Credit: Mikestuchbery, Hatfield Old Palace – Close View, CC BY-SA 4.0
Hatfield House in Hertfordshire is a location of huge historical importance.
Built in 1497 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Herny VIII seized it with church properties during his reign. His children, King Edward VI and the future Queen Elizabeth spent their younger years roaming the halls and gardens, whilst his oldest daughter, Queen Mary I, also lived there between 1533 and 1536. The strongest association is with Queen Elizabeth, though, who returned to Hatfield after her infamous imprisonment at the Tower of London for allegedly agreeing to marry Thomas Seymour. The Queen Elizabeth Oak, which is on the grounds of the current estate, is believed to be the location where Elizabeth was told she’d be queen upon Mary’s passing. Elizabeth left Hatfield House in 1558 to become Queen of England.
The house has changed much since then; in 1608, Robert Cecil tore down three blocks of the palace to build the existing structure, although part of the original building remains in the form of the Old Palace. Cecil also remodelled the gardens, covering 42 acres; they include orchards, fountains, scented plants, and water parterres.
The house is a significant tourist attraction today, and with an extensive display dedicated to Elizabeth, it is a must-see location for any fan of the Tudors and Elizabethan eras. Today, it is the private residence of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, a Conservative politician and former member of Parliament, although some areas are accessible to the public. It is also very well known as a filming location and has featured in many blockbuster movies over the years. If you can’t get to see the house in its present state, then perhaps you can catch a little slice of English history hidden away in these feature films.
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is a franchise famed as much for its video game impact as its effect on cinema. The character of Lara Croft revolutionized gaming when she first appeared in 1996; she’s described by Foxy Games as a pioneering female character in video games. The film wasn’t quite as pioneering; Angelina Jolie did a great job bringing Croft to life in what was a generic Indiana Jones-style action flick. It also brought Hatfield to life, with the Great Hall and Library used in the shooting. The exterior of the house has also been used as the fictional setting for Lara Croft’s mansion.
Batman
It’s a little known fact that Hatfield House has been in more Batman movies than Michael Keaton! Keaton, who played the Caped Crusader twice, was the first to walk the chequered floor of Hatfield’s Marble Hall. It was the location of his meeting with Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale in the first Tim Burton-directed movie. It featured in Batman Returns, again as Wayne Manor, and it appeared in the latest franchise. Christopher Nolan used the ground and exterior in Batman Begins, giving the house its third Batman franchise appearance. Burton has filmed at Hatfield since; some scenes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were also located at Hatfield.
Sherlock Holmes
Is there anything as quintessentially British as the detective Sherlock Holmes? Maybe not when an American, Robert Downey Jr, plays him, but nonetheless, this 2009 film was still a huge hit, and it was partially filmed at Hatfield, as were scenes of the sequel, according to IMDb. The films played with the accepted norms of Holmes as a traditional detective, bringing in elements of science fiction and neat filming tricks. The first one used Hatfield House for a key scene, where Holmes was seen walking down the Long Hall chatting to a rich inhabitant. That’s the same Long Hall Jolie walked down in the Tomb Raider movies and the same one used as a games room by Batman, played by Keaton.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.
