Sutton Scarsdale Hall

Sutton Scarsdale Hall is the shell of a once impressive Georgian mansion that was  stripped of its finery and left to decay in 1919.

The existing structure is believed to be the fourth or fifth built on the site. The penultimate form of building was the, specially strengthened and fortified, house owned by the King’s supporter, Sir Francis Leke,  which was stormed by Parliamentarian forces  during the English civil war. The Leke family eventually regained  both estate and position and were raised to the peerage after the restoration. In 1724, Nicholas Leke, 4th Earl of Scarsdale commissioned the building of a design by architect Francis Smith, to develop a the mansion in typical Georgian style using parts of the existing building.

Considered (at the time) to be equivalent in both  size and quality to the Chatsworth House (http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chatsworth-house), about 20 miles away ,  it featured, in the interior,  ornamental panels  in high quality oak, elaborate carved fireplaces in both marble and the, very rare, Blue John and a carved mahogany staircase. There is a fine view across the Doe Lee valley towards Bolsover Castle.

After passing through several hands, Richard Arkwright Junior bought the Hall in 1824. He was the son of Sir Richard Arkwright  who invented the water frame cotton spinning machine. When he died in 1843 Richard Arkwright Junior  was said to be the richest person in England without a peerage.

The house passed down the Arkwright family but fell into neglect in the early 20th century  and it was auctioned in 1919. The estate was bought by a group of entrepreneurs  who, unencumbered by the UKs effective architectural protection laws of today,  ripped the heart out of the house. The most devastating act of vandalism was removal of the lead and slate roof in 1920 which exposed the stucco plasterwork by  Francesco Vassalli and brothers Giuseppe and Adalberto Artari, renowned craftsmen  from Italy, to the elements. A small fraction  of this can still be seen in the ruin today. 

Some parts of the building were exported to the United States including  oak panelling from one of the rooms which was bought by William Randolf Hearst, who, it is said,  planned to use it at Hearst Castle. He never did so and it was later sold to a film company who used it as a set in various productions in the 1950’s.

In 1946, the estate was bought by Sir Osbert Sitwell of Renishaw Hall, just down the  valley, with the intention of preserving what was left of the shell. It is now managed by the UKs national heritage body ,English Heritage. It is open to the public who are able to wander round the outside of the ruins, and peer inside,  free of charge.