From the 14th century, the estate at Elvaston was held by Shelford Priory.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Elvaston was bought by Sir Michael Stanhope and remained in the Stanhope family for the next four hundred years.

A manor house was built in 1633 for Sir John Stanhope and was remodelled in the early 19th century by James Wyatt for Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington. After Wyatt’s death in 1813, the project was overseen by Robert Walker.

It is alleged that ‘Capability’ Brown visited Elvaston but refused the work as he found the ‘place so flat that there was such a lack of capability in it that he would not meddle with it’.

On his death in 1829, the estate was inherited by his son, also called Charles. He appointed the architect Lewis N Cottingham to extend and update the interior of the house with William Barron to oversee the gardens.

Charles was a Regency Buck and was never seen in public before 6pm. Tall and handsome, he designed many of his own clothes, was a friend of the Prince Regent, drank copious amounts of tea and was addicted to snuff. He owned 365 snuff boxes, using a different one on each day of the year. Lord Harrington gave his name to the Harrington hat and the Petersham overcoat.

Lord Harrington married the actress Maria Foote in 1831; she was 17 years younger than him. Their affair caused a scandal in London society and after their marriage, they retreated to Elvaston. With instructions to create romantic pleasure grounds, William Barron transplanted mature conifers and built numerous rockwork structures. Following the death of their only son aged 4, the Earl and Countess became recluses and refused permission for anyone to enter the grounds.

After the Earl’s death in 1851, the estate was inherited by his brother, Leicester Stanhope. He opened the gardens, the ‘Gothic paradise’ to the public. Barron continued to work at Elvaston until 1865 when he left to set up a nursery at nearby Borrowash.

Gradually the pleasure grounds fell into decline and with the onset of World War II, the Stanhope family moved to Ireland and the Castle became a Teachers’ Training College.

In 1964, the Estate was put up for sale and was bought by a consortium who failed to get permission to demolish the Castle and extract aggregates from the site. They removed all the artefacts from the Castle and sold the property to Derbyshire County Council who opened it as a public park in 1970.

With rising costs, DCC entered into a partnership with the National Trust. They established an independent charity called The Elvaston Castle and Gardens Trust. The Trust will manage the estate on a long-term lease from the DCC.

Plans for the future of the estate can be found on Elvaston Castle website. This includes opening the Castle to the public and restoring the Grotto as well recreating some of Barron’s designs, for example the ‘Mon Plaisir’ [see below] and the Alhambra gardens next to the Moorish Temple.

SOME OF THE FEATURES

The Parterre in front of the Castle was laid out in 1970. It replaced the ‘Mon Plaisir’ designed by William Barron in 19th century which was probably based on a 17th century design by Daniel Marot.

The Moorish Temple was originally part of the Alhambra Garden. This had low clipped hedges and formal flower beds enclosed by laurel and yew. In the centre of the garden was a golden yew in a raised bed.

The Mount was created by William Barron as a ruined castle. The mound was built using earth dug out in the creation of the lake.

Some of the rockwork features used tufa (limestone formed by the evaporation at a thermal spring such as at nearby Matlock Bath) and Pulhamite, a mortar render developed by James Pulham to join natural rocks together or to look like natural stone.

The Obelisk in the Old English Garden was originally created as a lamp column and seat base by Joseph Beresford & Sons of Hathersage, Derbyshires. It was moved to Elvaston from the River Gardens in Derby in 1970s.