Listed Building record MDR5463 - Locko Park Country House, Dale Abbey

Locko Park. Country house. 1669, c1725-30 attributed to Francis Smith of Warwick, mid 18th cent, late 18th cent, 1804, Italianate style additions of 1853-6 and 1861-4, both by Henry Stevens of Derby, and 1896. Grade II*. (1) Large stone mansion approached from the south by a pair of pretty 18th century lodges. The mansion is nine bays wide, three storeys high, with emphasis on the rusticated giant pilasters at the angles and at the angles of the five-bay centre. At either end, one-storey projecting wings, that on the west side older than the main house and containing the chapel, built in 1669. The chapel was refurbished in 1882 and again in 1899. It contains an unusual 17th century wooden font. The east wing was probably added in the interest of Palladian symmetry after William Drury-Lowe bought the estate in 1747. Large additions to the house were made in a restrained Italianate style by Henry Stevens of Derby, starting with the bell-tower in 1853-6, and following on the east side in 1861-4 with a new entrance porch, hall and dining room. The east front was extended in 1896 by a billiards room. At Locko in the Middle Ages (c. 1297-1347) was the only preceptory of the Lazarite order in England. (2) Locko Park (listed grade II*) probably originated in the late 17th century. A sketch on an estate map of 1716 shows a gabled H- or U-plan house with a chapel attached on the south-west side. It was remodelled c. 1725-30, possibly by Francis Smith of Warwick, and a major campaign of alterations took place in the mid-19th century to the designs of Henry Stevens of Derby. The chapel is dated 1669 and was perhaps the only part of the building left untouched by Smith. The house is ranged around a central courtyard and the main entrance on the east side. It is in use as a private residence [in 1998]. (3)