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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Hardwick Hall
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(16km/10m S of Chesterfield)
The Elizabethan house which carries further than any other the passion of the time for large areas of window. Glass was expensive and therefore a status symbol ('Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall' runs the jingle). It was built in the 1590s by *Bess of Hardwick, whose initials ES (Elizabeth, countess of Shrewsbury) surmount each of six corner towers, and it was almost certainly designed by Robert *Smythson. Many of the original furnishings, listed in an inventory of 1601, are still in place – most notably a superb range of embroidered fabrics, and the set of tapestries around which the great chamber was designed.
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