Regency Estates: Kedleston Hall

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Cuitt the elder, George; Kedleston Hall from the North; National Trust, Kedleston Hall and Eastern Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/kedleston-hall-from-the-north-172236

of the manor of Kedleston Kedleston hall the noble mansion of Lord Scarsdale and his chief residence stands pleasantly situated in the midst of the park occupying the site of a former mansion which had not been built many years when Mr William Wolley wrote his MS history of Derbyshire in 1712 and which that writer describes as a very useful noble pile of building of brick and stone as good as most in the county The present hall which is the object of great attraction to travellers was built from the designs of Adam about the year 1765 The hall of this mansion is a singularly fine room about 67 feet by 42 supported by twenty Corinthian columns twenty five feet in height which were much improved in their effect a few years ago by being fluted They are made of veined alabaster from the quarries at Red hill in Nottinghamshire belonging to Lord Curzon There is a collection of pictures at Kedleston hall by the old masters among which a
landscape by Cuyp and a large picture by Rembrandt over the fire place in the library the subject of which is Daniel interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar have been most admired In the parish church which stands near the hall are several monuments of the Curzon family the more ancient have been already described In the south transept is the monument of Sir John Curzon Bart who died in 1686 aged 89 it is supported by Corinthian columns and has half length effigies front faced of Sir John in armour and his lady Patience daughter of John Lord Crewe who died in 1642 there are monuments also for Sir Nathaniel Curzon Bart 1719 Sir Nathaniel Curzon Bart 1758 by Rysbrach and others Magna Britannia;: Derbyshire (1817)

Northwest of Derby, Kedleston Hall sits in all its stately glory (Kedleston Hall | National Trust)  But in the Regency era, it was a relatively new home built in the mid 18th century.

A three storied home, both the exterior and interior were designed with neoclassical features including Corinthian columns and portico.  The grounds include several follies and a Fishing Pavillion that includes a plunge pool (bottom right of the painting).

KEDLESTON HALL It may EDLESTON the seat of Lord Scarsdale is justly considered to be one of the most pure and chaste in design of any of the classical mansions of our English aristocracy therefore both on that account and from the beauty of its situation the interest attaching to the family of its noble owner and the many associations which surround it well be called a Stately Home and thus claim to be included in our present volume At the time of its erection in 1761 it was pronounced to be one of the most perfect specimens of architectural taste in the kingdom and it has consequently been visited by many persons of note these have one and all been lavish in their praises of its proportions and parts of the interior details and finishing of the pictures and articles of rirtu which it contains and of its grand old park studded with the finest of oaks and other forest trees
the centre of the portico and opens at once into the Great Hall The Great Hall a noble room and one of the finest classical apartments in existence in the purity of its style the beauty of its details and the perfection of its proportions is about 67 feet in length by 42 feet in width The North Front and 40 feet in height The vaulted ceiling rises to the full height of the house and is supported on twenty fluted Corinthian columns 25 feet in height and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter These columns which are the glory of Kedleston are of native alabaster from Red Hill in Leicestershire The Hall is decorated with paintings and sculpture the whole being classical and in perfect keeping with the design of the building itself The subjects of the chiaro oscuro paintings on the east side are Helen reproaching Paris and silenced by Venus Achilles receiving Armour from Thetis Achilles delivering his Armour to Patroclus and Mercury Juno and Neptune before Jupiter on the west side Helen and Paris The
Judgment of Paris Hector and Andromache and Juno and Minerva At the ends are Apollo and the Hours Night distributing her Poppies and Sacrifices to Sylvanus Diana Ajollo and Mars Over the doors are four marriage subjects The statues are Apollo Belvedere Meleager Idol Venus Faun Apollo Vil Med Urania Faun Venus Ganymede Antinous and Mercury From the Hall the Dining room is entered on the right the Music room on the left and the Saloon at the south end The Great Hall Our account of the principal rooms must necessarily be very brief It is enough to say that they are all fitted and finished in the most exquisite taste and in the most sumptuous manner and are hung or rather decorated for the greater part of the pictures are let into the walls as a part of the original design with one of the best collections of paintings any house can boast The Music room a remarkably elegant apartment contains many notable pictures especially an Old Man's Head by Rembrandt Giordano's
Triumph of Bacchus Guido's Bacchus and Ariadne Guercino's David's Triumph and Leonardo da Vinci's Holy Family The chimney piece contains a beautiful bas relief by Spang The Corridor and Corridor Staircase also contain many choice pictures The Drawing room is a gorgeous apartment hung with blue damask It is 44 feet in length and 28 feet in width and height and has a beautiful coved ceiling The door cases are finished with Corinthian columns of Derbyshire alabaster and the chimney piece of Italian marble is supported by two exquisitely sculptured whole length female figures The furniture especially the couches is of the most gorgeous character the carved and gilt figures and foliage being in the very highest and purest style of Art The paintings in this room include splendid examples by Annibale Carracci Paul Veronese old Francks Breughel Teniers Cuyp Mompert Andrea del Sarto Domenichino Raffaelle Swanevelt Guido Reni Benedetto Luti Polemberg Bernardo Strozzi Claude Lorraine Tintoretto Parmigiano and others of the old masters The Library a noble room fitted with mahogany bookcases a Doric entablature and mosaic ceiling contains among its pictures Vandyke's Shakspere Rembrandt's Daniel interpreting to Nebuchadnezzar and examples of Giordano Carlo Loti Drost Michael Angelo Salvator Rosa Poussin and others It also contains busts of Homer Sappho Socrates Virgil Anacreon Pindar and Horace The Saloon is a grand circular apartment 42 feet in diameter and 63 feet high to the rose in the dome It is considered and truly to be ono of the most beautiful rooms of its kind in Europe Its decorations are interesting from the classic taste displayed in designing them and tho elegance with which they are executed It is divided into four recesses or alcoves having fireplaces representing altars with sphinxes & c adorned with classical figures in bas relief these alternate with as many doors tho whole painted and ornamented with white and gold Over the doors are paintings of ruins by Hamilton the frames representing the supporters of the family arms and above the recesses are delineations in chiaro oscuro by Rebecca the subjects from English history The pillars of scagliola marble are by Bartoli The dome is white and gold finished in octagonal compartments with roses The candle branches are of peculiar elegance and beneath them is a charming series of exquisite bas reliefs of Cupids & c The Saloon opens on its respective sides into the Great Hall the Library

the Ante chamber and the south or garden front of the hall From the ante chamber in which are Carlo Maratti's St John and many other valuable paintings is reachedThe Principal Dressing room hung with blue damask which contains among others life size portraits of the first Lord and Lady Scarsdale by Hone the second Lord Scarsdale by Reinagle and his first wife by Hone Charles I by Vandyke Prince Rupert's daughter by Kneller Prince The Saloon Henry by Jansen Prior by Kneller and other paintings by Lely Vandyke Cimaroli and others The State Bedroom is hung with blue damask and contains a remarkably fine assemblage of family portraits landscapes and other pictures among which are Sir Nathaniel and Lady Curzon by Richardson Duchess of York by Lely and the Countess of Dorset daughter of George Curzon after Mytens
The Wardrobe which adjoins is principally remarkable for a fine collection of thirty six ancient enamels after Albert Dürer representing the life of our Saviour and for the many fine family portraits and other paintings which it contains Among these are Lady Curzon and her sons by Dobbs Countess of Dorchester by Kneller the wife and child of Quentin Matsys by himself Hon Caroline Curzon by Angelica Kauffmann Hon H Curzon by Hamilton family portraits by Hone and Barber the Nativity and the Resurrection by Murillo and the first Lady Scarsdale by Hudson The Dining room is of faultless proportions and its fittings all precisely as originally planned by the architect are in the best and purest taste The ceiling is magnificently painted in compartments by Zucchi The centre represcnts Love embracing Fortune the oblong squares the four Seasons and the small circles Europe Asia Africa and America In front of the recessed sideboard is a magnificent cistern or cooler cut out of a solid block of Sicilian jasper and among the pictures are examples of Snyders Zuccarelli Ciro Ferri Claude Lorraine Jean Fyt Romanelli Helmbrecker and others and bas reliefs by Collins and Spang On the Great Staircase are also many choice paintings including among others examples of Carlo Maratti Hamilton and old Stone and some fine statues and candelabra while in the family wing of the house in Lady Scarsdale's Boudoir the Ante room the Breakfast room and the other apartments the assemblage of works of Art is very extensive and valuable In the Corridor too are some good paintings and many articles of virtu while in the chimney piece is an extremely fine plaque of Wedgwood's Jasper ware The opposite wing is occupied by the Kitchen a noble apartment with a gallery at one end supported on Doric columns and having over its fireplace the admirable motto Waste not want not and the other domestic offices Cæsar's Hall is the basement story beneath the portico and is decorated with busts of the Cæsars and medallions of Homer Hesiod Horace and Tully and in the Tetrastyle Hall the staircases and other parts of the building are numerous works of Art of one kind or other The Garden Front shown in the opposite engraving is an adaptation of an idea taken from the design of the Arch of Constantine The statues in the niches are Flora Farnese and an antique Bacchus Over the pillars are

medallions of Apollo and Diana and the statues above are the Pastoral and the Comic Muses Prudence and Diana By the steps are the Medicean and Borghese vases The entrance to the noble park of Kedleston is by a lodge designed by Adams from the Arch of Octavia From it the drive to the house is about a mile in length amidst the finest forest trees beneath which hundreds of deer browse in every direction Nearing the house the drive is carried 至 over the magnificent lake on a bridge of purely classical design enriched by statuary and from it one of the finest views of the mansion and its surroundings is obtained Near to the drive is a charmingly picturesque fountain whose waters are constantly flowing through a lion's mouth In the park are the medicinal springs known as Kedleston Baths over which a plain but picturesque building was erected many years ago The waters are the best of the sulphureous springs of Derbyshire and The South or Garden Front
approach closely on analysis to those of Harrogate They were formerly in much repute and years ago it was quite a trade for the poor people of Derby to fetch these waters to the town where they were sold at a penny per quart and were drunk in place of malt liquor by many of the inhabitants Kedleston in the latter part of last century was indeed a very favourite resort with the Derby people as is evidenced by the following curious advertisement of the year 1776 Kedleston Fly Twice a day during the Summer Season Will set out on Monday next the 20th inst from John Campion's the Bell Inn in Sadler gate Derby each person to pay One Shilling and Sixpence A good Ordinary is provided each day at Kedleston Inn If desired the coach may be had from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon At Quarn or Quarndon about a mile distant is another medicinal spring this time of chalybeate waters which were and yet are with those of Kedleston much esteemed The Stately Homes of England (1874)

 

KEDLESTON HOTEL The Kedleston Hotel Aulton From Derby 4 miles KEDLESTON HALL the magnificent seat of Lord Scarsdale about four miles from Derby is situated in a very extensive and well wooded park The house consists of a centre and two wings connected by corridors of the Doric order The length of the whole being 360 feet A double flight of steps leads up to a grand portico supported by six massive Corinthian columns over the pediment are statues of Venus Bacchus and Ceres and within the portico are many other statues The garden front is designed after the arch of Constantine The ordinary entrance in the basement storey opens into a spacious apartment called Cæsar's Hall which is adorned with busts of the Cæsars and from thence the visitor will pass into the grand Hall the most magnificent part of the house and erected in the style of the ancient Greek Halls The ceiling is supported by twenty fluted Corinthian columns twenty five feet in height made of solid pieces of veined alabaster The whole of the rooms are arranged in the purest taste and the house is adorned by an extensive and valuable collection of pictures and sculpture The Hall which occupies the site of a former mansion was built from the design of the celebrated architect Adam in 1765 The manor of Kedleston belonged at the time of the Domesday survey to De Ferrars and as early as the reign of Henry I was held under that family by Curzon ancestor to its present noble possessor The village adjoins the park It is one of the most

pleasant and rural little places which can be imagined and has an air of quiet which but few places possess The Church which is closely adjoining the House is a remarkably picturesque building covered with luxuriant ivy and surrounded by lofty trees it has a good Norman doorway and other Norman portions and contains several curions monuments of these perhaps the most interesting are in the floor of the chancel where upon removing two circular pieces of wood the heads of a knight in armour and his lady in veil and whimple appear about a foot below the surface the heads are in high relief and are enclosed in quatrefoils Besides these there are many very fine and large monuments to different members of the Curzon family which are well deserving careful examination The BATHS In the Park is a chalybeate spring the waters of which are much prized and over which a neat building has been erected containing baths and waiting rooms etc The entrance lodge of the park is designed from the arch of Octavia and in the grounds is a picturesque little spot called the Gothic Temple erected as a summer house but now in ruins Not far from Kedleston is the picturesque village of QUARN the Malvern of Derbyshire as it has not inaptly been called from its extreme salubrity It has a famous medicinal spring and in its church the visitor will notice a Norman doorway and other interesting features Black’s Tourist’s Guide to Derbyshire
Its Towns, Watering Places, Dales and Mansions, with Map of the County, Plan of Chatsworth and Haddon Hall (1868)

The National Trust has a video tour: https://youtu.be/B2jYlXA1W98

 

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