Locko Park is a privately owned 18th-century country house in between the villages of Stanley and Ockbrook in the borough of Erewash, near

Spondon Spondon is a ward of the city of Derby. Originally a small village, Spondon dates back to the Domesday Book and it became heavily industrialised in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with companies such as British Celanese. History The n ...

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. It is a

Grade II* listed building 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 ...

History

The estate was acquired by William Gilbert from William Byrde in 1563.The History of Locko Hall and Park Estate
/ref> The oldest part of the house is the chapel of 1669. The main south facing block of the present house, built about 1725 out of locally sourced Keuper sandstoneMaxwell Craven. "The Derbyshire Country House". ''Breedon Books'' (1991) p131. . Print for the member of parliament,

Robert Ferne The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

,Nikolaus Pevsner. "The Buildings of England: Derbyshire". ''Penguin Books'' (1978) p264. has three storeys and nine bays and a substantial Tuscan porch. The architect is believed to have been

Francis Smith of Warwick Francis Smith of Warwick (1672–1738) was an English master-builder and architect, much involved in the construction of country houses in the Midland counties of England. Smith of Warwick may refer also to his brothers, or his son. Architectura ...

.John Cornforth (June 1969). "Locko Park, Derbyshire". ''Country Life'', CXLV. Cited by Nikolaus Pevsner. "The Buildings of England: Derbyshire". ''Penguin Books'' (1978) p264. The current house was built on or close to the site of a hospital of the

Order of St Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care bec ...

of Jerusalem, which was in existence at least as far back as 1296. The order was dedicated to the care of lepers, and the name Locko derives from the old French word for rags, ''loques'',Stately Homes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
retrieved 13 February 2012 in reference to the strips of lint that were applied to sores.H. B. Wheatley,
London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions
'. CUP, 2011, p412. John Lowe purchased the estate in 1747 from the last descendant of the Gilbert family. In 1790 the property was bequeathed to William Drury who changed his name by Royal Sign Manual dated 10 July 1790 to William Drury-Lowe. In 1792, he employed

William Emes William Emes (1729 or 1730–13 March 1803) was an English landscape gardener. Biography Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post ...

, who was responsible for the gardens of

Calke Abbey Calke Abbey is a Grade I listed country house near Ticknall, Derbyshire, England, in the care of the charitable National Trust. The site was an Augustinian priory from the 12th century until its dissolution by Henry VIII. The present building, n ...

and

Kedleston Hall Kedleston Hall is a neo-classical manor house, and seat of the :Curzon family, Curzon family, located in Kedleston, Derbyshire, approximately 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Derby. The medieval village of Kedleston was moved in 1759 by Nathanie ...

, to landscape the park; the actual work, including the creation of the 16 acre lake, was carried out by Emes' partner, John Webb.Frank Constable (June 1997), "Locko Park Gardens", ''Derbyshire Life'' 62 6 p38 Williams's daughter and heir, Mary-Anne, married Robert Holden in 1800. Their son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

also took the name Drury-Lowe in 1849. LockofromSW1898

Substantial additions were made to the house in the 19th century by architect Henry Stevens of Derby, including, the present west range, the parapet to which bears the dates 1804 and 1896, and the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

tower which rises above it dating from 1853. The porch to the east front is dated 1861.

Current ownership

The house remains in the ownership of the Drury-Lowes, and is currently the residence of Lucy Palmer, the eldest daughter of Captain Patrick Drury-Lowe, and husband of David Palmer of the

Huntley and Palmer Huntley & Palmers is a British company of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. Formed by Joseph Huntley in 1822, the company became one of the world's first global brands (chiefly led by George Palmer who joined in 1841) and ra ...

biscuit family."Mrs David Palmer" (June 1997), ''Derbyshire Life'' 62 6 p37 Several members of the Drury-Lowe family have served as

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

A side note

John Lowe and Robert Williams were partners in the banking firm of Lowe, Vere, and Williams.

References

English Heritage: architectural description of listed building

Drury-Lowe family papers, Nottingham University Archives

External links

Locko Park estate website
{{coords, 52.9436, -1.3918, region:GB, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire Country houses in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire Borough of Erewash

History

Current ownership

A side note

See also

References

External links