Country Images Magazine Derby Edition December 2017 | Page 24

The Lost Houses
of Derbyshire
by Maxwell Craven
Oak Hurst, south front, in its heyday, from a postcard sent in 1905 by one of
Mrs. Johnson’s footmen to a maid working at Swettenham Hall, Cheshire
[M. Craven]
Oak Hurst in terminal decline, seen from the north east, 1999 [Private collection]
Th is use ended in 1939 when the house was
commandeered by the army, who – needless to
say – left it in a bit of a state – so much so that
the Diocese expressed no interest in returning,
eventually settling for the former rectory at
Morley. Th e house was then sold and converted
into fl ats – rather crudely it has to be said –
but by the late 1970s it was empty again, and
has remained so ever since. Furthermore, the
wireworks closed in the 1980s, and the site is now
largely derelict but offi cially used for industrial
storage.
24 | CountryImagesMagazine.co.uk
John Thewlis Johnson c. 1890
[Private collection]
Oak Hurst, the new west (main)
entrance with Johnson’s monogram and
date over, 2007 [Private collection]
In 1994 consent for demolition was granted,
resulting in the removal of fi ttings and
chimneypieces, but was never unexecuted,
meaning that to drop it now would require a
further application to the planning authority. house has revealed the essential three bay two and
a half storey shell of the original Forge House,
suggesting that it was not unlike the overseer’s
house at Cromford mill, probably by George
Rawlinson.
Although of listable quality, Oak Hurst has
escaped being added to the statutory list, which
has merely helped seal its fate. Its present state
would appear to be terminal, with the roof largely
collapsed and egress being far from diffi cult,
although the loss of plaster in the core of the Unloved and unlisted (although it might well be
listable), blighted by the adjacent works (which
appear to have changed function yet again) Oak
Hurst would seem to be not long for this world –
a pity for it was a fi ne, well built house.