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The epic historical drama Wolf Hall is finally back for a second and final season after a long five-year gap. The riveting six-episode season takes us from the horrific execution of Anne Boleyn right up to the execution of Thomas Cromwell (there are a lot of executions in Tudor history!).
The advisor of Henry VIII, Cromwell was the focus of the series. In season 1, we meet him as a young boy at Putney. Later, he becomes a frequent fixture at Hampton Court Palace where he works closely with the king. The BBC show, which looks and feels more truthful than many Tudor dramas, aims to portray the period with as much accuracy as possible — and it uses many real locations.
Here are all of the Wolf Hall filming locations to look out for.
Forde Abbey, Dorset
This 12th-century estate was once used by King Henry VIII, so it makes for a perfect Wolf Hall filming location. In the series, it is often used to depict Hampton Court Palace, where Henry lived and held court. The Great Hall becomes Henry's throne room, while the cloisters are shown before Henry's marriage to Jane Seymour. As location manager Rebecca Pearson said, it has “an amazing cloister corridor”, and “everybody fell in love with it.”
“We went there for the corridor, but we also ended up using their Great Hall as a presence chamber for the king, and we use it a lot in the series,” she said. "It features quite a lot in episode one as they are walking back and forth."
Meanwhile, the kitchen garden and the drawing room double as Margaret Pole's house.
Wells, Somerset
Head to Wells in Somerset, and you may recognise some of the older streets. This tiny medieval city features in many of Wolf Hall's street scenes in both seasons. In season 2, Wells Cathedral stands in for the Palace of Whitehall where Henry weds Jane Seymour.
Great Chalfield Manor, Wiltshire
This Tudor manor doubles as Austin Friars, the bustling London home where Thomas Cromwell lives. Period drama fans may recognise it as a set from The Other Boleyn Girl and Tess of the D'Urbervilles as well.
Penshurst Place, Kent
Another authentic Tudor building, this fortified beauty has been the same for around 600 years and was once owned by Henry VIII himself. The long rooms were used to film Whitehall scenes.
Chastleton House, Oxfordshire
This location served as a couple of different sets – with the courtyard as the one where Cromwell is attacked by his father a young man, while the interiors serve as the Seymour family home, Wolf Hall itself. You can visit this one easily, as it is managed by the National Trust.
Dover Castle, Kent
The castle's White Tower doubles as the Tower of London on the show, where Anne Boleyn is executed. The London location wasn't an option as it was too difficult to avoid all the possible modern city elements in the background of the shot.
Montacute House, Somerset
This manor is a frequent fixture of period dramas. In Wolf Hall, the home becomes Greenwich Palace.
“We were looking for stairs and a sense of scale that you don’t often get in period dramas,” said series producer Mark Pybus to Radio Times. "It felt like the kind of palaces that Henry would have had. Henry the VII was the last king that wasn’t London-based, he would travel around the country. The civil war had ended and Henry VIII actively started building these much grander palaces, with large windows and designs to impress, getting that scale was something we spent a lot of time looking for and we found it a Montacute."
Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire and Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire
Locals spotted cast and crew filming at Berkeley Castle back in February of this year, and both castles still have families living in them, the same ones that have lived in them for generations.
Hampton Court Palace, London
Although Wolf Hall never filmed at Hampton Court Palace for season 1, in season 2, the cast and crew got the chance to film in the real home of Henry VIII.
“We did have one big advantage this time – the wonderful reception of the historians and curators at Hampton Court Palace who welcomed us for the first time,” said director Peter Kosminsky to Radio Times. “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.”
He went on: "Just to be able to walk our cast across that space which we knew Henry, Jane Seymour, and Thomas Cromwell had walked through in their time 500 years before was an extraordinary experience. The tapestries on the walls are said to be, after the Crown Jewels, the most valuable thing that England owns."
Barrington Court, Somerset
Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire
The Wiltshire Abbey was founded by one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages – Ela, Countess of Salisbury – and the exterior of the building doubles up as the location for Wolf Hall, as well as having been used in The Other Boleyn Girl, Downton Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter.
Horton Court, Gloucestershire
Eagle-eyed fans may recognise this location – Horton Court is one of a list of existing Wolf Hall filming locations from season 1 as Thomas Cromwell's study, as well as Austin Friars, Cromwell's adult home. It will be Cromwell's study once again for this season, and has also been used as a Poldark location.
