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A capricious and cruel autocrat handing out privileges and punishments, women struggling to assert themselves, the populist mob at the gate – and through it all a decent man, we hope, steers a hazardous course. The first two books of Hilary Mantel’s epic Wolf Hall trilogy became a BBC series in 2015, and now the six-part finale, The Mirror and The Light, is airing, covering the last years of Thomas Cromwell, until his downfall at the hands of his tyrannical boss, Henry VIII.
At the locations where the original action took place, and those used in the series, there is rising excitement about a sharp increase in website traffic and visitor numbers. The Tudors, it seems, are still box-office gold. The Tower of London, where both Anne Boleyn and Cromwell ended their days, saw visitor numbers rise by more than a third in 2023. History itself is booming, driven by podcasts such as Empire, presented by Anita Anand and William Dalrymple, and Radio 4’s You’re Dead to Me. Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland of The Rest Is History podcast sold out London’s Royal Albert Hall in October. When a pair of donnish historians get a rock star reception, something significant is happening. According to a survey conducted in May by rail booking agent Trainline, 75% of respondents hoped to visit a historical attraction in the year ahead.
At Hampton Court Palace, a steep rise in searches for Tudor material on their website suggests a coming storm of visitors. Not only was it a prime location in The Mirror and the Light, but Henry and Cromwell dined in the Great Hall and no doubt discussed ticklish matters such as wayward daughters and wife swaps.
“As a film-maker who started out in documentary,” says the series director, Peter Kosminsky, “to film in rooms where we know those characters were: that’s the touchstone of veracity and it affected us all.”
Hampton’s Great Hall has rarely been used for large-scale television drama, and not for more than 50 years. “I love how a high-quality drama fires viewers’ imaginations,” says Tracy Borman, joint chief curator for Historic Royal Palaces and biographer of Cromwell. “Seeing the palace filled with impeccably dressed Tudors is something I’ll never forget.”
For the captivated viewer, going to see for oneself is an obvious next step, maybe an enjoyable continuation of the suspension of disbelief. Many other locations also played host to Henry and his various wives; for example, Penshurst Place in Kent was used in the first series, Wolf Hall. “We know that Henry and Anne Boleyn walked in the extraordinary Long Gallery,” says Kosminsky, whose use of handheld camera in candlelit scenes set new standards for period drama. “For Damian Lewis as Henry VIII, and Claire Foy who plays Anne, to stand in the same place was remarkable.”
At Penshurst Place they know the value of becoming a location. “We still get visitors who want to see where the sword fight took place in The Princess Bride,” says the general manager, Ben Thomas, “And that came out in 1987.”
The touchstone of veracity, however, can demand unorthodox methods. “The thing to remember,” says Kosminsky, “is that we are dealing with buildings that have a patina of age. When Thomas Cromwell was alive, they were new.”
For that reason he wanted to shoot what he regards as the series’ pivotal scene (coming at the end of episode two), in Downside Abbey, a Victorian revival of the medieval gothic style in Somerset. “They withdrew permission at a late stage so we went to Gloucester Cathedral instead and we captured what I think is one of Mark Rylance’s finest performances.”
But of all the locations used in the series, where would the man who directed the The Mirror and the Light go for a good day out? “Either Haddon Hall near Bakewell in Derbyshire, or Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. Both perfect.”
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Haddon is an 11th-century fortified manor and relatively unchanged since Henry visited, bringing a tapestry that still hangs in the banqueting hall. The house is normally closed in winter, but the Christmas market that runs until 15 December offers a chance to look inside.
Berkeley, midway between Bristol and Gloucester, was where Henry took Anne Boleyn on their summer progress of 1535. In the same family since the 11th century, it contains several important Tudor artefacts, including Elizabeth I’s bedspread and the sea chest of regular visitor, Francis Drake. The castle reopens on 30 March 2025.
Historian Alice Loxton points to other Tudor treasures that were not used in the filming, but also make for inspirational visits. “Knole near Sevenoaks, where Henry used to hunt, is a particular favourite of mine, and the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth.” She ascribes the enduring allure of the Tudors to larger-than-life characters, political intrigue and dramatic power struggles. “But the entire Wolf Hall series has breathed new life into our fascination with the period and its locations.”
The Mirror and the Light closes with the execution of Thomas Cromwell in 1540, a victim, it’s presumed, of trumped-up charges. But for anyone who worries about the longevity of autocracies, there is a tiny scrap of comfort in the fact that within seven years his despotic tormentor was gone too.