Listed Building record MDR13664 - Alison House, Intake Lane, Cromford

Alison House was originally known as Oakhill and is a grade II listed building. The list entry gives a date of c. 1800 but in fact the house probably dates from c. 1840. The earliest known fact about Oakhill is that William Melville, a cotton spinner and merchant, formerly of Nottingham, died there. Electoral Registers suggest that he moved to Oakhill in either 1841 or 1842 and the house was probably built for him. The neighbouring Vicarage was built at around the same time and it is likely that they were conceived of as a single development, being of similar architectural style and sharing the same carriage drive. Both are of local gritstone with almost pyramidal slated roofs. Oakhill seems to have had prime position in the development, in a larger plot with a southerly garden. As the original south front has been lost, it cannot now be determined whether the principal elevation was originally to the south or the east. The house has been extended at least twice. The two storey block on the west side of the principal block is unlikely to have been part of the original design and may have been added by James Arkwright in the second half of the 19th century. Further additions and alterations were made some time after 1924, including a flat-roofed two storey extension to the garden front and the dismantling of the original south wall and its rebuilding 8 ft further out. In 1967 planning permission was given for conversion of the house to a residential training and conference centre, being renamed 'Alison House' after Alison MacFie who established the Women's Association of Toc H's 'League of Women Helpers'. It is currently a bed and breakfast establishment. (1)