Dovecliff Hall (alternatively known as Dove Cliff Hall or Dovecliffe Hall) is a large Georgian country house in Stretton, East Staffordshire, England which is now a country house hotel. It is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The house is built in two storeys of red brick with a hipped Westmorland slate roof. It has a 5 window frontage.
The house was built in the 1790s on a 40-acre site at Dove Cliff, by the side of the River Dove, for Thomas Thornewill, a forge-owner from Stretton. It was inherited by his son Edward, whose widow lived there until her death in 1880. The following year Edward's son sold the estate, together with the Stretton iron-works, to William Joseph Smith of Alvaston, Derbyshire. Smith's widow sold the estate in 1897 to Hugh Spencer Charrington, a Burton-on-Trent brewer, who was already the tenant.
The house passed into the Bass family when Caroline, the daughter of Lord Bass, another well-known Burton brewer, married into the Charrington family at the same time that the Bass and Charrington breweries merged. Hugh Charrington died in 1921 and thereafter the house was either empty, tenanted or functioning as a hotel until it was purchased as a private house by a Colonel Sharpe in 1936.
In 1987 it was again converted to a hotel. [2] Now known as the Dovecliff Hall Hotel, the property is owned by the family business of Abbot Grange Ltd, headed by Tony Sachdev and Gogi Singh. [3]
Thomas Thornewill (1760-1843) built Dovecliff Hall in about 1790 shortly after he was married. Thomas was the son of Thomas Thornewill (1719-1786) who owned a spade factory in Burton upon Trent and had converted a ruined corn mill near Stretton into a forge for hammering and plating iron. [4] Thomas inherited this business in 1786 when his father died. Two years later in 1788 he married Mary Harvey in Birmingham. [5]
Thomas expanded the business further and became a company called Thornewill and Co., iron masters. [6] His wife Mary died in 1805. [7] In 1830 he commissioned an engraver to draw a picture of Dovecliff which is shown. Thomas died in 1843 and his son Edward inherited Dovecliff and the family iron company, [8] which became Thornewill and Warham in 1849.
Edward Thornewill (1801-1866) was born in 1801 at Dovecliff. In 1829 [9] he married Mary Pearson (1801-1880) who was the daughter of clergyman Rev John Batteridge Pearson. The couple had nine children and two of their daughters were friends of King Edward VII. Harriet Georgina married Michael Arthur Bass and subsequently became Lord and Lady Burton. The King visited the Bass Brewery and the family on their estate at Rangemore in 1902, thus beginning the brewing of the now famous King’s Ale. [10] One of their other daughters Jane Thornewill was a very good bridge player and was the King’s partner in numerous games of bridge. She was also a member of the King’s special group of friends called “the Marlborough House Set”. [11] Edward died in 1866 and his wife Mary continued to live in the house until her death in 1880. After this the house was sold and was bought by William Joseph Smith.
William Joseph Smith (1828-1891) was born in 1828 in Camberwell, Surrey. He was a member of the firm Boden and Co., lace manufacturers. In 1861 he married his cousin Frances Anne Boden who was the daughter of Henry Boden an owner of the lace company. [12] In 1871 he became a Councillor of the Derby Town Council and in 1878 was elected as mayor. He died in 1891 and in 1897 his widow Frances sold the house to Hugh Spencer Charrington.
Hugh Spencer Charrington (1859-1952) was born in 1859 in Leyton, Essex. He was the son of Edward Charrington who was an owner of the long established brewing firm Charrington and Co. [13] In 1880 he joined the family firm and became manager of the Burton Upon Trent brewery. In 1886, he married Elinor Mary Baggalley who was the daughter of Sir Richard Baggalley, Lord Justice of Appeal. [14] The couple had three children.
His wife Elinor Mary Charrington became Vice President of the Burton Division of the British Red Cross and in 1918 received an Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) for her services. [15] Her photo in her Red Cross uniform is shown.
The house was advertised for sale in 1924 and eventually it was bought in 1936 by Colonel Sydney Raymond Sharp. [16] Colonel Sharp was born in 1891 in Burton Upon Trent. [17] His father was John Thomas Sharp, a successful timber merchant who owned a company in Burton called Sharp Brothers and Knight.
During the First World War he won the Military Medal with two bars. In 1922 he married Dorothy Maude Lovewell. [18] Sydney went into the timber business and established his own firm A. Sharp and Co. and eventually became the Director of his father’s firm and his own company. [19]
In about 1960 the property was sold to Captain Anthony Walsham Neville Lake [20] He lived here with his wife Penelope [21] and children until the 1980s when it was sold and converted to a hotel.
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The demonym for residents of the town is Burtonian. Burton is located 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Derby, 27 miles (43 km) north-west of Leicester, 28 miles (45 km) west-south-west of Nottingham and 20 miles (32 km) south of the southern entrance to the Peak District National Park.
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert, was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.
Bass Brewery was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels. Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's iconic red triangle became the UK's first registered trade mark.
Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Baron Burton, KCVO, known as Sir Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Baronet, from 1882 to 1886, was a British brewer, Liberal politician and philanthropist. He sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1886 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Burton.
Charrington Brewery was founded in Bethnal Green, London, in the early 18th century by Robert Westfield. In 1766, John Charrington joined the company, which then traded as Westfield, Moss & Charrington from the Anchor Brewery in Stepney. It merged with United Breweries of London in 1964, and with Bass Brewery in 1967 to become the largest UK brewing company, Bass Charrington. The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew in 2000, while the retail side were renamed Six Continents. In 2003, Six Continents split into a pubs business, now known as Mitchells & Butlers, and a hotels and soft drinks business, now known as InterContinental Hotels Group.
Hamar Alfred Bass was a British brewer, race horse breeder and a Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1878 to 1898.
Redworth Hall is a 17th-century country house at Redworth, Heighington, County Durham, England now converted to a hotel. It is a listed building.
Thomas Levett-Prinsep was an English landowner in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. He took on the additional name of Prinsep on inheriting his uncle's holding of Croxall Hall.
Aston Hall is an 18th-century country house, now converted to residential apartments, at Aston-on-Trent, Derbyshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Debden House is a residential adult education college, conference centre and campsite located in Loughton, Essex, England. The house is owned and operated by Newham London Borough Council.
Oakwood Hall, Bingley, West Yorkshire, England is a 19th-century mansion with interior fittings by the Victorian architect William Burges. The hall was constructed in 1864 by Knowles and Wilcox of Bradford for Thomas Garnett, a prosperous textile merchant. The style is "conventionally dour Gothic".
Byrkley Lodge was a country house and later racing horse stud farm, located close to Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. Demolished in 1953, its former grounds are today the site of the St George's Park National Football Centre.
Narborough Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Narborough in Leicestershire. Believed to date from 1596 this Elizabethan manor house was built by James Meade, a local landowner. However it wasn’t until it was extensively remodelled in the mid-19th century that it became known as Narborough Hall. It is notable because of its construction from local pink granite.
Greenham Hall is a country house at Wellington in Somerset. It was once the home of Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Kelly. It is a Grade II listed building.
Edward John Thornewill was an English racehorse owner and, in his youth, a cricketer who played in one first-class cricket match for Cambridge University in 1856. His birthplace is disputed: in one source, he was born at "Newton, Derbyshire", which may also mean Newton Solney; in another, he was born at the family home, Dovecliff Hall, at Stretton, Staffordshire. He died at Algiers, Algeria.
Thornewill and Warham Ltd was a metal hardware and industrial metalwork manufacturer, later an engineering company, based in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Under different names it traded from 1740 until 1929, becoming a notable producer of steam engines and railway locomotives. It also constructed two footbridges across the River Trent in Burton.
Albrighton Hall near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is a house which is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England. It was built in 1630 for the Ireland family and remained in this family for the next five generations until 1804. It was then the home of several notable people until 1953. In the 1990s it was converted into a hotel.
Yeldersley Hall is a building of historical significance in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England and is listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in about 1800 by a wealthy landowner and was the residence of many notable people over the next two centuries. Today it is a venue for special events, particularly weddings.
The Old Hall Hotel in Coundon near Coventry, England, is a building of historical significance and is Grade II listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in about 1800 by a wealthy landowner and was called Coundon Villa and later Coundon Hall. It was the residence of several notable people until about 1947, when it was converted to a hotel. Today it is still a hotel which provides accommodation, restaurant and bar facilities.
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