Eastwood Hall, Ashover

Description

Ruins of a Elizabethan and earlier fortified manor house destroyed in the Civil War. A cottage was built against the west side of the building in the late C18. (PastScape)

Eastwood Hall once known as New Hall, was formed from a sub-infeudation of the original manor of Ashover, sometime after the 13th century. It is mentioned in 1337. Destroyed in the Civil War, it is now a ruin. (Bulmer) By 1302 there was a great house in Ashover called the New Hall, afterwards known as Eastwood Hall, which can perhaps be identified with one of the two manors at Ashover mentioned in Domesday. An arch over the east doorway and part of the interior had previously been claimed to be early 12th century, with Early English windows and masonry in the western tower; however, Addy 'failed to notice traces of Norman work'. (Addy) The ruins of Eastwood Hall are in poor condition and overgrown by ivy and shrubs. They are of 16th century date with original entrances, mullioned and transomed windows, fire places, etc. A cottage, of reused material, built against the west side of the ruin, is known as Eastwood Hall Cottage. No evidence of earlier work was seen in the ruins. (Personal Observation: F1 WW 24-MAY-60) Ashover is a large parish which, by the 17th century, possessed several small estates, each with a seat. The process whereby this came about was lengthy and involved. Ashover was held at the time of Domesday by one Serlo under Ralph fitz Hubert; previously Serlo's two manors had been held by Leofric and Leofnoth (Levenot), and it is interesting to note that a family deriving their surname from the latter subsisted within the parish until the 17th century, conceivably descendants of the Saxon Lord. Serlo's great grandson, Serlo de Pleasley, left two daughters and co-heiresses, Matilda and Sara, and from their daughters the estate came to the Reresby family. It is not clear when the Reresbys first built a seat on the site, but by the middle of the 15th century a remarkable early example of the Midland high house seems to have been erected. This appears to have originally been a free-standing five-storey tower, of fortified appearance (although no licence to crenellate was applied for, and none granted). The east front had the highest part at its south end, with a lower, three-storey part connected forming the east front proper. This consisted effectively of five bays marked by miniscule two ' -light mullioned windows with a string course above. The central bay was deeply recessed, but with an infilled porch at ground level - possibly a later addition. The whole was built of coarse squared stone brought to course, with ashlared quoins at all the angles all in millstone grit sandstone, probably Ashover Grit (appropriately) or Chatsworth Grit, giving a powerful aspect. So ruinous is it today, however, that we can form only a hazy idea of what sort of skyline it would have had. There are no surviving obvious signs of earthworks, and the assumption has to be made that this was a possible hunting lodge, owing much to the Prior's lodging at Repton of 1437-38. Sir Thomas Reresby married Mary Monson of South Carlton, Lincolnshire, and set about spending her money - to the tune of £2,000 - in rebuilding the house to make a more comfortable residence of it. He added a new range to the south-west and carried this to the north-west angle, adding a short service wing to the north and a parlour range of only one storey to the east of that face of the high tower, lit by six-light mullion and transom cross windows under straight hood moulds and quoined in a matching style to the older work. The interior was, apparently, richly plastered. Not many years later, Sir Thomas had made the house and estate over to trustees in an attempt to discharge his debts, to some extent caused by over-extravagance in building. It was, however, too late and in 1612 it was mortgaged to Samuel Tryon. Shortly afterwards Tyron foreclosed and in 1623 sold to Revd Emmanuel Bourne, rector of Ashover, who took up residence in the house. During the Civil War, Bourne's refusal to provide sustenance for Parliamentary troops resulted in the house being fired. In 1762, the ruined Hall and some land was sold to the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty to augment the living of Brimington. (Craven and Stanley). (Derbyshire HER)

Comments

Seems to have been a tower with medieval features but quite what the defences of this house were are unclear. The remains are ivy covered and in poor condition. The relatively lowly Grade 2 listing of this important building is clearly an open invitation for someone to take on a major refurbishment job to save the building from collapse. However the building would require considerable work and expense just to be effectively surveyed let alone made habitable although the work done at Hellifield Pele, Yorkshire does show what can be achieved.