A unique experience awaits at Sutton scarsdale Hall, there is an overwhelming feeling of sad demise. This great shell of a structure, open to the elements and totally devoid of contents yet still retaining a great aura of dinity despite the empty reality.
Following the remodelling of a 17th century house in 1724, Sutton Scarsdale Hall was probably the finest country house in Derbyshire at the time, the work was carried out by Francis Smith for Nicholas, fourth Earl of Scarsdale which following his death Godfrey Clarke purchased the estate in 1740. Ownership was transferred by marriage to the Marquis of Ormonde and in 1824 following his death Richard Arkwright son of the Cromford Mill Arkwrights became the new owner until 1919.
After years of neglect the hall fell in to a state of disrepair when a group of Chesterfield businessmen purchased the property. Due to the poor state of the general fabric, it was decided to dismantle the building and sell off the contents including the lead roof, deterioration was irreversible.
In 1946 Sir Osbert Sitwell of Renishaw Hall purchased the surviving shell with the intention of preserving the remains as a ruin, ironically some of the interior fixtures now reside in the USA at the Philadelphia Museum.
The site is now maintained by English Heritage. |
