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Staveley Links |
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St John The Baptist Church |
Wesleyan Chapel |
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Before the Norman Conquest, In Edward the Confessor's reign STAVELEIE was known to be a settlement. It was at this time that Hacon the Saxon held lands in the area. The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Staveleie was "The land of Ascuit Musard: - In Staveleie Hacon had four carncates of land for gelf. Land for four ploughs. Now Ascuit has in the demesne there three ploughs; and twenty-one villages and seven bordars have four ploughs. There is a priest and a church and one mill of five shillings and four pence value. There are sixty acres of meadow, wood, pesturable, one mile and a half in length and the same in breadth. In the time of King Edward and now it was, and is, worth six pounds."
There were only twelve more valuable holdings in the county in
Norman times. This realises the importance of Staveley at the time,
only five holdings had larger areas of land. It was through the
Conquest of 1066, for his services to William I, Ascuit Musard was
given the demesne.
The Manor was held by the Musard family until the 14th
century. It was at this time the male line died out and the estates
then passed to the female line. Anker de Frecheville was married to
the eldest. The Frechevilles held a great influence over the town.
The Frechevilles built and fortified Staveley Hall, extended the
church and founded Netherthorpe Grammar School. The Frechevilles
also developed the farms and the mills, and through marriage,
amassed a substantial fortune in property, land and cash. During the Civil War, Sir John Frecheville was a loyal supporter of Charles I. After the battle of Marston Moor in 1644 the King is reported to have stayed with him at Staveley Hall. Some of the action of the Civil War in Derbyshire centered around Staveley Hall. Contemporary reports by Cromwell's officers say that after the surrender of Bolsover Castle in August 1644, " They all marched to Staley House, which was strongly fortified. But upon our armies advance to it, it was soon surrendered upon articles of agreement, and in it we had twelve pieces of ordnance, two hundred and thirty muskets, and a hundred and fifty pikes; and Mr. John Frecheville (who had long held the house fortified with strong works for the service of the King) being then convinced of the goodness of our cause, did very freely, and voluntarily, render to the Major General Crawford, all the arms aforesaid with much other ammunition."
After the Restoration of Charles II, John Frecheville was granted a
peerage and became Baron Musard, eventually, financial problems
caused him to sell the estates in 1681 to the Cavendish family and
the Dukes of Devonshire have retained possession of the land though
to the present day.
The industrial revolution saw Staveley's greatest period of
expansion along with the development of the canals and the railways.
the Devonshire's and their lessees, the Barrows and Markhams, took
advantage of the area as it was rich in coal and minerals. They
build up a thriving coal mining, iron smelting and casting industry
and as a result of this the Staveley Coal and Iron Company was
founded In 1845. The majority of the land is now local authority
owned or is owned by ocal businesses but the Duke of Devonshire
still owns much of the surrounding farmland, keeping the links with
the past alive. Places of Interest in Staveley
Staveley Hall is
one of the architectural treasures of Staveley. It is a Grade II
Listed Building. Staveley Hall in its present form was built by Sir
Peter Frecheville in 1604. Colonel Frecheville led his men far a field and eventually had to return to the Hall after the defeat by the Parliamentarians at Marston Moor. He was followed by a detachment of the Eastern Association under Major General Crawford. The Hall was fortified and the windows shuttered with iron shutters (the hinges are still there on the western front).
But the Hall was
weakest on the eastern side and after his victories at Sheffield and
Bolsover Major General Crawford arrived at the eastern front of the
Hall with 1,200 foot soldiers and a regiment of horse. The windows on the west front were all replaced with chamfered mouldings. Internally the fine 1604 period panelling reputedly survives although repositioned and can be seen in three rooms, and there are some original fireplaces. The most complete front of the original building is the West Front constructed in the early Renaissance style with 6 large windows. The northern one was altered in 1847 to provide a bay. The East front was restored in 1752 and as previously mentioned, there is the Frecheville Coat of Arms above the door. In times past Staveley Hall sat in the centre of grounds which stretched for miles. The landscaped park in which it sat is long gone but it is possible to trace the boundaries which were defined by farms and lodges; such as The Hagg, some 1.5 miles away.
Plans are in place
to restore the remaining grounds but one can see the listed Kitchen
Garden Wall (18th Century) and the massive stone walls and
buttresses on the west. These are remarkably well preserved.
This is the oldest building in Staveley and is situated in the High
Street, a few yards from the lynchgate of the church. It was erected
as a Chantry by the Frechevilles, and, during alterations in 1904,
skeletons were unearthed which may have been those of early members
of the family, or possibly, of the Musard Family, of whom no tombs
have been found. The building was used as a Mechanics Institute in
the mid 19th Century, then as a youth club, and is now a
private house.
This fine old house was built in 1719 in the foundations of an
earlier building, and was widely believed to contain a passage
leading from its cellars to the church across the road, though no
evidence has been found to substantiate this belief. The Rectory's
most famous inhabitants were James and Francis Gisbourne, successive
Rectors of Staveley from 1716 to 1821. The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist stands next to the Hall. The earliest record of a church in Staveley was in the Domesday book, it was built by Hacon, the Saxon, in the early 11th century and was extended in the Norman period by the Musard Family, who used Saxon grave slabs for part of the window sills.
The church contains a fine Norman font dating from about 1175. The
Frechevilles added to the church in the 14th Century,
installing a high alter, with memorial alter tombs, and an Easter
sepulchre with fine medieval carvings. A Frecheville chapel was
built to house the family tombs, and this has a beautiful stained
glass window made in the 17th Century by Gyles of York,
The base of the tower is early English, but extensions were added in
the 15th and 16th Centuries. Clerestory
windows were added to the south chancel in the 15th and
16th Centuries. The last extensive restoration was
carried out by Gilbert Scott between 1865 and 1869, when a new south
aisle was built. A unique feature of the church is the Miner's
Shrine, which contains a carving by a local craftsman of St.
Michael, the patron Saint of Miners, a piece of coal from Ireland
Colliery, the nearest of the local collieries, and a miner's lamp,
which remains perpetually lit.
This School was founded in 1572 by Margaret Frecheville, mother of
the Sir Peter who built the Hall, and was originally a Free Grammar
School, maintained by bequests from the local gentry. It is an
oblong building, with a two-storey porch at the west corner, the
upper floor of which contained the Masters rooms. The Old School is
now used as the school library, and contains some of the original 17th
century furniture.
This fine Jacobean mansion which stands 1.5 miles from the town
centre, is now a farm. It was built as a dower house by Sir Peter
Frecheville, and contains mullioned windows, and a flat-roofed
porch, used originally as a balcony from which to watch the hunting.
The interior contains fine oak panelling, a pair of 17th
century dog gates at the foot of the staircase, and extensive wine
and beer cellars. It is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a lady
dressed in white, and was also said to have a passage connecting it
to Staveley Hall. |
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Last updated on
14/06/2008 SPIRE AND DISTRICT ONLINE |
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