As the ultimate a part of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Corridor” trilogy hits our TV screens, “I predict a sudden revival of the Tudor aesthetic”, stated historian Suzannah Lipscomb in The Telegraph.
The spectacular structure and interiors on present within the BBC’s adaptation of “The Mirror and the Mild” will little question “drip its means into our collective unconscious”, and shortly many people can be “longing” to discover one in every of Britain’s “beautiful” Tudor mansions.
Certainly, the areas the place the TV motion was filmed have already seen a steep uptick in web site visitors. “The Tudors, it appears, are nonetheless box-office gold,” stated Kevin Rushby in The Guardian.
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Earlier this yr, English Heritage revealed that there was a “post-pandemic resurgence” in visits to historic websites, reported The Instances — this renewed curiosity previously little question spurred on by standard historical past podcasts like Radio 4’s “You are Useless To Me” and Goalhanger’s “The Relaxation is Historical past”. And it is the Tudors who’re reliably among the many “greatest attracts”: 4 of the 9 properties that recorded their best-ever customer numbers “boast of a connection to Henry VIII”.
Eltham Palace in London, Henry VIII’s boyhood dwelling, noticed its highest footfall in 2023, whereas there was a 19% rise in guests to Gainsborough Outdated Corridor in Lincolnshire, the superbly preserved former dwelling of Henry’s sixth spouse, Catherine Parr.
Thornbury Fortress, simply outdoors Bristol, is the “solely Tudor fort in England the place you may keep the night time” and is nicely value visiting , stated Lipscomb in The Telegraph. Company might even get an opportunity to remain within the “very bedchamber” the place Henry VIII and his second spouse Anne Boleyn slept throughout their royal tour in 1535. The structure is “magnificent”: count on crossbow loopholes, gun ports and “the very best unique Tudor chimney stacks within the nation”.
One other “should for Tudor acolytes” is Hever Fortress, Anne Boleyn’s childhood dwelling. Positioned within the Kent countryside round an hour-and-a-half drive from London, it has landscaped grounds and a walled rose backyard to discover, and a “fantastic assortment of Tudor portraits” to marvel at within the wood-panelled Nice Corridor.
For Peter Kosminsky, collection director of the “Wolf Corridor” trilogy, Haddon Corridor is the “excellent” place for a day trip, stated Rushby in The Guardian. Located on the river Wye close to Bakewell, Derbyshire, the meticulously preserved Eleventh-century stately dwelling stays “comparatively unchanged since Henry visited, bringing a tapestry that also hangs within the banqueting corridor”.
