Thoresby Hall Dukeries country house estate Nottinghamshire England Great Hall Grade I listed building
Thoresby Hall is one of the Dukeries, four country houses and estates in north Nottinghamshire all occupied by dukes at one time in their history. The Pierrepont family acquired the Thoresby estate in 1633 and built the first grand house, attributed to Talman, in about 1670. The early seventeenth century house was remodelled, probably by Benjamin Jackson, in 1685-87, and burnt down in 1745. Twenty years later John Carr in 1767–1772 built a new house on the same site and Thoresby Park was enclosed by William Pierrepont, 4th Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1783. The house was pulled down after just one hundred years when the celebrated Victorian country house architect Anthony Salvin designed the present house, erected 500 metres (550 yd) to the north between 1868–1874. The present building measures 55 metres (180 ft) on its east and south fronts and 48 metres (157 ft) on its west front. The impressive Great Hall, with minstrels' gallery at the west end, is 19 metres (62 ft) long and 14 metres (46 ft) high. In the 20th century the house was threatened by subsidence caused by coal mining. To minimise the damage the buildings were sold in 1979 to the National Coal Board which chose to sell it on the open market ten years later. After passing through a number of owners it was acquired by Warner Leisure Hotels which opened it as an hotel in 2000. The core of the Thoresby collection was retained by the family to furnish their new house nearby, while the remainder was sold at auction by Sotheby's in 1989. The 8,400-square-metre (90,000 sq ft) Salvin house had a new bedroom wing added before opening as a 200-room country house hotel with spa facilities. The bulk of the Thoresby Estate is still in the hands of the Pierrepont family with only a few acres of immediately adjacent grounds and gardens being owned by the hotel; the family permits access along some footpaths close to the house, and others which are rights of way.
Size: 3605px × 2743px
Photo credit: © SOTK2011 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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