| Ashbourne Hall | |
|---|---|
 Ashbourne Hall from its Park (c. 1800) | |
  Location within Derbyshire | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Town or city | Ashbourne, Derbyshire |
| Country | England |
| Year(s) built | 18th century |
| Owner | Ashbourne Selfcatering |
Ashbourne Hall is a Manor house originally built by the Cockayne family in the 13th century in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The present building is part of a largely demolished, Georgian-styled hall built in the 18th century.
The Cockayne family settled in Ashbourne in the 12th Century as lords of the manor. The Cockayne family's Ashbourne Hall was built during the reign of Henry III in the 13th century. Ashbourne Hall served as their family seat and most of the family were buried in the Cockayne Chapel at nearby Ashbourne Parish Church. The family also owned the nearby manors of Sturston Hall, Bradley and of Pooley hall in Polesworth, Warwickshire. Sir Aston Cockayne, First Baronet Cockayne of Ashbourne, was a cavalier, author and poet. [1] He was friends with Charles I from whom he received his baronetcy for support during the civil war. Sir Aston used the hall as a dower house for his mother, Anne. He lived at his manor of Pooley hall for most of the English Interregnum, joining Charles II in exile for a short time. [2] Sir Aston gained enormous debts and sold Ashbourne Hall in 1671 to Sir William Boothby in order to pay his creditors.
Sir William Boothby bought the hall in 1671 and his family lived there until the mid-19th century. The hall was modified when additional land was included for Brooke Boothby [3] which was the same year as the Scots arrived. In 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed at Ashbourne Hall for the night, proclaiming his father as James III in Ashbourne Market.
Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet married in 1784 and leased the hall from his father. [4] He began the restoration of Ashbourne Hall using his wife's dowry to renovate the structure, remodel the parkland, purchase rare plants and obtain works of art. Boothby, like his father before him, was extravagant. He purchased from Joseph Wright of Derby two paintings of Dovedale, two views of nearby Matlock, two paintings of bridges in Rome as well as an unusual portrait of himself. [5]
The original hall was demolished during the Boothby's time, and replaced by the present Georgian structure. [6] The land that Brookby incorporated into the halls's lands meant that a road called Cockayne Avenue had to be closed. It was long after the 6th baronet Sir Brooke Boothby lost his young daughter and died broken hearted, that the road was returned to public use (in 1922). [6]
In 1846, on the death of Sir William Boothby, 9th baronet, the hall was put up for auction in London. Although bidding finished at £27,950 (£1,232,595 today) [7] this was not enough to persuade the owners to sell. [6]
The Hall was sold to Robert Hayston Frank, a solicitor, in 1861. He later became a magistrate and lived there with his family until his death in 1883. He is buried at the Hall. His widow sold the property for 48,000 plus pounds. Documented by probate documents for Derbyshire in 1883. Death date is May 1, 1883.<National Probate Calendar Index of Wills and Administration 1858 to 1966>
The House was bought by a solicitor from Ashbourne, John Fox, who within two months had sold the estate off in 46 separate lots. [6] After being briefly owned by a Roman Catholic priest from Ashbourne, the Hall itself was bought by Captain Holland who sold it in 1858. [6]
The hall was used as a hotel around 1900. [8] Parts of the hall were demolished, little remains today.
The hall is owned by Ashbourne Selfcatering and can be rented as self-catering accommodation for tourists. [9] The parkland opposite Ashbourne Hall was created for the Cockayne Family in the early Tudor period, for hunting. It was developed in the late 18th century by the Boothbys into an ornamental park of around 40 acres. Today, what little remains of the Park land is used as a public park and the site of the Ashbourne War Memorial Gates.
Media related to Ashbourne Hall at Wikimedia Commons
Ashbourne is a market town in the Derbyshire Dales district in Derbyshire, England. Its population was measured at 8,377 in the 2011 census and was estimated to have grown to 9,163 by 2019. It has many historical buildings and independent shops. The town offers a historic annual Shrovetide football match. Its position near the southern edge of the Peak District makes it the closest town to Dovedale, to which Ashbourne is sometimes referred to as the gateway.
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Sir Aston Cockayne, 1st Baronet (1608–1684) Also spelt Aston Cockain was, in his day, a well-known Cavalier and a minor literary figure, now best remembered as a friend of Philip Massinger, John Fletcher, Michael Drayton, Richard Brome, Thomas Randolph, and other writers of his generation.
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Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet was a British linguist, translator, poet and landowner, based in Derbyshire, England. He was part of the intellectual and literary circle of Lichfield, which included Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. In 1766 he welcomed the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Ashbourne circles, after Rousseau's short stay in London with Hume. Ten years later, in 1776, Boothby visited Rousseau in Paris, and was given the manuscript of the first part of Rousseau's three-part autobiographic Confessions. Boothby translated the manuscript and published it in Lichfield in 1780 after the author's death, and donated the document to the British Library in 1781.
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Joseph Greaves was a High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1765.
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Sir John Cockayne was an English soldier, politician and landowner whose wealth made him a major force in the affairs of Derbyshire under the House of Lancaster. After numerous acts of criminality in concert with other Midlands landowners, he became a member of the Lancastrian affinity centred on John of Gaunt and a supporter of Henry IV. He fought in two campaigns of the Hundred Years War but his violence and lawlessness continued and he was decidedly out of favour during the reign of Henry V. With power less concentrated in the early years of Henry VI, he was able to serve three terms as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests and to wield considerable power and influence. He represented Derbyshire no less than nine times and Warwickshire twice in the House of Commons of England.
Sir Thomas Cokayne or Cockayne was an English soldier, huntsman, and MP for Derbyshire in March 1553.