Calke Abbey
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAL : Calke Abbey
Calke Abbey is a country house in Ticknall, Derbyshire, England, and a property of the National Trust.
Calke Abbey is a baroque mansion, built between 1701 and 1704. Set in the midst of an impressive landscape park, Calke Abbey is presented as an illustration of the English country house in decline. Little restoration has been done and interiors have remained untouched since the 1880s.
The estate had belonged to the Harpur family from 1622 to 1985. They were baronets from 1626, and the last (Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe) died in 1924. The sudden death of Charles Harpur-Crewe (born 1917) in 1981 led to crippling death duties (£8m of an estate worth £14m) and the estate had to be sold by his brother Henry (born 1921).
The National Trust manages the surrounding landscape park with an eye to nature conservation. They contain such features as a walled garden, with a flower garden and a physic garden.
External links
- [Calke Abbey information at National Trust]
- [Page from Save Britain's Heritage about the National Trust's acquisition of Calke Abbey]
- [Another Calke Abbey page]
- [A page of photos, mainly of the garden]
- [Another photo page, again mainly of the garden]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.