News from Athelhampton House & Gardens.

Giving birth was one of the most dangerous things a woman could do in Medieval and Renaissance England: it was the leading cause of death for women, with as many as 1 in 40 women dying in childbirth. So what might a woman living in this Dorset Tudor Manor of Athelhampton do to try to stay safe at this time? Preparations for giving birth started early, with the lying-in period beginning up to six weeks before the prospective mother gave birth. The Marriage Chamber at Athelhamp

As you explore over 20 rooms at Athelhampton, there’s the chance to step into the world of one of England’s most enduring melodies, with the Greensleeves Project Exhibition. Associated with all manner of things, from Henry VIII to ice cream vans, there’s the chance at Athelhampton to discover the truth behind this evocative piece of Tudor music. The words and gifts of the rejected lover are brought to life here, with the exquisitely reconstructed Tudor clothing created by ski

At Athelhampton, the Marriage Chamber has been quietly enhanced. One of more than twenty rooms open to the public, it now welcomes an early seventeenth century Flemish tapestry, newly rehung after many years on the minstrels’ gallery in the Great Hall. The tapestry itself seems to show a pastoral setting, with a scene of a man returning from the hunt. The Tudor bedroom brings together layers of history. Rich Tudor panelling, A fifteenth century Italian Savonarola chair, an

An exciting day at Athelhampton… In the early morning, before the house stirred and long before our visitors arrived, the medieval Great Hall echoed with industry. Three orange clad figures appeared, and piece by piece, a modern metal structure was erected, in sharp contrast with the ancient beams sheltering the hall. After careful planning and the necessary permissions, we are beginning a project that gently reverses a change made some three hundred years ago, allowing the h

The great Tudor door at Athelhampton has watched centuries of light and weather pass across its threshold. It was with this Dorset Tudor house when it was first built, and continues to watch as the house has evolved over the years, with its fortunes rising and falling. Golden sunlight beaming through the front door of the Tudor Great Hall Today, after a day of hard rain, the clouds lifted and the low sun spilled into the hall, turning oak and stone to gold. A moment like this

Come and experience the sights, sounds and smells of 16th century life this October half-term with us at Athelhampton House. Tickets for Tudor Week 2025 at Athelhampton are still available for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Photo by Dorset Morri'arty History is brought to life, inside and outside our walls, as you step back in time to 1580. Meet the Martyn family of Athelhampton, as specialist living historians recreate life as it was in Elizabeth I’s reign. Photo by Jane Te

It’s one week to go until Tudor Week 2025 at Athelhampton! Photo by Dorset Morri'arty Step back in time this autumn half term and experience life as it was more than four centuries ago. Over forty Tudor re-enactors will be living and working throughout the house, bringing to life the sights, sounds, and scents of 1580. Photo by Dorset Morri'arty See the cooks at work in the kitchens, the maids tending to their chores, musicians in the Great Hall, and Sir Nicholas Martyn, mast

Visit Athelhampton this autumn, and you’ll see pears ripening in the gardens, and glowing too in the stained glass of the Great Hall. The pears appear in the arms of Elizabeth Kelway, who around 1530 married Robert Martyn of Athelhampton. Her family’s coat of arms shows four golden pears and a pair of grozing irons, the delicate tools once used by glaziers to shape stained glass. It bears a very strong resemblance to that of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of

One of Dorset’s most beautiful Tudor manor houses, Athelhampton has stood in its peaceful valley for over five centuries. Its walls hold many secrets, from grand feasts in the Great Hall to family squabbles, all observed quietly by the servants who kept the household running. The names of the servants rarely survive: only those of a few trusted male servants show up in wills and court cases, but it's possible to piece together a little of what their lives might have looked li

In Athelhampton’s Library, sunlight glows through this jewel of ancient stained glass. It’s a complicated shield, and often in tours, we talk about the shield next to this one instead! This shield belongs to the Zouche family of Harringworth, quartered with the arms of Cantilupe, Braose, and Clare — dynasties whose power stretched across medieval England. The Zouches were influential enough to give their name to Ashby de la Zouche in Leicestershire, where their castle once do

At Athelhampton we remember that 540 years ago today it was the Battle of Bosworth. On 22 August 1485, King Richard III was slain, and lost his throne to Henry Tudor, who would become King Henry VII. Among those caught in the turmoil was Thomas Martyn of Athelhampton, injured at Bosworth, he died soon after. His son William Martyn inherited the estate, and under the new Tudor King he became Sheriff of Dorset and a Royal commissioner. Athelhampton’s great oak front door with i

A bright rose growing in a quiet corner of Athelhampton today served as a reminder of a historic story. Medieval land ownership was complicated. After 1066, the Crown claimed all land and granted it out in layers. The Crown was the top layer, and by the 1100s, places like Christchurch Priory (the middle layer), held manors from the Crown to fund their work, while families like the Martins of Athelhampton, held the manor beneath that. The Martins held Athelhampton in ‘socage’—

When you visit Athelhampton you will see that many of the walls of the Tudor House have pretty clumps of white, lavender and pink flowers of Erigeron, though we like to use its old English name, Fleabane. Hundreds of pink and white Erigeron flower heads dancing in the breeze 500 years ago the Tudor families at Athelhampton would have utilsed bouquets of dried fleabane which could be hung in a room or placed in a chest or coffer to deter fleas, flies and gnats. In times of a h

When you stand outside Athelhampton House, it often feels as though there are many pairs of eyes watching your every move. The house is adorned with many figures, faces and animals all carved from local Portesham stone. The monstrous faces of the gargoyles and grotesques were thought to keep evil spirits and demons away, and many of the animals are the heraldic symbols of the families who lived here in Tudor times. Next time you visit Athelhampton take a moment to admire the