Listed Building record MDR4381 - The Hall, Main Street, Melbourne
Type and Period (1)
- COUNTRY HOUSE (Elizabethan to 21st Century - 1600 AD? to 2050 AD)
Protected Status/Designation
Full Description
The Hall, Main Street, Melbourne, originally an early 17th century buildign, mainly of 19th century date.
[SK 3881 2624] The Hall [G.T.] (1)
'The Old Hall at King's Newton, Melbourne, was erected about 1400 by a member of the Hardinge family. Charles II is known to have visited the hall. It was sold to the Coke family and leased out, being occupied successively by 'many individuals of high respectability'. However a fire broke out during the night of April 17 1859 and left the building a complete wreck. The fire commenced in the dining room, ascended to the room over it where King Charles left his inscription, then to the roof. Source 2 shows two views of the hall, one engraved from a sketch made only a fortnight before the fire, the other from a sketch of the ruins in 1860.' (2, 3)
'The main fabric of the Hall is 19th century. Earlier stonework is incorporated in the foundations, where blocked cellar heads are visible. The owner stated that the cellar pre-dated the main structure but could offer no precise date. GP A0/62/40/4 - aspect from the north-west.' (3)
King's Newton Hall, a two-storeyed, H-plan, stone house with an attic, was restored in 1910 after being burnt down in 1859. Although the house bears the date of 1560, Pevsner says it is 17th century. Grade 2*. (5, 6)
'A handsome house originally put up in the late 16th or early 17th century, but seriously gutted by fire in 1859 and sensitively restored after 51 years. Two storeys and attics, projecting gables and mullioned and transomed windows, with a modern recessed porch with a four-centred arch and dormers in the roof. There is a sundial over the first floor window on the right wing. Modern datestones give the years 1560 and 1910, of which the first is probably optimistically early.' (8)
'The house has two projecting wings flanking the entrance porch with pointed gables, twisted chimneys and mullioned and transomed windows. Once the site of the Hardinge's residence, fire destroyed the Elizabethan hall early in the morning of Sunday, April 17th, 1859, where the details are clearly remembered in the village. There were only a few servants in the village at the time. The tenant, Robert Green, was with his family on a visit to Hastings, The owner, Lady Palmerston, was with her husband at Tiverton. After the fire, the hall was left as a roofless shell. It remained this way for the next half century; the grounds were let to a market gardener and the ivy clad ruins were popular with picknickers. Lt. Col. Sir Cecil Walter Paget bought the estate in 1910 and produced an exact replica of the old house. The front door opens into a spacious hall, running parallel to the front of the house in the early Tudor manner and the reception rooms lead off the hall with a stone fireplace. The cellars under the house survived the fire and may well date from the Hardinge's pre-Elizabethan manor; outside as well, the stables, garden clock and several garden walls are all garden features that survived the fire.' (9)
From the National Heritage List for England:
'SK 32 NE PARISH OF MELBOURNE MAIN STREET, KINGS 3/128 NEWTON 2.9.52 (North Side) Kings Newton Hall GV II Small country house. Early C17, and restored in 1900 after a fire in 1859, with minor additions. Rubble stone with ashlar dressings and quoins, plus deep chamfered plinth and moulded first floor stringcourse. Graduated slate roof with large brick ridge stack on stone base and pairs of large external stacks to west and east elevations, with diamond set brick pots to west and solid brick pots to east. Two storeys plus attics and H-plan. Street elevation has gabled bays to either side of a wide central bay. This has a moulded four-centred arch set in a flat headed surround, with a similar door in porch behind. To either side there are flanking single light windows, and on the side walls to the central bay and to centre of the gabled bays there are cross windows. Similar arrangement of windows above, with dripmoulds to the outer windows and transomes in the single light windows. Above the door to centre there is another cross window and to either side there are hopper heads dated 1560. Western window facing into the centre has been blocked up with stone rubble. Above again the gabled bays each have a 2-light mullion window with dripmould and centre bay has two hipped dormers with 2-light casements to centre and similar 3-light ones to side walls. West elevation has a gabled central bay with a large 3-light triple transomed staircase window with dripmould and 2-light mullioned window above, flanked to either side by pairs of cross windows to ground and first floors, one on either side of the large external stacks. East elevation is similar except for a gabled c1910 addition to south. All windows have recessed and cyma reversa mouldings and most are 1910 copies of the earlier windows. Interior was completely renewed in 1910, with an C18 style staircase, stone four-centred arched fireplaces and stone four-centred arched doorcases. Former seat of the Hardinge family. Interior not inspected.
Listing NGR: SK3881026208.'
(10)
Sources/Archives (11)
- <1> SDR12075 Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 6".
- <2> SDR15288 Article in serial: Briggs, J J. 1860-1. 'Memorials of King's Newton village, and its old hall', The Reliquary. Volume 1, pp 12-20.
- <3> SDR396 Bibliographic reference: Jacques, A. 1933. Melbourne. 118-119.
- <4> SDR6088 Personal Observation: F1 BHS 13-APR-62.
- <5> SDR6547 Personal Observation: F2 BHS 27-JUN-66.
- <6> SDR5273 Bibliographic reference: Department of the Environment. 1960. DOE (HHR) South East Derby, RD, December 1960.
- <7> SDR12891 Bibliographic reference: Pevsner, N. 1979. The Buildings of England: Derbyshire. 2nd ed., revised. 259.
- <8> SDR14995 Index: Trent & Peak Archaeological Trust (TPAT). Trent & Peak Archaeological Trust Index: 2196. 2196.
- <9> SDR18913 Bibliographic reference: Craven, M & Stanley, M. 1984. The Derbyshire Country House, Vol II. 43.
- <9> SDR23512 Article in serial: Christian, R. 1964. 'Derbyshire's other stately homes, King's Newton Hall', Derbyshire Life and Countryside. December.
- <10> SDR19551 Listed Building File: Historic England. 2011. The National Heritage List for England. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1088377?section=official-list-entry.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | SK 38810 26208 (point) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | MELBOURNE, SOUTH DERBYSHIRE, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (2)
Related Events/Activities (2)
- EDR1051
- EDR1436
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External Links (0)
Record last edited
Mar 19 2026 6:36PM