Shipley Hall

Infobox Historic building


caption=Shipley Hall's foundations are marked out in the present park.‎
name=Shipley Hall
location_town=Derbyshire
location_country=England
architect=William Linley
client=Miller Mundy Family
coordinates=coord|52.9933|-1.3502
engineer=
construction_start_date=
completion_date=1799
date_demolished=1943
cost=
structural_system=
style=|

Shipley Hall was a hall and country estate near Heanor in Derbyshire, England which is now the site of a Country Park.

The Shipley Estate is an ancient manor which was referenced in the Domesday Book. From the 14th century the land was extensive forest used for hunting, with a hunting lodge on Shipley Hill. From the 16th century, coal mining began to provide income for the owners. [ [http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/countryside/countryside_sites/country_parks/shipley/facilities_history/default.asp Derbyshire County Council leisure facilities] ] Shipley Hall was built in 1700 and by 1722 coal mining was an important activity on the Shipley estate. The hall becmae the property of the Miller Mundy family who in around 1765 started running the mines themselves. The Nutbrook Canal opened in 1796 to serve the Shipley Colliery, and the income led to extensive development of the estate. The hall was rebuilt in 1799 to the design of William Linley of Doncaster ["York through the Eyes of the Artist" published by York City Art Gallery (1990)] , and the grounds were landscaped by William Emes, a follower of Capability Brown. In the late 19th century, under Alfred Edward Miller Mundy, the colliery was becoming increasingly prosperous, especially with the opening of the Midland Railway. Mundy was as an excellent employer with a hands-on approach. Further developments were the building of a model dairy and farm, and the water tower to feed it, designed by W. E. Nesfield, and a doubling of the size of the hall. The Lodges and gates were designed by Sir Walter Tapper.

Mundy was able to entertain Edward VII at one of the lavish house parties prior to World War I. [ [http://www.youandyesterday.co.uk/articles/Miner's_dial_is_pointer_to_Derbyshire_social_history Bygone Derbyshire The History of Shipley Country Park - Miner's dial is a pointer...] ] After Mundy died, the hall was sold to the Shipley Colliery Company, which they had founded, who took over complete control of the mines and the family moved out mainly because life at the hall was seriously affected by the noise and pollution of the colliery. The colliery was nationalised in 1948 and the National Coal Board decided that the hall was too damaged by subsidence to be worth keeping, and demolished it. The Woodside and Coppice pits were closed the 1960’s because they were uneconomic, ending over 250 years of deep mining at Shipley. There was a residual legacy of spoil heaps, derelict buildings, polluted lakes and thirty abandoned mine shafts. Derbyshire County Council decided to create a Country Park as a memorial to mining in the area. The National Coal Board reclaimed land near the closed collieries by opencast methods between 1970 and 1974. Two years were spent contouring the site, planting trees, seeding fields and meadows, and building facilities for the public and Shipley Country Park opened to the public on 26 May 1976. [ [http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/countryside/countryside_sites/country_parks/shipley/facilities_history/default.asp Derbyshire County Council leisure facilities] ]

References