Middleton Hall () is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

dating back to

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

times. It is situated in the

North Warwickshire North Warwickshire is a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Warwickshire, West Midlands, England. Outlying settlements in the borough include the two towns of Atherstone (where the council is based) and ...

district of the county of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, south of

Fazeley Fazeley is an industrial town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Fazeley is located on the outskirts of Tamworth and the civil parish of Fazeley also inc ...

and Tamworth and on the opposite side of the A4091 road to Middleton village. The Manor of Middleton was held by the Freville family until 1418 and came to the Willoughbys by virtue of the marriage of the heiress Margaret de Freville to Sir

Hugh Willoughby Sir Hugh Willoughby (fl. 1544; died 1554) was an English soldier and an early Arctic voyager. He served in the court of and fought in the Scottish campaign where he was knighted for his valour. In 1553, he was selected by a company of London ...

. The Willoughbys already had extensive estates in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

and elsewhere, their principal seat being

Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuilding ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. In the mid-17th century the hall was the home of

Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, la, Franciscus Willughbeius) FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithologist and ichthyologist, and an early student of linguistics and games. He was born and raised at ...

, the mathematician and naturalist, and passed ti his descendants the Middleton barons. The hall was also for a time the home of the

parson-naturalist A parson-naturalist was a cleric (a "parson", strictly defined as a country priest who held the living of a parish, but the term is generally extended to other clergy), who often saw the study of natural science as an extension of his religious wo ...

John Ray. The Georgian west wing dates from the late 18th century. In 1812 the estates and the barony passed to Henry Willoughby of the Birdsall,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

branch of the family and Middleton declined in importance in family terms. The Middleton and Wollaton estates were sold in the 1920s. The hall was allowed to fall into disrepair over many years and since 1980 has been restored by a charitable trust. Much work has been done on the main hall, walled garden, Tudor barn complex (now craft shops) and a 16th-century jettied building, which was close to collapse before restoration commenced. The stables and lodging block are on

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

due their poor condition. The surrounding 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land include two walled gardens, the largest man-made lake in Warwickshire, much woodland and Middleton Lakes RSPB reserve.

References

External links

Middleton Hall Trust
Grade II* listed buildings in Warwickshire Country houses in Warwickshire Gardens in Warwickshire Borough of North Warwickshire {{Warwickshire-struct-stub