Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire
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Stanford Hall is a grade II* listed 18th-century
English country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire 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 Townhou ...
in
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, England, in
Stanford on Soar Stanford on Soar, known locally as Stanford, is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England near the River Soar. Description Setting Stanford on Soar is located near the River Soar just within the Not ...
just north of
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...
. It is home to the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC).


History

The manor of Stanford, complete with its stone manor house, was sold in 1661 by the Raynes family to a London alderman, Thomas Lewes (died c. 1702). He was succeeded by his grandson
Francis Lewis Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of N ...
(c. 1692 – 1744), who was an MP and
High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centu ...
for 1713–14. The estate then passed to the fourth and last generation of Leweses, Charles Lewes, who died with no heir. After him it passed by marriage to the Dashwood family, of whom the first to occupy the property was Charles Vere Dashwood. He commissioned William Anderson of Loughborough to rebuild the house in brick between 1771 and 1774. The house is constructed in red brick with ashlar dressings, with a hipped slate roof topped with a painted balustrade, built in two storeys with a seven-bay frontage. It then descended in the Dashwood family to Charles Lewes Dashwood, who sold it in 1887 to Richard Ratcliff, a brewer from Burton-on-Trent. Ratcliff employed the local architect W.H. Fletcher to make substantial changes to the house, which included building new two-storey wings flanking the main block and a new service wing. The house passed on his death in 1898 to his son, also Richard, By 1928 the owner was Richard Snr.'s granddaughter Kathleen, who had married Lawrence Kimball.


Sir Julien Cahn

In 1928 Sir
Julien Cahn Sir Julien Cahn, 1st Baronet (21 October 1882 – 26 September 1944) was a British businessman, philanthropist and cricket enthusiast. Early life and family Cahn was born in Cardiff in 1882 to parents of German Jewish descent. His father, Alber ...
purchased the Hall from the Kimballs for £70,000 (equivalent to £ as of ). Here Cahn commissioned the architect
Percy Richard Morley Horder Percy Richard Morley Horder (18 November 1870 – 7 October 1944) was an English architect who early in his career worked from offices in Stroud and later in London. His early work was in the Arts and Crafts style, but after the First World War h ...
to build a cricket pitch, nine-hole golf course, bowling green, large trout lake,
sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...
pool,
penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
pool,
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, tennis court and thatched pavilion, an enormous outdoor heated swimming pool with coral walls holding fountains and artificial caves added to the fantastic wooded parkland and formal gardens. The largest addition was a theatre designed by Cecil Aubrey Masey built in 1937 for £73,000 (equivalent to £ as of ) which seated 352 people. The walls were decorated with murals by Beatrice MacDermott. It comprised a raked auditorium, orchestra pit and
Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
organ which can be raised and lowered during performances. The organ was made for
Théâtre de la Madeleine The Théâtre de la Madeleine () is a theater in Paris built in the English style in 1924 on the site of a carousel. The first major success of the theatre came with the presentation of part one of '' The Merchants of Glory'' by Marcel Pagnol. T ...
, Paris. It was purchased by Sir
Julien Cahn Sir Julien Cahn, 1st Baronet (21 October 1882 – 26 September 1944) was a British businessman, philanthropist and cricket enthusiast. Early life and family Cahn was born in Cardiff in 1882 to parents of German Jewish descent. His father, Alber ...
for £20,000 and enlarged when it was installed. The house was extensively remodelled over the next decade under the direction of Sir
Charles Allom Sir Charles Carrick Allom (1865–1947) was an eminent English decorator, trained as an architect and knighted for his work on Buckingham Palace. He was the grandson of architect Thomas Allom and painter Thomas Carrick. Among his American clien ...
, principal of arguably the finest of the large interior decorating concerns, White Allom Ltd. Together with Queen Mary, Sir Charles advised on the redecoration of Buckingham Palace and had many multi-millionaire clients, such as
Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company and played a major ...
, whose Fifth Avenue town house now houses the
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
and whose decoration by White Allom is highly regarded. The same is true of Stanford Hall. Stanford Hall retains most of the superb interior structures and installations of Cahn's day, though most of the art moderne marble bathrooms were removed in the 1960s. The furnishings selected with Sir
Charles Allom Sir Charles Carrick Allom (1865–1947) was an eminent English decorator, trained as an architect and knighted for his work on Buckingham Palace. He was the grandson of architect Thomas Allom and painter Thomas Carrick. Among his American clien ...
were of the highest quality. The inclusion of many fine antiques, and the theming of the rooms by date and country gave the impression of a house that had evolved over time. By 1940 it was one of the finest and most luxurious of small country houses in the United Kingdom. Cahn died in the White Allom panelled library in 1944. In 1939 he had lent part of the house to be used for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.


Bomber crash

In 1941 a Blenheim bomber crashed onto the cricket pitch in foggy conditions; no one died in the incident.


Co-operative College

The hall was purchased for £54,000 in 1945 (equivalent to £ as of ), by the
Co-operative Union Co-operatives UK is a British co-operative federation described as "the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK". It was founded in 1870 as the Co-operative Central Board, changing its name to the Co-opera ...
to house its
Co-operative College Co-operative College is a UK educational charity dedicated to the promotion of co-operative values, ideas and principles within co-operatives, communities and society. Origins and development The Co-operative College is an educational charity w ...
.


Raynsway Properties 2001–2007

The Co-operative College relocated to
Holyoake House Holyoake House is a building in the NOMA district of Manchester, England, which was completed in 1911. Designed by F.E.L. Harris, it was built for the Co-operative Union in memory of George Holyoake. It is located alongside other listed buildin ...
in Manchester in 2001 and sold Stanford Hall to Raynsway Properties, which planned to convert it into luxury apartments and also build a 147-bedroom hotel in the grounds.


Chek Whyte 2007–2011

In March 2007 the Hall was sold by Leicester-based Raynsway Properties for £6.25 million to Chek Whyte Industries, which planned to convert it and built a £60m retirement village within the grounds. In March 2009, the grounds hosted the English schools cross-country championships. In October 2009, after the fall in property prices because of the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, Chek Whyte obtained an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) in order to avoid bankruptcy.


Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC)

In October 2011 the Hall and its grounds were purchased on behalf of
Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster Major General Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (22 December 1951 – 9 August 2016) was a British landowner, businessman, aristocrat, Territorial Army general, and peer. He was the son of Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of West ...
, as a potential site for a ‘Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre’ (DNRC). The Duke, who had served in the Territorial Army since the age of 21 and was committed to supporting military welfare, led a major fundraising campaign for the proposed new establishment. On 13 June 2013,
Rushcliffe Borough Council Rushcliffe is a local government district with borough status in south Nottinghamshire, England. Its council is based in West Bridgford. The borough also includes the towns of Bingham and Cotgrave as well as numerous villages and surrounding rur ...
"resolved to grant planning permission... for the redevelopment of the Stanford Hall estate as the potential site for the DNRC". On 10 July 2014,
HM Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
announced that it had granted approval for the establishment of DNRC at Stanford Hall. Work started on the £300m three-year project on 24 August 2015. The 7th Duke of Westminster handed over the DNRC facility to the nation at a gifting ceremony held on the estate on 21 June 2018. The Centre was received by the
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
,
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
in the presence of the
Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge is a hereditary title of nobility in the British royal family, one of several royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom. The title is named after the city of Cambridge in England. It is heritable by agnatic, male descendants by pr ...
.


See also

*
Grade II* listed buildings in Nottinghamshire There are over 20,000 Grade II* listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of Nottinghamshire, by district. Ashfield Bassetlaw Broxtowe ...
* Listed buildings in Stanford on Soar


References

{{reflist


External links


DNRCStanford Hall – DNRC estate redevelopmentThe DiCamillo Companion – Stanford HallThe Co-operative College – Origins and Development
Country houses in Nottinghamshire Grade II* listed buildings in Nottinghamshire