Country Images Magazine North January 2018 | Page 22

The Lost Houses
of Derbyshire
by Maxwell Craven
To the right was another two bays, the end
one breaking forward with a loggia-like run of
six ground fl oor windows to the right of the
entrance, all much lower than the main block,
with a service wing beyond again ending in a
little pyramidally hipped roofed pavilion with a
largish outshut behind beyond which was a large
stable block arranged round a courtyard and a
further service court to its east.
Th is extraordinarily top-heavy looking house
stood in a modest stretch of parkland running
to 51 acres, and the entire estate, despite the
proximity of numerous coal mines, was well
sequestered. Th e name of the architect has
completely evaded my research, but one might
expect the culprit to have been a Nottingham
man, or even a Chesterfi eld one.
Th e estate itself was carved out of the manor
of Shirebrook, held by a branch of the Meynell
family who took the place as their surname, but
sub-let most of it to Alan de Stuff yn around
1270, who was the park-keeper of the hunting
park of Pleasley, where the Bec family then had a
lodge, long vanished. Th eir park was stocked and
Above: Th e plan of the house from the 1906 subsidence evaluation.
Right: Stuff ynwood Hall from a postcard, possibly from an earlier
original by Richard Keene.
Below: Sir Arthur Markham Bt MP [Private collection]
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