Built between 1590 and 1597 for Bess of Hardwick, it was designed by the architect Robert Smythson, an exponent of the Renaissance style.

Hardwick Hall is one of the earliest examples of the English interpretation of this style, which came into fashion having slowly spread from Florence.

[2] Sited on a hilltop between Chesterfield and Mansfield, overlooking the Derbyshire countryside, Hardwick Hall was designed by Robert Smythson in the late 16th century.

Ordered by Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury and ancestress of the Dukes of Devonshire, it was owned by her descendants until the mid-twentieth century.

Bess of Hardwick was the richest woman in England after Queen Elizabeth I, and her house was conceived to be a conspicuous statement of her wealth and power.

There is also a tapestry-hung great chamber with a spectacular plaster frieze illustrating hunting scenes; the room has been little altered.

In 1844, William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire published a book called Handbook to Chatsworth and Hardwick.

Army Northern Command leased 53 acres of the estate to establish a camp of red-brick huts with training areas.

[10][11] The camp was southwest of the Hall and consisted of a 250-foot (76 m) parachute jump tower, assault courses and trapeze in-flight swing training structures.

When pre-jump training was successfully completed, the recruits that passed out were required to speed-march approximately 50 miles (80 km) to join the parachute course at RAF Ringway.

A tethered barrage balloon was also installed on 1 November 1941 to provide refresher training for qualified parachutists and to supplement descents made from the jump tower.

[10][11] In April 1946, the Depot moved to Albany Barracks on the Isle of Wight and Airborne Forces activity at Hardwick Hall ceased.

[10][11] When the British Army left their battle school and village after the war, it was turned into a Polish resettlement camp for allied soldiers.

[citation needed] Having done much, personally, to conserve the textiles in the house as well as reinstating the traditional rush matting, she was to be its last occupant.

[15] Hardwick Hall contains a large collection of embroideries, mostly dating from the late 16th century, many of which are listed in the 1601 inventory.

[16][17] Dan Cruickshank, an historian specialising in architecture, selected the Hall in 2006 as one of his five choices for Britain's Best Buildings, a documentary series made by the BBC for television.

Hardwick Hall was an ideal model for a building which was intended to merge historicism with the large expanses of glass that had become de rigueur for the main exhibition halls at international expositions and fairs in the wake of the success of The Crystal Palace constructed for the 1851 London Exhibition.