Monument record MDR10434 - Derwentbank, formerly Darley Grove, (site of) , Darley Abbey, Derby

When Glover described this house (then called Darley Grove) as a "stone mansion with a portico", he was doing this considerable and stylish house scant justice. It was two and a half storeys high; the main block was five by three bays, generously proportioned with a rusticated ground floor, jalousies and cill bands to the fenestration, all framed by giant pilasters at the angles. The entrance front boasted a single storey projecting porch with a round-headed arch; the house had a low hipped roof hidden by a parapet, and a five bay two-storey wing to the north of the main block, giving a ten bay front. The wing had a bow with a return beyond making 11 bays. Inside it was very gracious, plain and with a Hoptonwood hall floor and stair with decorated cast iron balustrade and a "padded room" on the first floor. The house was built in 1811 for Thomas Bridgett, a Derby silk throwster. His eldest son sold the house to the Strutts in 1841. In 1877 the estate was offered to Derby Corporation; however, they refused. The house then had various owners but after 1922 it lay unoccupied. It was demolished in 1925 and the site redeveloped. (1) In 1821 Mr Thomas Bridgett's Darley Grove was built to a design by Alderman Richard Leaper. By the 1870s the house was renamed Derwent Bank and was then owned by W H Worthington. (2) Completed in 1825, Darley Grove had five bay façade to the west of the house and two and-a-half storeys high. The lower two storey wing was built onto a rocky terrace overlooking cascading gardens almost to the Derwent. The House was sold to Edward Strutt in 1834 and was demolished in 1926 for a housing development. (3) See SMR 32302 for the associated parkland/gardens