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| The Frecheville family crest at Staveley Hall |
Having ended June 2022 with a recce of the geology along the High Peak Trail, in the Peak District National Park, my next day out in the first week of July was to Staveley and Brimington in North-East Derbyshire - principally to photograph their listed buildings.
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| Listed buildings in Staveley |
I had driven past these very many times when I lived in Sheffield, on the way to work as a trainee general practice surveyor at the Chesterfield office of the District Valuer/Valuation Office but, except for the Church of St Michael and All Angels, I can’t recall seeing anything else that might be of interest to this Language of Stone Blog.
Staveley is set on an unnamed Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation (PMCMF) sandstone, above the River Rother. Although it has a Grade II* Listed church dating back to the C13, it is probably best known for its heavy industry, with quarrying of ironstone on the Duke of Devonshire’s land in the 1600s leading to the formation of an iron foundry and furnace, which in turn developed into coal mining and a substantial chemicals plant.
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| Staveley war memorial |
I started my exploration at Staveley war memorial, built in 1920 using a slightly veined variety of Carrara marble from Italy, which is quite unusual in that the soldier is depicted standing against a tree stump - representing the great devastion of swathes of woodland during the conflict.
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| Staveley Hall stables and coach house |
My next stop was the C17 coach house and stable block to Staveley Hall (1604), which are built with a PMCMF sandstone that possesses no obvious distinguishing features. Taking a few general photos of the publicly accessible elevations, I continued to Staveley Hall itself, which was much altered during a C19 restoration thought to be the work of Sir George Gilbert Scott, where the main feature of interest is the painted Frecheville family crest and date stone.
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| Views of Staveley Hall |
From Staveley Hall, I followed the path to St. John the Baptist’s church, which I shall describe later, and briefly stopped in the churchyard to photograph Nos. 7 and 8 Church Street, which are rendered, before arriving at the old school (1844).
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| Views of the old school |
The school was built by the 6th Duke of Devonshire and displays the family crest, in the form of a nowed serpent, with the Historic England description mentioning that this was probably the work of Joseph Paxton. It certainly has similarities to work of his that I have seen in Edensor and Rowsley, particularly the overhanging eaves details and the chimneys.
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| The Chantry |
After taking advantage of tea and cake that was being served at the old school, I continued to the much altered Grade II Listed Chantry on High Street, which according to the Historic England description "is said to have been a chantry founded by the Frecheville family or, alternatively, a chapel founded by the Musard family in the C13, but this has been disputed."
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| A plaque attached to the Chantry |
The original building stone used here is very iron rich sandstone with orange staining and Liesegang rings, laid as large roughly squared and coursed walling, with better shaped stones used for later additions. As previously seen at Staveley Hall and its stables/coach house, it also has a stone tile roof, which is commonly seen in the vernacular architecture on both the Millstone Grit Group and the Pennine Coal Measures Group.
On the opposite side of High Street, Nos. 34-44, which were all built c1845, form a group of three pairs of semi-detached houses that have similar characteristics – especially Nos. 34-36 and Nos. 38-40. Although there is no mention in the listing description, the latter houses have quite distinctive overhanging eaves that suggest that these might also be by Paxton.
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| Nos. 34-40 High Street |
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