and their owners
The Manor House
The original Manor House is thought to have been on the site which is now Manor Farm near the church. There is little evidence however to show that any early or modern lords of Whittington lived there. The house, which was demolished in the late 1960’s, was possibly dated from the late 16th century or early 17th.
There is reference to a Mr John Ferguson and his wife living at that address along with their son Dr S H Ferguson in the late 1920’s early 30’s.
Whittington Hall
Whittington Hall, which was built by Henry Dixon c.1835 became the prominent house in Old Whittington. More details about the Hall and the Dixon family can be found here.
Broom House
By 1837 Broom House was the residence of Charles Steade, a retired Army lieutenant. He was a shareholder in the Chesterfield Canal and in 1845 a provisional director of the Manchester and Lincoln Union Railway (which incorporated the Chesterfield and Gainsborough Canal Company)
Charles was also very involved with the local community in 1837 he gave £10 towards the endowment of Holy Trinity, Chesterfield. In 1846 he was the collector of subscriptions for the the church which was to replace the earlier church which by now was ‘very dilapidated and unsafe’ (see the copy of the newspaper report). The new church was eventually built in 1863, 3 years after Charle’s death.
When the church was built in 1863 an east window was given by Caroline Smith of Beauchief Hall in memory of Charles and his wife Elizabeth Mary (née Smith). Unfortunately this was destroyed in the fire of 1895.
In 1865 the house was the home of Arthur Lupton, a Unitarian minister but he left in 1866. Arthur was a descendant of the Yorkshire Luptons. They were prominent in the Unitarian movement and in civic and business circles. Arthur’s son Arnold was Liberal MP for Sleaford 1906-1910. In 1861 Arthur and his family were listed in the census as living at Mount Pleasant in Old Whittington. Arthur moved to Newton Abbot where he died in 1867. There is an extensive Wikipedia entry for the Lupton family, going back to the time Roger Lupton was Chaplin to Henry VII and Henry VIII.
In the 1870’s John Johnson, who owned the Whittington & Sheepbridge Colliery Co. Ltd occupied the house and Broom House became the registered office of the company. The company later went into receivership and by 1879 Broom House was to let again.
Sometime after that Sheepbridge Coal & Iron Co. Ltd, acquired the property for senior officials.
In 1889 the works manager Watkin Davies was listed as living there. In 1899 Mr Davies was listed as an Iron Founder at Renishaw. Watkin was also a Vice President of Old Whittington Cricket Club.
From 1924 Thomas E Haslam a Director of the Sheepbridge Company an Old Cestrefeldian and a borough councillor and justice of the peace. Thomas and his wife were listed as still resident at BroomHouse in 1945.
Broom House, which was severely damaged by fire in 1990 and rebuilt as a nursing home and care centre.
Hill House
From 1879 to 1918 Hill House was owned in 1879 by Willian Daniel Holford, William originally from Hyde moved to Whittington and became manager of the old Lockoford Colliery when it reopened, he later became manager of the Foxley Oaks Colliery in Whittington. He was amongst the pioneers of the Chesterfield Institute of Mining Engineers. William was a Warden of St Bartholomew’s church and was heavily involved in fundraising to build a new church after the previous one was destroyed by fire. He was a member of the Webster’s Trust and a school manager, he had served as Chair to both bodies. (A copy of Williams obituary is in our Newspaper Cuttings section).
Hill House was later sold to James William Thompson who at some point demolished the house and built a bakery on the site. Details of his improved bakery is shown in the newspaper clippings along with some of his advertisements highlighting his amazing bread in local newspapers. James (Jim) is related to the family in the book ‘Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue’ by Lynn Knight which tells the family life of a small shop on Wheeldon Mill in the first half of the 1930’s. Jim gets a mention in the book too.
Jim was a Master Baker and a local councillor becoming mayor of Chesterfield in 1939.
The bakery was later taken over by the Mother’s Pride company.
In the mid 1980’s the bakery was demolished to make way for a housing development ‘Old Bakery Close’
We have a page in our newspaper cuttings section on Jim
Holly House
Holly House included a considerable amount of land it was advertised once as having 83 acres of land over the years it was offered with varying lots of land.
The earliest record shows Joshua Webster to be the owner in 1780.
In 1825 it belonged to George Jenkinson, who owned a considerable amount of land in Whittington.
The Revd John Stanley Hill, Sole Curate of Whittington who lived at the house for one or two years left in 1872 when he resigned his post.
The Holly House estate along with the Broom House estate was being exploited for coal and other minerals by the Whittington & Sheepbridge Colliery Company as noted above. Holly House had been acquired by John Armstead.
The company collapsed in 1878 but the house itself was then let to the the curate Revd Richard Daintree Shaw, with his wife and 6 children, regrettably he died there in September 1881.
Sometime after local farmer and timber merchant John Green took up residence with wife Anne. John died in 1934. Anne continued to live there until her death when their eldest son John Henry moved in with his family.
After it ceased to be a private residence, Holly House was taken over by Derbyshire County Council and adapted to become a school for children with special needs, part residential. This is still its current use.
Elmwood House
In 1825 Elmwood House belonged to Charles Hughes May.
In 1888 it was noted that John Turner, a Chesterfield auctioneer, had bought Elmwood. Mrs Elizabeth Turner was still registered living there in the 1891 census.
Between 1892 and 1897 it was rented to Thomas Gosling, a Sheffield cabinet maker and upholsterer. Next came Mr and Mrs T.H. Watson, who resided there until 1910.
The next occupier was Harry Brearley, the inventor of stainless steel. You can find out more about Harry on our website here.
The Brearleys later moved to Walton and the house became home in 1930 to the Hon. John Montague William North, the second son of the Earl and Countess of Guilford (Lord North) and his wife Muriel Hicking, younger daughter of Sir William and Lady Hicking of Brackenhurst Hall, Southwell, Notts. (They were divorced in 1939 and John Married a further three times)
At some point later it was purchased by the Burden Trust (who now owned Whittington Hall) as a residence for Dr R.F. Furniss, who in 1937 gave up his practice to become full-time medical superintendent at Whittington Hall. In 1957 the Hall and Elmwood was leased by the Minister for Health with an option to purchase.
Elmwood House is now in private ownership.
Mansion House
The Mansion House is listed as being built in the 17th Century or earlier. In the late 18th Century or early 19th Century a ‘Dame’ school was added into the south facade.
In the census of 1891 a Miss Caroline S Crookes was listed as the occupant and her occupation as Principle of ladies school.
At some point William Edgar Fletcher and his wife Florence moved into the Mansion House. In 1952 William is noted to be an Undertaker.
Whittington Grange
Whittington Grange was built c.1866 on land to the rear of Elmwood House for Juliet Aldam, the widow of Thomas Aldam, a Sheffield wine and spirit merchant, who died in 1858. Mrs Aldam moved with her younger son Alfred and two unmarried daughters, Eliza and Sarah Catherine.
Mrs Aldam died at Whittington Grange in 1875 and Alfred in 1876 . Her daughters, neither of whom married, continued to live at the Grange and were very active in church and charity work in Whittington. Catherine died in 1886, aged 56. Later she had a marble reredos in St Bartholomew’s dedicated to her which unfortunately was destroyed in the church fire in 1895.
Eliza died in 1900, aged 79. Whittington Grange was eventually sold to Henry Wright in 1902 the managing director of Henry Wright & Son Ltd, a firm of Sheffield iron and steel merchants and scrap dealers. He spent £1,500 renovating and improving the Grange and its grounds, which he frequently opened for bazaars, garden parties and tennis and bowls matches. He was the county councillor for Whittington until he retired in March 1913, and was later briefly a county alderman. Henry Wright died in August 1913, aged 68.
Mrs Wright continued to play an active part in the community, including opening the grounds of the Grange, until her own death in 1923. The house then passed to her eldest daughter, Fanny Ann, who in 1914 married Arthur Alfred Baxter Throsby. The couple kept up her family’s tradition of opening the grounds of their home for charitable events. Arthur died in 1944. Mrs Throsby continued to live at Whittington Grange until her own death in 1959.
Whittington Grange continues to be a private residence.
Manor House, Whittington Hill
There is a record in the 1909 census that refers to ‘The Manor House, Whittington Hill’ lived in by Mr Thomas Elliot and his wife Sarah. They had 2 sons Alwyne and Howard Elliot
With thanks to Philip Riden of Victoria County History of Derbyshire for his research on Whittington which enabled me add to my research on local notable houses in Old Whittington.