- Duffield Hall
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It is now a building society office
Duffield Hall is a 17th century country house situated in the Amber Valley, Derbyshire, which is now the headquarters of the Derbyshire Building Society. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The manor of Duffield was granted by King Charles I to the Newton family who built a new mansion house there in the 1620s. The Newtons sold the house to Henry Coape, High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1703. His granddaughter and heiress brought the estate to her husband Henry Porter. In the early 19th century he left the property to his kinsman Thomas Porter Bonell whose daughter married Sir Charles H Colville. After Colville's death the house was sold to John Bell Crompton of Milford (High Sheriff in 1847) a Banker of Irongate, Derby. He died in 1860 and the estate was acquired by Rowland Smith. Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire 1868-74 and High Sheriff 1877.
Smith extensively restored and improved the house creating the present mansion of three storeys and five gabled bays.
From 1908 until 1970 the house and estate was occupied by St Ronan's School.[1] The girls' school closed in 1970 and the property was acquired by the Derbyshire Building Society for whom it was restored and extended by architects George Grey and Partners. Much of the estate was sold for residential development. Since 1977 the house has been the Building Society's headquarters.
References
- ^ Derbyshire Life and Country, August 1965
Categories:- Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire
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