Site record MDR10488 - Burnaston House or Hall (site of), Bearwardcote, Burnaston

In 1820 Ashton Mosley built a new house to designs by Francis Goodwin. It was bought by Derby City Council in 1936 in order to make a municipal aerodrome, with the house used as clubhouse and terminal building. It was later bought by Toyota in 1989, who dismantled and stored the house before erecting a new factory. (1) Burnaston House was built by Ashton Mosley as a home for himself and his family, and was probably completed by 1825. The family continued to live there until about 1908, when it was let by Mosley's grandson Arthur. In 1936 the house and 382 acres were purchased by Derby Borough Council for an aerodrome, with the house used as a clubhouse and terminal building. In 1965, when Derby Airways relocated to East Midlands Airport, the house was sold as a dwelling. The service wing was occupied, but the main house fell into a state of neglect. In 1987 it was purchased with the intention of converting it into a nursing home, but shortly afterwards the estate was compulsorily purchased for development by Toyota as a car factory. The stonework was systematically dismantled and stored, the plan being to rebuild the house on a new site. However, between 1990 and 2008 three successive planning applications to rebuild it on three different sites were refused. As part of a new application in 2010, the surviving remains of the house were assessed by English Heritage and it was determined that too little of the original fabric and architectural detail survives to reconstruct the house in its original form. It was therefore delisted. The design of the house has been tentatively attributed to Francis Goodwin (1784-1835). It consisted of a main block with service wing to the north. Three elevations were built of ashlar sandstone; the east elevation was of rendered brick with stone dressings, while the service wing was of rendered brick. The roofs were slate. The house was designed in an austere neo-classical style, with hipped roofs concealed behind a low parapet, below which was a moulded eaves cornice. The main entrance was in the east elevation. Although the house was in a poor condition in the 1980s, surviving detail included reeded architraves, decorative cornices and a staircase with cast or wrought iron balusters. The only elements of this detail that survive are a plaster cast of a cornice and the staircase, reconstructed following damage and now installed in a new house. (2) A field called 'Castle Close' appears as part of the park and grounds of Burnaston House on plans of 1798, and due to its proximity to major roadways, it is possible that there may be archaeological features here. (3)