Tudor Drama - The Strangerīs Case
Bolling Hall in the Late Tudor Period
The Tempest Family and Bolling Hall
Robert Tempest, who we never see but hear indirectly via Joan in the play, was a real person who inherited Bolling Hall in 1581. He held the Stewardships of Wakefield and of Bradford and in 1598 was entrusted by Queen Elizabeth to collect monies due from Hull and Yorkshire to pay for the ships of her navy. He was married to Anne Piggott of Oxfordshire. They had a daughter, Anne, who died in infancy and a son, Richard. Robert Tempest died in 1601.
The Building and Contents
The earliest surviving part of Bolling Hall is the Medieval tower at the south-east corner. It is a rubble built, three story tower resembling the refuge or pele towers built by landowners in the North during the 14th and 15th centuries. The upper floors contained the rooms of the lord and his family and they were provided with a garde-robe or latrines in the outer corner and fireplaces in the eastern wall. There was probably a building on the site of the present kitchen and a medieval hall where the present housebody is, with a cross passage running alongside the present staircase.
It would be best for schools studying the Tudors to concentrate on the rooms at this eastern end of Bolling Hall. The most useful rooms are:
The Green Bedroom
Containing a late Tudor four-poster bed and a garde-robe.
Front KitchenContaining a meal ark and fireplace.
Back Kitchen
Containing butter churns and other wooden equipment.
Tower Room
Work has been completed to alter this room to look as it was when the tower was first built in the 1490s. Reproduction furnishings have been used that can be handled by visitors. There are painted hangings on the walls, and furniture of the time.
Learning article provided by:
Bolling Hall Museum |
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