The television adaptation of Wolf Hall,
based on Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up The Bodies and
starring Damien Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn, very nearly
didn't get made in England. The makers
of the programme, which covers the Anne Boleyn phase of Henry's love life and the pivotal role of Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) as Henry's fixer, originally wanted to film in Belgium
where there were tax breaks available, but they changed their minds, deciding
that Belgium
somehow just didn't look right. Britain's
tourism officials must have been very glad of this change of heart, because the
sumptuous historic houses and gardens used in the series, many of them owned by
the National Trust, provide the best possible showcase for the country's
history and heritage. The locations are
spread across a range of counties, mainly in Southern
England.
First off Somerset, where the crew made use of Barrington Court
(National Trust), a 16th century Tudor manor house near Ilminster. The house was restored in the 1920s and was
used for evacuees during World War II.
There are no collections or furniture in the interior, so it is up to
the visitor to visualise how the rooms would have looked during Tudor
times. The gardens were designed by
Gertrude Jekyll. For Wolf Hall the house
portrayed York Place,
the home of Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), with scenes set in the inner and
outer privy chambers, while the gardens doubled as Windsor Great
Park. On to Montacute House (National Trust) near
Yeovil, an Elizabethan mansion completed in 1601 and built from local 'ham'
stone. A highlight is the Long Gallery
(171 feet long) with over 60 Tudor and Elizabethan portraits. The house was given a majestic air by the architects courtesy of
the towering windows. In Wolf Hall
Montacute was used for Greenwich
Palace, with the Long
Gallery stripped bare for the filming.
The surrounding parkland was used for the jousting scenes. Further west, near Wellington, is the 14th century Cothay Manor,
which was used in the series as the home of Thomas More.
Barringtoncourt. Photo by Andrew Longton, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Heading northeast to Wiltshire we come to
Great Chalfield Manor (National Trust) near Melksham. This moated 15th century manor was built by
Thomas Tropenell, who graced it with oriel windows and carvings of griffons and
monkeys on the roof tops. The property
is surrounded by charming gardens. For
Wolf Hall the house served as Austin Friars, the London home of Thomas Cromwell. For anyone wanting to relive
the Wolf Hall experience there is bed and breakfast accommodation available at
the property. Also in Wiltshire is
Lacock Abbey (National Trust), a former nunnery turned country house with
various architectural styles. As well as
Lacock Abbey itself, visitors can stroll around the adjacent Lacock Village,
with quaint streets, shops, cafes and pubs.
The pioneering photographer William Henry Fox Talbot once lived here,
and there is a museum devoted to him. In
the series, Lacock Abbey was used to depict Wolf Hall itself, with outdoor
scenes shot in the surrounding woodland.
Wolf Hall fans may have experienced a feeling of deja vu at the sight of
this property, as it has been used for filming before, most notably in the
Harry Potter films and the Cranford TV series.
Lacock Abbey cloister. Photo by John Chapman, via Wikimedia Commons. |
To the north of Wiltshire is
Gloucestershire with its county town of Gloucester,
where the cathedral, built between 1089 and 1499, was used as the Court of
Henry VIII. During the filming the
locals were treated to the sight of members of the cast in full Tudor regalia
queuing up at a fish and chip van. To
the south west, near the mouth of the River Severn, is the small town of Berkeley and its castle, which has been the home of the Berkeley family for 850
years, making it the oldest building in the country still inhabited by the
family who built it. The castle, whose
origins date back to the 11th century, is built from a warm-hued pink stone,
with battlements towering 60 feet above the Great Lawn. It was one of the so-called 'March Castles'
built to keep out the Welsh. The makers
of the series made use of the Bailey Gates and Inner Bailey, The Great Hall,
kitchens, buttery and The Long Drawing Room.
Further north in the county in the depths of the Cotswolds is Stanway House, a Jacobean manor house known for its single-jet fountain, the highest
gravity fountain in the world. As it
happens Thomas Cromwell had close links to this part of the country, and
witnessed the destruction of the nearby Hailes Abbey.
Berkeley Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1440400. Photo by Philip Halling, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Zooming across to the south-east corner of
the country, there are two locations in Kent which featured in the series. Penshurst Place is a 14th century hunting lodge near
Tonbridge which once belonged to Henry VIII.
It was where Henry courted Anne Boleyn, so that the scenes shot in The
Long Gallery were filmed in the very place that the action between the two lovers
took place 500 years ago. Candles were
used for the filming, adding an extra air of authenticity, although some
viewers complained about the darkness of the scenes on the telly. Other parts of the property used for filming
include the Queen Elizabeth Room,
Baron's Hall, The Tapestry Room, The Solar and The Crypt, with scenes depicting
York Place
and Whitehall. Two other historical films were made here:
The Other Boleyn Girl and Anne of the Thousand Days. Down on the coast, Dover Castle (English Heritage) with its 83-foot Great Tower
played the Tower
of London - not for the
first time, as it has been used in a number of other productions for the same purpose. The grisly
execution scene at the end of the series was shot here. The castle occupies the site of an Iron Age
hillfort which was used by William the Conqueror for the construction of an
earthwork and timber-stockaded castle.
The stone castle was begun in the 1180s by Henry II.
These are the main locations used in the
series, but there are a number of others: Bristol
and Winchester Cathedrals, Broughton Castle and Chastleton House (National Trust) in Oxfordshire, the Tithe Barn (English Heritage) in Bradford on Avon, Raglan Castle (Cadw) in Monmouthshire and the beguiling fairytale
Castell Coch (Cadw) to the north of Cardiff in Wales.