Derbyshire- Lost Houses
5 th Earl of Northampton ( happily seated at Castle Ashby in that County ) and from him to 1 st Marquess Townshend ( happily seated at Raynham Hall , in north Norfolk ). It stayed with the Townshends for two further generations , until the death of the 3 rd Marquess in 1855 . He was something of a confirmed bachelor , whose wife , faced with an un-consummated marriage , went on to have numerous sons by a local brewer , one of whom actually managed to sit as an MP as Earl of Leicester ( the Marquess ’ s subsidiary title )!
Thus , the Old Hall and its estate , run in absentia by bailiffs , was probably neglected and somewhat asset stripped during the 175 years of having no on-the-spot owner .
Stanley and I came to look at it in 1983 , it had been reduced to a garage for a nice Jaguar ! The cottages , in contrast , were on the market in 1991 for what was ( then ) an eye-watering £ 295,000 .
The late Barbara Hutton , a respected expert of national standing on timber framed buildings , acting on behalf of the Architectural Section of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society , surveyed the pathetic remnants with her dedicated helpers in 2001 . She deduced from what remains , that the house had once boasted a room some 18 ft . 6 ins . by 25 ft ., the low ( 7 ft 9 in ) ceiling supported by a main timbered beam of nearly
20 ft . with 3 in . decorative chamfers and of 13 in . square section , confirming the original the 16 th century date . Her team also concluded that the later brickwork was later 17 th century , as Mick Stanley and I had concluded in 1983 , and all subsequent work seems to have been the result of reducing the house in the 19 th century , blocking and replacing windows , and re-using all sorts of elements , including exterior timbers .
All in all , in its day it must have been quite a spectacular house , an impression re-inforced by the drawings , although even in 1839 , some reduction may have already gone on .
How much was left in 1855 , when the 3 rd Marquess Townshend ’ s executors sold it , is difficult to know . It was went to its tenant , James Ridgeway . His sons disposed of it in 1875 to Col . Richard Ratcliff ( 1830-1902 ), sixth son of brewer Samuel Ratcliff builder of Cliffe house , Newton Solney ( see Country Images October 2014 ) and co-proprietor of Bass , Ratcliff and Gretton ). He lived at Orgreave Hall on the other side of the Trent and was only interested in agricultural productivity , so drastically reduced the house , sundered it from its service wing and stables , and converted the lot into cottages for his labourers .
By the beginning of the 20 th century , the house had been abandoned , ‘ a mutilated and derelict fragment ’ and , by the 1940s , a decade or so after the removal of the entire first floor , leaving only a ‘ brick wall to the height of the first storey , a curious madrepore chimneypiece and some old oak panelling ’ - our only real clues to the interior of what must have been a fine house . When Mick
Illustrations for this story in the order of appearance .
House in 1839 from the east . [ the late Don Farnsworth ] The stable block as converted into a single dwelling 1999 . [ N . Adams ] The remains of the house having the first floor and roof removed , around 1909 . [ N . Adams ] The pathetic remains as converted into a garage , 1983 . [ M . Stanley ]
The reduced stub and the stable-block converted into cottages , from a post card of c . 1904 [ M . Craven ] House from the south in 1839 . [ the late Don Farnsworth ] The moated site near the church in 1999 . [ N . Adams ]
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