Ilam, Staffordshire
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Ilam (pronounced "Eye-lam") is a village in the Staffordshire Peak District, lying on the River Manifold. The village is best known as the location of the neo-Gothic Ilam Hall, a stately home built in the 1820s, and now a youth hostel owned by the National Trust. It is set in large parklands that are open to visitors.
Ilam is about 4 miles from Ashbourne at the entrance to the scenic Manifold Valley. Ilam is very picturesque, with its "Swiss chalet" style houses and matching school house. It also lies close to the popular Dovedale valley.
Recently the village has attracted praise for its commitment to eco- friendly policies[1].
Ilam became the first community in the United Kingdom to phase out incandescent light bulbs, cutting annual carbon emissions by 4 tonnes [1]. The initiative was part of the Ilam Climate Change Project, supported by the Marches Energy Agency [2].
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[edit] Ilam Hall
A hall has been here since John Port had the first one built in 1546. Both William Congreve and Dr Samuel Johnson stayed at the hall when it was owned by the Port family. Congreve wrote his first play, "The Old Bachelor" here and Paradise valley inspired Johnson to write his novel "Rasselas". In 1820 the estate was bought by Jesse Watts-Russell, a wealthy industrialist. It was Watts-Russell who was responsible for the Swiss look of Ilam; he found that the valley and surrounding hills reminded him of the Alps, and consequently had some new cottages built in the Swiss style and rehoused most of the villagers (who were living in estate-owned houses anyway). He also built the school in 1857 and funded it, at a time when schooling was not compulsory.
He later moved to New Zealand and built another Ilam Hall (see Links below). The farm/homestead that he created later grew and became the Ilam area of Christchurch. The site of the homestead was one of the main social centres of early Christchurch society.
The present homestead was built in 1914 after fire destroyed the first two buildings. There is even an Ilam school there!
The Conservative politician Robert William Hanbury (1845-1903), lived and was buried here.
In 1934 Sir Robert McDougal bought the hall and gave it to the National Trust to become a Youth Hostel. The grounds are open to the public, and are a starting point for one of the prettiest river walks in the area.
[edit] The Church of the Holy Cross
Originally Saxon, the church is now mainly 17th and 19th century following restoration in those two centuries. Some of its Saxon origins can be seen in its carved stone Saxon font, and in two stone cross shafts in the churchyard. It is in the Chapel of St Bertram, built in 1618, that the remains and shrine of the St Bertam (or Bertelin) can be found. St Bertam was a 8th Century son of a Mercian king who renounced his royal heritage for prayer and meditation after his wife and child were killed by wolves. He is said to have converted many to Christianity, and his shrine became a point of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, it being reputed to be able to work miraculous cures.
[edit] Dovedale House
This is a large old house near the entrance of Ilam Hall. It used to be the vicarage and is now run as a residential Youth centre.
[edit] References
- ^ Sunday Telegraph 22nd July 2007 2, 406 pC12
[edit] See also
