Calke Abbey is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

near

Ticknall Ticknall is a small village and civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish (including Calke) at the 2011 Census was 642. Situated on the A514 road, close to Melbourne, it has three pubs, several small businesse ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England, in the care of the charitable

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. The site was an

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

from the 12th century until its

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. The present building, named Calke Abbey in 1808, was never actually an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

, but is a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

mansion built between 1701 and 1704. The house was owned by the Harpur family for nearly 300 years until it was passed to the Trust in 1985 in lieu of

death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

. Today, the house is open to the public and many of its rooms are deliberately displayed in the state of decline in which the house was handed to the Trust.

History

Wenceslas Hollar - Seals of the Le Harpur family

Calke Priory was founded by

Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester (1094 – 25 November 1120) was the son of Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, and his wife, Ermentrude of Clermont. Early life He was seven years old when his father, known as Hugh the Fat, died. Due ...

some time between 1115 and 1120 and was dedicated to

St Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...

; d'Avranches had inherited from his father vast estates in both England and

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, of which Calke and many of the surrounding villages were part. The Priory was initially an independent community, but after the death of

Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester Ranulf II (also known as Ranulf de Gernon), 4th Earl of Chester (1099–1153), was an Anglo-Norman baron who inherited the honour of the palatine county of Chester upon the death of his father Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester. He was des ...

in 1153, it (along with most of his

estates) became part of the

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

of his widow, Maud of Gloucester. Maud initially granted nearby

St. Wystan's Church, Repton St Wystan's Church is a Church of England parish church in Repton, Derbyshire that is famous for its Anglo-Saxon crypt which is the burial place of two Mercian kings. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a design ...

to the canons at Calke Priory, but subsequently had a new priory, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, built at

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

. In 1172 she moved the Canons from Calke to the new

Repton Priory Repton Priory was a priory in Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was established in the 12th century and was originally under the control of Calke Priory. It was dissolved in 1538. The priory became a place of pilgrimage on account of the shrine o ...

, with Calke then becoming a subordinate "cell" to Repton Priory. Nothing is known of the priory during the 14th and 15th centuries; however, historian Oliver Garnett suggests the priory may have served more as the centre of an agricultural estate than as a religious establishment during this time. Repton Priory was dissolved in 1538, and its land confiscated by

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

. The canons had, however, anticipated the dissolution and so had begun to lease out some of their estates: Calke was one of these, leased on 29 August 1537 to John Prest (or Priest) for 99 years.

Post-Dissolution

John Prest (or Priest) was granted the lease to Calke Priory for 99 years, having prepaid for the first 59 of them. He was a member of the London Grocers' Company and lived at Calke until his death in 1546. The house then passed to his widow, then through his daughter Frances to her husband William Bradborne. The lease was granted by the Crown to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (later Duke of Northumberland), after which the estate passed through various freehold and leasehold owners before eventually being acquired by Richard Wendsley in 1575. Wendsley had twice been MP for Derbyshire and is known to have constructed a new house on the estate which he resided in; this is the Elizabethan House which forms the core of the house that still exists today, and of which parts are still visible within the house's courtyard. Little was known about how this Elizabethan House looked until repair work on the current house was undertaken by the National Trust in 1988. The house was built around a courtyard with the South range serving as the entrance front, with a gatehouse; two projections in the foundations at the North-East and North-West reveal the locations of 2 stair-turrets. The work also revealed a later 17th-century arcaded

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

which were built next to both the stair-turrets. The east and west ranges of this house were not parallel; something that has distinctly affected the shape and layout of the current house. This discrepancy could either reflect the different phases of construction within the Elizabethan house or the layout and alignment of the walls of the original priory buildings. In 1585, Wendsley sold the estate to three-time MP for Derby, Robert Bainbridge. He was an "extreme protestant" who was imprisoned in 1586 in the Beauchamp Tower of

The Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

(where he engraved his name which can still be seen today) for refusing to accept

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

's Church Settlement. Historian Oliver Garnett suggests that Bainbridge may have chosen to live at Calke as the parish was not under the control of a bishop: meaning he could worship as a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

without interference. Following Robert's death, Calke passed to his son, another Robert. This Robert sold the estate in 1622 to Sir Henry Harpur, for £5,350 (approximately £513,600 in modern terms).

The Harpurs

In 1622 the estate was bought by Sir Henry Harpur, 1st baronet (c. 1579–1639). The Harpur family had become established in the middle of the previous century; descendants of Richard Harpur who was a successful lawyer who had risen to become a judge at the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

and then Chief Justice of the

County Palatine of Lancaster Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

. He and his descendants acquired, through wealth and marriage, estates in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

(centred on Alstonfield) and

(centred on

Swarkestone Swarkestone is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 187. Swarkestone has a very old village church, a full cricket pitch, a plant nursery/ garden centre and re ...

). The house was rebuilt by Sir John Harpur, 4th baronet (1680–1741) between 1701 and 1704. The house and estate were owned by successive Harpur baronets and were ultimately inherited by Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe (1846–1924), 10th (and last) baronet who was devoted to his collection of natural history specimens. When he died, his eldest daughter,

Hilda Harpur Crewe Hilda is one of several female given names derived from the name ''Hild'', formed from Old Norse , meaning 'battle'. Hildr, Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona (goddess), Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was oft ...

(1877–1949) sold some of his collection of birds, butterflies and fishes to pay death duties. She was succeeded by her nephew, Charles Jenney (1917–81), who was the eldest son of Frances Harpur Crewe, the fourth daughter of Sir Vauncey. Charles changed his name to Charles Harpur-Crewe. His sudden death in 1981 led to crippling

(£8m of an estate worth £14m) and in 1985 the estate was transferred to the

by his younger brother Henry Harpur-Crewe (1921–91).

National Trust ownership

Set in the midst of a landscape park, Calke Abbey is presented by the

as an illustration of the

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in decline. At its time of endowment, there had been little change to many rooms since the 1880s. A massive amount of remedial work but no restoration has been done and interiors are almost as they were found in 1985, so the decay of the building and its interiors has been halted but not reversed.

Estate

The Trust manages the surrounding landscape park with an eye to nature conservation. It contains such features as a

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

, with a flower garden and a former physic garden, now managed as a

kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

. The ancient deer park of the Calke Abbey Estate is a designated

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

and national nature reserve, particularly noted for its rare

wood pasture Silvopasture (''silva'' is forest in Latin) is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct forms ...

habitat and associated deadwood invertebrate fauna. The estate is also listed at Grade II* on the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

. To the side of the house is a large quadrangle of buildings forming the old stable yard and farm, complete with old carriages and farm implements. The outbuildings incorporate a brewhouse that is linked to the main house by a tunnel. The limestone quarries on the estate near

are the end point of the railway that took limestone to the

Ashby Canal The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal is a long canal in England which connected the mining district around Moira, just outside the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, with the Coventry Canal at Bedworth in Warwickshire. It was opened in 1804, ...

at Willesley basin and one of the tunnels can be seen restored and running under the drive. It closed in 1915.

Gallery

File:Calke Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1428133.jpg, Calke Abbey File:Ha-ha at Calke Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1428143.jpg, The

ha-ha A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...

at Calke Abbey Image:Middle Lodge, Calke Park - geograph.org.uk - 277877.jpg, Middle Lodge (one of the gatehouses) Image:Ticknall Lodge - geograph.org.uk - 277876.jpg,

Lodge (another gatehouse) Image:The Library, Calke Abbey.jpg, The

Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

File:The Breakfast Room , Calke Abbey.jpg, The Dining Room File:The Dining Room , Calke Abbey.jpg, The Dining Room File:Portable Shower , Calke Abbey.jpg, Portable shower File:Main Staircase , Calke Abbey.jpg, Main staircase, Calke Abbey Image:Walled garden at Calke Abbey.JPG, The Walled Garden and Head Gardener's House Image:The Stables, Calke Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 280501.jpg, The Stables File:Interior, Calke Abbey Stables - geograph.org.uk - 494096.jpg, Interior, Calke Abbey stables Image:Calke Abbey Church - geograph.org.uk - 1704728.jpg, St. Giles's Church; Calke Abbey's private chapel File:Fireplace in the Butlers pantry , Calke Abbey.jpg, Fireplace in the Butler's Pantry

References

External links

Calke Abbey information at National Trust
{{Authority control 1704 establishments in England Houses completed in 1704 Gardens in Derbyshire Augustinian monasteries in England Monasteries in Derbyshire Country houses in Derbyshire National Trust properties in Derbyshire Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire Historic house museums in Derbyshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Derbyshire Grade I listed houses Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Derbyshire South Derbyshire District Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation