Historic Architecture in Edensor

 

St. Peter's church

My excursion to Coal Aston and Dronfield, in August 2023, was very productive - with 300 photographs recording their geology, listed buildings and industrial history during a 7 km walk that took 3½ hours from start to finish. 

 

The Stagecoach No. 160 bus timetable

For my next day out, I decided to go and have a look at the Grade II* Listed St. Annes’ church in Beeley, which is part of the Chatsworth Estate in the Peak District National Park. Studying various timetables, if the buses ran on time, I could catch the X54 from Treeton to Sheffield, the No. 218 to Chatsworth House and finally the No. 160 to Beeley - arriving at 10:11. 

 

The Photo Challenge for Edensor, Beeley and Chatsworth Park

 

As usual, I had prepared a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge for Edensor, Chatsworth Park and Beeley and, when the TM Travel No. 218 bus - who also ran the equally unreliable X54 service - didn’t turn up on time, I alighted at the Gates bus stop and started out on what eventually turned into a 6 mile walk. 

 

The Park Ranger's House

 

During a previous visit to Edensor in September 2018, I had photographed most of the buildings in the model village built by Joseph Paxton for the 6th Duke of Devonshire, which I added to the British Listed Buildings website at a later date; however, some of the peripheral buildings had not been photographed and the first building on my list was the late C18 Park Ranger’s House, which I could only see from the main road. 

Dunsa House

Crossing over the road to take a distant photo of Dunsa House (c.1848), by Paxton in an Italianate style, I could only get a glimpse of No. 3 Teapot Row (1912), which is part of a row of two detached and a pair of semi-detached cottages that Historic England describe as being in the C17 vernacular style and possibly by W.H. Romaine-Walker, who was responsible for the building of the main staircase at Chatsworth House. 

 

No. 3 Teapot Row

 

I stopped briefly to photograph the Grade II Listed gates, wall and railings at the north entrance to Edensor and Castle Lodge (1842), which was designed by John Robertson – an architect who was employed in Paxton’s planning office and who made a significant contribution to very many of the houses at Edensor. 

 

Castle Lodge

 

On The Green, there is a large plaque with the words Edensor School formed in raised lettering, which marks the site of the now demolished school that was originally built in the mid C18, rebuilt in the 1840’s and demolished in 1950. 

 

The plaque from Edensor School

 

Continuing to Jap Lane, I firstly photographed the K6 telephone kiosk and then the late C18 Old Vicarage - remodelled in 1838 - of which I could only obtain a partial view from a distance while it was having work undertaken to the roof and chimney stack.

 

The Old Vicarage

 

Although I had taken a good look at the Grade I Listed St. Peter’s church back in 2018 and again in 2020, when preparing a talk on the “Devonshire Marbles” for the 150th anniversary of its consecration – which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic - I couldn’t resist taking another quick look around it.

 

A view along the nave in St. Peter's church

 

Having taken another set of photos of the interior and churchyard, which I shall describe later, I retraced my steps back to the B6102 and the early C19 Park House, the only building remaining from the original village of Edensor, before setting off to Beeley through Chatsworth Park.

 

Park House