Carnfield Hall is a privately owned

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 peop ...

located at

South Normanton South Normanton is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover District of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 9,445. An ex-mining village, it is two miles east of Alfreton. The historic industries of the village were ag ...

, near

Alfreton Alfreton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 7,971 at the 2011 Census. The villages of ...

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 Ir ...

. The estate includes around ninety acres of park and

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

. The manor was anciently held by the Babington family of

Dethick Manor Dethick Manor is a 16th-century manor house, situated at Dethick, Amber Valley, Derbyshire, much altered in the 18th century and converted to use as a farmhouse. It is a Grade II* listed building. The manor of Dethick was anciently owned by the ...

, but was sold in about 1502 to Hugh Revell, a younger brother of John Revell of Ogston Hall. Documents relating to the Carnfield estate date from the early 14th century. The earliest parts of the present structure date from the mid 15th century, but the west facing hall was extensively reconstructed in the 1560s by Edward Revell, son of Hugh. Robert Revell, (

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 to ...

in 1700) substantially enlarged and improved the house in about 1710, when a new entrance front was created to the south with a three-storey, nine bayed, gabled facade. The Grade II listed coachhouse was also built at about this time. Further reconstructions and additions were made to the hall throughout the 19th century. The architecture of Carnfield Hall is therefore a mix of

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

, Jacobean and Victorian styles. When Edward Revell died in 1770, the estate passed to his natural son Tristam Revell and on his death in 1797 to a cousin Sir John Eardley Wilmot. Subsequently, the hall had several owners including Joseph Wilson in 1834, Vaughan Radford, and Melville Watson, whose widow lived there until 1949 when it was sold to Noel Darbyshire. Structural damage from mining subsidence caused Carnfield Hall to be abandoned in 1960, and it fell into decline. Despite an attempt to demolish the hall, and a plan to convert it into a hotel, Carnfield was eventually bought by James Cartland in 1987. The hall has been extensively restored by Cartland in the intervening years, together with purchase of surrounding lands. Cartland sold the hall to Graham Oliver in 2011. Today, Carnfield Hall is open to the public for guided tours of two people or more by appointment only. Various events such as plays, fairs and nature walks are held throughout the year. The hall and grounds are also hired out for private receptions and corporate events. In March 2010, Carnfield Hall was the subject of a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

television programme presented by hotelier

Ruth Watson Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

as part of her ''

Country House Rescue ''Country House Rescue'' is an observational documentary series which airs on British terrestrial television channel, Channel 4. The series has also aired on BBC Canada, ABC1 in Australia and Living in New Zealand and in South Africa. In each e ...

'' series.

References

External links

Carnfield Hall homepage
{{coord, 53.0999, -1.3657, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Derbyshire Historic house museums in Derbyshire Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire

See also

References

External links