Holy Film Locations, Batman! Explore the real-life Wayne Manor
IT IS instantly familiar to anyone who has seen the new Batman movie. Wayne Manor, home of millionaire socialite Bruce Wayne.
Who just happens to be Batman, the caped crusader, the Dark Knight of Gotham City.
But the stately pile isn’t on the mean streets of the USA.
It’s just up the M42 motorway from Birmingham.
That’s because Wollaton Hall in Nottingham is the real-life Wayne Manor, and stars in The Dark Knight Rises blockbuster.
The city that is already famous for Robin Hood is now home to Batman, too.
Movie director Christopher Nolan chose the Elizabethan mansion house to star in the closing film of his comicbook trilogy.
And he couldn’t have picked better, even though Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire was his first choice.
That was where he filmed Batman Begins back in 2005.
But as the storyline dictated, the fictional Wayne Manor was razed to the ground by evil Ra’s al Ghul and his henchmen.
So there were no real problems with continuity.
Wollaton Hall was designed by Robert Smythson and built in the English Renaissance style by Sir Francis Willoughby between 1550 and 1588.
It was remodelled in 1801 by Sir Jeffery Wyattville, and later occupied by the Middletons (no relation to Kate).
