View source for Bretby Hall

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{no footnotes|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Bretby Hall
| locmapin = Derbyshire
| location = [[Bretby]], [[England]]
| designation1 = Grade II
| built = 1630
| built_for = Thomas Stanhope
| rebuilt = 1812
| coordinates = {{coord|52.79924|N| 1.55797|W}}
| image = Bretby Hall.jpg
| gbgridref = SK297527
| architecture = 
| architect = [[Jeffry Wyatville|Sir Jeffry Wyatville]]
}}
'''Bretby Hall''' is a [[English country house|country house]] at [[Bretby]], [[Derbyshire]], England, north of [[Swadlincote]] and east of [[Burton upon Trent]] on the border with [[Staffordshire]]. It is a [[Grade II listed building]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1001382|desc=Bretby Hall |accessdate=1 December 2018|mode=cs2}}</ref> The name ''Bretby'' means "dwelling place of Britons".

==History==
The first Bretby Hall was built in 1630 after Thomas Stanhope bought the manor of Bretby from the family of Stephen de Segrave, to whom it had been granted by [[Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester]].

In 1628, his grandson [[Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield|Philip]] was made Earl of Chesterfield by King [[Charles I of England]]. From then on, Bretby Hall was the ancestral home of the [[Earls of Chesterfield]].

The [[Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield|second Earl]] was responsible for a complete restyling of the gardens so that some compared them favourably with the gardens at [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]].

The [[Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield|fifth Earl]] demolished the mansion and built the present Hall (c.1812) to a design by Sir [[Jeffry Wyatville]].

The [[George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield|sixth Earl]], known as the "racing Earl", loved cricket and shooting, so he built a cricket pitch and raised game birds.

Following the death of the [[George Stanhope, 7th Earl of Chesterfield|seventh Earl]] in 1871, the Estate passed to his widowed mother, [[Anne Stanhope|Anne Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Chesterfield]],<ref name=bit>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-50251|title=Stanhope [née Forester], Anne Elizabeth, countess of Chesterfield (1802–1885), political confidante {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|website=www.oxforddnb.com|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/50251|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> who was a close friend of [[Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield|Benjamin Disraeli]]. On the death of the Countess, her estates devolved upon [[George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon|Lord Porchester]],<ref name=bit/> the eldest son of her daughter, Evelyn (died 1875), who had married [[Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon]] in 1861. The [[George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon|5th Earl of Carnarvon]], the famous [[egyptologist]] for whom [[Howard Carter]] discovered the [[tomb of Tutankhamun]], commenced breaking up the Bretby estate during [[World War I]]. The Carnarvons never lived at Bretby Park, preferring their home at [[Highclere Castle]], near [[Newbury, Berkshire]].  They did make regular visits, however, particularly for shooting. The main estate was sold to John Downing Wragg, a Swadlincote industrialist.  The proceeds helped to fund Carter's search for the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt in the early 1920s.

==Bretby Hall today==
[[File:Bretby hall c 1850.jpg|thumb|Bretby Hall ca 1850]]
[[File:Monument at Bretby - geograph.org.uk - 398756.jpg|thumb|left|Monument for Bretby Hall Hospital]]
In 1926, the Hall was sold to [[Derbyshire County Council]] and was run as Bretby Hall Hospital until 28 February 1997. It opened as a sanatorium to treat children but became an orthopaedic centre.

The hall was sold to a private developer and converted to luxury apartments and suites.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sinfield |first1=Stephen |title=How Bretby Hall Orthopaedic Hospital became a victim of its own success |url=https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/history/how-bretby-hall-orthopaedic-hospital-944573 |accessdate=1 December 2018 |work=Staffordshire Live |date=24 December 2017}}</ref>

See https://www.bretbyhall.com 

==See also==
*[[Grade II* listed buildings in South Derbyshire]]
*[[Listed buildings in Bretby]]

==References==
{{reflist}}4. https://www.bretbyhall.com a website dedicated to Bretby Hall past, present and future. 
* [http://youandyesterday.com/articles/Bretby_Hall:_Racing_elite_rode_at_Bretby Bretby Hall: Racing elite rode at Bretby]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brett/bretby.htm Bagshaw's 1846 Trade Directory of Derbyshire]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110613194141/http://www.south-derbys.gov.uk/Images/BretbyA4complete_tcm21-85585.pdf South-Derbyshire Gov. - Bretby pdf]
* ''A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland'' Vol II Sir Bernard Burke (1855) p103. Google Books

{{coord|52.79924|N|1.55797|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SK299225)|display=title}}<!-- Note: WGS84 lat/long, converted from OSGB36 grid ref -->

{{Derbyshire Places of interest}}
[[Category:1630 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1630]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Country houses in Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Jeffry Wyatville buildings]]
[[Category:George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon]]