Country Images Magazine North Edition September 2017 | Page 19

D e r b y s h i re - Lost Houses ago converted into cottages, and today a stylish residence – than of the house that went with it. Th anks, however to the survival of two sketches of 1839, we can at last assess the Old Hall. Th e anonymous pencil sketches are of high quality, and show a house very reminiscent of Somersal Herbert, further west in the County. It also closely resembles the two surviving pictures of Twyford Old Hall before its drastic reduction to a pair of agricultural labourers’ cottages in the third quarter of the 19 th century (and, again, today, a stylish and sympathetically restored home). At Walton, we have a three gabled timber framed front, with another range behind (probably facing west if my reading of the surrounding topography is right) embellished with herring- bone studding with the entrance in the right hand gable, just as at Somersal, although Walton’s gabled bays were more or less symmetrical, unlike the other house, where the gables get narrower as they ascend in height. Th e diff erence is that, whilst the FitzHerberts built Somersal Herbert in stages from 1562, here at Walton we appear to have a house built all of a piece. artist came along. In 1664, the house was taxed on a substantial 17 hearths, confi rming that it was quite a grand house, larger than Catton then was, and Croxall, another Elizabethan mansion nearby. Th e 17 th century alterations were made by John Ferrers of Walton, the man who, in 1680, sold a portion of the estate to a former tenant, Richard Taylor, descendant of an old Surrey family, the fi rst of whom had moved to Walton as the Ferrers’ bailiff (we would say agent today). At that time, the Taylors were living in a modest house taxed, in contrast, on but two hearths, but having bought a chunk of the Walton estate, that changed, and they began to build on to it. Th e house this family eventually created in 1723- 1724 is the present Walton Hall. But whilst the Taylor’s estate expanded and prospered, that of the Ferrers began to shrink. Th e reason was, in essence, that the Old Hall estate, once the Ferrers family had failed in the male line, early in the 18 th century, it thereaft er passed by marriage through the hands of a series of grandees happily settled well away from the Trent Valley. Th us it fell into the hands of tenants, whose absentee landlords were not averse to selling chunks of land in order to settle debts. Th us Walton Old Hall passed via the daughter and heiresss of Sir Humhprey Ferrers of Walton and Tamworth to Hon. Robert Shirley (happily seated at Staunton Harold), from him to the KITCHENS, WET ROOMS, BATHROOMS & SHOWER ROOMS Not that changes were not made. Th e other picture shows the south and east fronts. Th e former is clearly a 17 th century re-building or expansion in brick with probably timber mullion-and-transom cross windows, and would appear to be identifi able with the last portion of the house to survive. At the back, this 17 th century gabled range quickly gives way to a timber-framed part and a longer, lower timber wing with a wavy roofl ine which might suggests that it was thatched until not so long before the Bathroom Images of Leabrooks. Main Road B6016 LEABROOKS To Swanwick 44a Charles Street, Leabrooks, Derbyshire DE55 1LZ To Somercotes et tre s S rle a Ch Opening times: Monday to Friday 9am – 4pm, Saturday 9.30am to 1pm. E: [email protected] T: 01773 608531 CountryImagesMagazine.co.uk | 19