[21596] Thornbridge Hall : Baldacchino

Thornbridge Hall, Great Longstone, Derbyshire.

The Gardens.

Baldacchino on Tuscan columns, topped by a coat of arms in a semi-circular pediment.

Originally at Clumber.

Grade ll listed.

 

Thornbridge was part of the estate of the Longsdon family of Little Longstone and was held by them from the C12 until 1790, when James Longsdon sold it to his business partner Andrew Morewood, a Manchester merchant. Morewood began to rebuild the house in the Classical style, his son John Morewood continuing the work which he complemented with a modest park. John Morewood was succeeded by his brother, George, and after his death, by his son-in-law, James McConnell, who in 1859 sold it back to the Longsdons. The Longsdon family retained much of the estate but put the Hall and its grounds up for sale, these being purchased by John Sleigh, a Leek manufacturer. In 1871 Sleigh sold the Hall to Frederick Craven who commissioned the architect John Brightmore Mitchell-Withers to rebuild the Hall in the Jacobean style, with stained glass windows by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. In 1896 the Hall was again sold, this time to George Marples, who immediately enlarged the estate and commissioned Charles Hadfield of Sheffield to alter the Hall, add stables and build lodges on the boundary of his new park. He also laid out formal gardens around the Hall to designs by Simeon Marshall. When Marples died in 1929 the estate was sold to Charles Boot of the construction firm Henry Boot. Boot embellished the Hall and gardens with an assortment of artefacts acquired during the course of his business, hence the presence of balustrading, urns and a fountain from Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire, and marble statues which came his way while working on a land reclamation scheme in Greece. When Charles Boot died in 1945 the Hall was purchased by Sheffield City Council, who developed it as a teacher training college and later a conference and education centre. The Hall was put up for auction in 1997 and was bought by a private purchaser.

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Thornbridge Hall, Great Longstone, Derbyshire, rebuilt 1897.

By Charles Hadfield (1840-1916).

For George Jobson Marples (1845-1929), Sheffield businessman & lawyer.

Grade ll listed.

Done