Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light was filmed at Hampton Court Palace, Haddon Hall, Montacute House, Great Chalfield Manor, Horton Court, Lacock Abbey, Gloucester Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace in Wells.
As you may have noticed, most of the 2024 Wolf Hall series was filmed in the West Country, with a few notable exceptions like Hampton Court Palace on the fringes of London, and Haddon Hall in Bakewell, Derbyshire.
These centuries-old manors, authentic halls and tapestry-covered walls set the scene for a trip to the court of Henry VIII.
Adapted from the third and final volume of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, plunges us back into the treacherous world of Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), his secretary Rafe Sadler (Thomas Brodie Sangster), Henry VIII (Damian Lewis), Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips), Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), and Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk (Timothy Spall).
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light Filming Locations
Historic Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light filming locations to look out for include Lacock Abbey, Great Chalfield Manor, Montacute House, Horton Court, Haddon Hall, Gloucester Cathedral, Wells Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace, and the real Hampton Court Palace.
Though it was largely filmed on location, scenes were also shot at the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol.
And with so many authentic Tudor locations and even Henry VIII’s own palace in the line-up, the cast and crew had plenty of inspiration to draw on.
“The highlight for me, without a doubt, was the fact that we were permitted to film in the Great Hall at Hampton Court. As far as I know, we are the first drama ever to be allowed to film in that room… that space which we knew Henry, Jane Seymour, and Thomas Cromwell had walked through in their time 500 years before...”
Peter Kosminsky, Director, BBC
Here are the Wolf Hall and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light locations you might have spotted onscreen - including many you can visit, and one you can stay in!
Wolf Hall and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light Locations
Wolf Hall
Lacock Abbey. Murgatroyd49, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Hilary Mantel drama’s Wolf Hall filming location is Lacock Abbey in the Cotswolds. Lacock Abbey is a former monastery in Wiltshire that you’re likely to have seen before.
It previously appeared as the home of the Seymour family in Wolf Hall, and returns for the second series in 2024. But you can also catch Lacock onscreen in everything from His Dark Materials and Harry Potter (it hosted the Mirror of Erised and Snape and McGonagall’s classrooms) to the Other Boleyn Girl.
Walled Gardens
Haddon Hall. Rob Bendall(For more information, see my userpage...), Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’s walled garden location is at Derbyshire’s Haddon Hall. The Tudor interiors appear in the Wolf Hall 2024 series too. Haddon Hall’s screentime in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light was confirmed by the Tudor manor’s team ahead of the first episode airing on 10th November 2024.
Filming took place at the Bakewell location in March 2024, with sightings of Thomas Brodie Sangster hinting that the Hilary Mantel adaptation was in the area.
Haddon Hall is a popular filming location for period dramas, with Elizabethan walled gardens and room after room showing off its history. It may be a beautifully-preserved, 900-year-old house but Haddon Hall is also open to visitors to tour and for special events.
Austin Friars
Great Chalfield Manor. Trish Steel, CC BY-SA 2.0
Wolf Hall and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’s Austin Friars locations are Great Chalfield Manor near Bath, and Horton Court. Great Chalfield Manor and Horton Court also appeared in the 2015 adaptation of Wolf Hall.
Great Chalfield Manor in Wiltshire is an impressive home surrounded by its own moat and Arts and Crafts gardens. Located close to Bath, it was built in the 15th Century, making it an ideal Austin Friars filming location for Wolf Hall. And this impressive property has also lent itself to other period dramas over the years, including Poldark.
And if you’re wondering, you can visit this Wolf Hall filming location easily. Here’s what you need to know about entry to the National Trust property.
Horton Court near Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, is the filming location for Thomas Cromwell’s study at Austin Friars.
Like Great Chalfield Manor, this centuries-old house is also a Poldark filming location and a National Trust property. It’s not generally open to tour, but you can actually rent this Wolf Hall location for a holiday stay.
Greenwich Palace
Montacute House. Mike Searle / Montacute House East Front
The Wolf Hall sequel’s Greenwich Palace filming location is Montacute House, a National Trust property near Yeovil in Somerset. Filming took place in January 2024 with the usual secrecy, though again, the cast members were spotted nearby.
Built in 1601, Montacute House boasts Elizabethan Renaissance architectural features that make it a good match for the Tudor drama.
Though of course, it’s slightly late to the party – the final Wolf Hall book ends in 1540. Here’s what you need to know if you want to visit Wolf Hall’s Greenwich House location, Montacute, in real life.
Canterbury Cathedral
The Canterbury Cathedral location in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is Gloucester Cathedral.
Filming took place in Gloucester in early 2024, but in fact, this cathedral has already appeared in the Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies adaptation back in 2015. to date, Gloucester Cathedral has been a Wolf Hall filming location for Blackfriars, Calais Castle and the exterior of the King’s Lodgings.
Palace of Whitehall
Wells Cathedral. Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light Whitehall Palace filming location is Wells Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace Chapel in Wells, Somerset. It was one of the last location shoots on the schedule, and appears as the Chapel Royal.
Filming took place in March 2024 at Wells Cathedral, another returning location from 2015’s Wolf Hall. Wells Cathedral was the original series’ Gray’s Inn location.
Hampton Court Palace
Forde Abbey. Pengannel, CC BY 2.0
The Hampton Court locations in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’s Hampton Court Palace include Forde Abbey, Berkeley Castle, and the real Hampton Court in Richmond.
Forde Abbey near Yeovil and Montacute House, was built in the 12th Century, and was home to Cistercian monks for 400 years, until Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.
After passing into private hands, this grand house and a remarkable number of original features have been inherited across many generations. Forde Abbey is still privately owned, but you can visit the house and gardens (check dates before you travel) - and there’s even a coffee shop.
Another Hampton Court Palace location in 2024’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is Berkeley Castle, which also appeared in the original Wolf Hall in 2015. Locals noticed film crews descending on the Gloucester castle in early February 2024 for the shoot.
Remarkably, Berkeley Castle has remained in the same family since it was constructed 900 years ago.
As a true medieval castle, it boasts battlements, cannons and evidence of a portcullis. But these days, visitors are very welcome to the castle and gardens on plenty of days throughout the year.
And of course, Henry VIII’s real Hampton Court needs little introduction. This authentic location made an impression on the cast, as recounted by Mark Rylance, who plays the Tudor king.
“To play Thomas Cromwell in the Great Hall at Hampton Court where he lived and worked is very spooky. You get a shiver up your spine walking in the places where they walked and lived.”
Mark Rylance, Thomas Cromwell, BBC
So look out for the real Great Hall in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’s Hampton Court scenes. It’s also very easy to visit this Wolf Hall location to walk the same halls as the kings, queens and courtiers.
Hunsdon House
The Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light filming locations brought more than a dash of authentic atmosphere to the series, and the Hunsdon House location is no exception. Introduced this series, this is the house where Lady Mary was sent.
“There was one in particular which really struck me, the location we used for Hunsdon House, which had broken windows where jackdaws had flown through the chimneys. It was dressed to be very rundown… You could feel the melancholy in the place.”
Lilit Lesser, Lady Mary, BBC
If you’re wondering, the real Hunsdown House is in Hertfordshire, close to the Essex border. Built in 1447 for the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Tudors stripped the owners of the property after doubting their loyalty.
It was granted to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk by Henry VII - though Henry VIII kept its parkland for himself.
The king would later expand, but in the centuries that followed, Hunsdown House was scaled back considerably. Nowadays, it’s a private house.
York Place
Barrington Court. Martinvl, CC BY-SA 4.0
The original Wolf Hall’s York Place filming location is Barrington Court, home to Cardinal Wolsey in the 2015 BBC series. Built in 1674, Barrington Court was restored in the 1920s by the Lyles with the help of period features assembled from other country houses.
The Cromwells’ Putney House
Wolf Hall’s filming location for the Cromwell family home in Putney is Chastleton House, Oxfordshire. It features in the first series, during scenes of Thomas Cromwell’s childhood. Built in the early 1600s, Chastleton House belonged to the same family for 400 years.
It remained almost unchanged - and now this Jacobean country house opens to the public under National Trust ownership.