Meet the original Material Girl from Derbyshire who built a unique collection of tapestries at Hardwick Hall

Bess’s unique collection of tapestries and embroideries is the focus of a display which opens at Hardwick Hall on March 29. The display, titled Material Power, highlights how power, identity and virtue were expressed through what you owned and what you built.

Artist Layla Khoo will stitch the fabric of modern virtue and invite visitors to join in as part of the display which launches a two-year run of events and activities under the banner of Woven Worlds.

The new display follows the announcement that Hardwick has been shortlisted for the Museums & Heritage Awards 2024 for its restoration of the Gideon tapestries which took 24 years to complete and was the National Trust’s longest running conservation project.

Visitors to Hardwick will be able to see the 13 floor to ceiling Gideon tapestries and immerse themselves in a soundscape that has been inspired by the biblical story.

Liz Waring, property curator at Hardwick Hall, said: “Bess not only used her tapestries and embroideries to promote her identity and power, they also promoted how rich she had become. They were sewn and woven out of very costly materials and were highly valued items, so much so that she specifically asked for her textiles to be looked after in her will. In this new display we are putting a spotlight on these internationally significant textiles to gain a deeper understanding about who Bess was, as well as highlighting the hours of care and conservation that go into looking after them today.”

To book tickets, , go to: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/peak-district-derbyshire/hardwick/woven-worlds