Shipley Hall was a country estate in
Shipley,
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 ...
near
Heanor
Heanor (/ˈhiːnə/) is a town in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies north-east of Derby and forms, with the adjacent village of Loscoe, the civil parish and town council-administered area of Heano ...
and
Ilkeston
Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...
which now forms a
Country Park
A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.
United Kingdom
History
In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...
.
Early history
The Shipley estate is an ancient
manor that was mentioned in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
. From the 14th century the land was covered in extensive forest used for hunting, with a
hunting lodge on Shipley Hill. From the 16th century, coal mining began to provide income for the owners.
Shipley Hall was built in 1700, and by 1722 coal mining was an important activity on the Shipley estate. The Hall became the property of the Miller-Mundy family who in around 1765 started running the mines themselves. The
Nutbrook Canal
The Nutbrook Canal was a canal in England which ran between Shipley, Derbyshire, Shipley in Derbyshire and the Erewash Canal, joining it near Trowell. It was built to serve the collieries at Shipley and West Hallam, and was completed in 1796. I ...
opened in 1796 to serve the Shipley Colliery, and the income led to extensive development of the estate. The Hall was rebuilt in 1799 (the building in the above photo) to the design of William Linley of Doncaster, and the grounds were landscaped by
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 ...
, a follower of
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
.
19th century
In the late 19th century, under Alfred Edward Miller Mundy, the colliery was becoming increasingly prosperous, especially with the opening of the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
. Miller Mundy was regarded as an excellent employer by the standards of the time, with a hands-on approach. Further developments were the building of a model dairy and farm, and the water tower to feed it, designed by
W. E. Nesfield, a doubling of the size of the hall and the creation of a cricket ground. The Lodges and gates were designed by Sir
Walter Tapper
Sir Walter John Tapper (21 April 1861 – 21 September 1935) was an English architect known for his work in the Gothic Revival style and a number of church buildings. He worked with some leading ecclesiastical architects of his day and was Presi ...
.
In 1887 there was a scandal when Captain Miller Mundy's wife, Ellen, ran off with
Charles Chetwynd-Talbot the 19-year-old Earl of Shrewsbury, and then left the country with her three brothers who had skipped bail. They were accused of drawing lots to decide who would kill the eldest brother and heir of
Alfreton Hall
Alfreton Hall is a country house in Alfreton, Derbyshire. It was at the heart of local social and industrial history in the county. The history of the estate goes back to Norman times, but by the 17th century it was owned by the Morewood family, ...
if he did not sign over outstanding inheritances.
Captain Mundy was able to entertain King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
at one of the lavish house parties prior to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
A cricket ground, created in 1899, is still functioning today, and as of 2018 is the home of
Shipley Hall Cricket Club.
20th century
After Captain Miller Mundy died, the Hall was sold to the
Shipley Colliery Company, which his family had founded, who took over complete control of the mines and the family moved out mainly because life at the Hall was seriously affected by the noise and pollution of the colliery.
After the collieries were
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
in 1948, the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
decided that the Hall was too damaged by subsidence to be worth keeping, and demolished it. The Woodside and Coppice coalpits, regarded as uneconomical, were closed in the 1960s,ending over 250 years of deep mining at Shipley. There was a residual legacy of spoil heaps, derelict buildings, polluted lakes and thirty abandoned mine shafts.
Shipley Country Park
In the late 1960s
Derbyshire County Council
Derbyshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. It has 64 councillors representing 61 divisions, with three divisions having two members each. They are Glossop and Charlesworth, ...
decided to create a Country Park as a memorial to mining in the area.
The National Coal Board reclaimed land near the closed collieries by opencast methods between 1970 and 1974. Two years were spent contouring the site, planting trees, seeding fields and meadows, and building facilities for the public: Shipley Country Park opened to the public on 26 May 1976.
In the 1980s the County Council controversially agreed to the use of part of the park and a lake to form a theme park, initially as Britannia Park. That business closed soon after and the park re-opened as The American Adventure. The last incarnation of this park closed in 2007 and has been partly demolished. The future of this area of the Shipley Country Park, which contains the site of the former Woodside Colliery, is still uncertain.
Shipley Country Park includes a visitor centre, children's play areas, a wildlife garden, wildlife and nature walks, a cafe, disabled access,
bridleways
A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider r ...
,
geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...
, cycling, fishing, jogging, a
Parkrun
Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...
, bird watching, photography, picnicking, dog walking, a cricket club and wayfaring.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Shipley, Derbyshire
Shipley is a civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The parish contains twelve listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade II*, the middle of the th ...
References
{{Reflist
Houses completed in 1700
Houses completed in 1799
Buildings and structures demolished in 1943
Country houses in Derbyshire
Tourist attractions in Derbyshire
Former country houses in England
British country houses destroyed in the 20th century
1700 establishments in England