Hardwick Estate to the government, In 1959 the estate was transferred to the National Trust but the Ministry of Works (now English Heritage) took guardianship of the Old Hall
