| Ruddington Hall | |
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| RuddingtonHall1900.jpg The hall in 1900 |
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| General information | |
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| Completed | 1860 |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Thomas Cross |
Ruddington Hall is a country house standing in the grounds of a beautiful garden in Ruddington, Nottingham, England. Ruddington Hall has the distinction of being included in the art work of Nikolaus Pevsner alongside the Elizabethan Wollaton Hall and Newstead Abbey, ancestral home of Lord Byron.
It is imbued with Pevsner's classical ethic of "calm grandeur, and monumental simplicity". Ruddington Hall has an interesting history[1] which is briefly explained below.
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Ruddington Hall was built in 1860. It was designed as a country retreat for Thomas Cross, a wealthy industrialist and banker from Bolton. Together with his wife and some nine servants, he lived here for 19 years.
Ruddington was an important centre for the production of the world-famous Nottingham lace, and in 1880 the hall was purchased by a successful American merchant, Philo-Laos Mills. Mills was appointed High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1897. A generous local benefactor, he bred prize-winning pedigree cattle, pigs and shire horses,. He was President of the Nottingham Young Men's Christian Association. He died in 1905, aged seventy-three. His wife, who had greatly helped in his philanthropic work, died in 1906.
The tradition of ownership by self-made men was continued in 1907 by a Major John Ashworth. As well as developing a flourishing timber importing business, Ashworth, Kirk & Co. Ltd, he was renowned as one of the finest riflemen in the country. This no doubt deterred many a poacher.
In the light of today's concerns about global warming, it's interesting to note that under Ashworth's ownership, the hall's boiler and fireplaces burnt each quarter thirty tons of coal! In 1931 Ruddington Hall was purchased by Dorothea Kate Forman-Hardy, a member of Nottingham's well known newspaper and printing dynasty.
In 1938 she added a major new extension to the rear, and in September 1940 offered the hall to the Red Cross for use as a wartime convalescent hospital. It accommodated seventy-five patients.
The hall continued as a hospital after the war, and in 1980 was purchased and converted into office premises by a major international company.
In 1992 Ruddington Hall was acquired by Midland Software Ltd, one UK’s specialist HR and payroll software and services companies.
Since 1992 considerable restoration work has been carried out, including ceilings, stone floors, and leaded windows. Even the hall's original fire extinguisher has returned home after many years away in a museum!
Outside the hall, too, restoration has been extensive. Iron gates and rail have been replaced, drainage improved, many new trees and shrubs planted, and old topiary and paths resurrected, all supported by high levels of care and maintenance. Built on the lower slopes of a wooded hill, Ruddington Hall has attractive views over its own adjoining pastureland and towards distant fields.
It is perhaps only by visiting the hall that the value of its history, buildings and grounds can properly be appreciated - also the importance of preserving a piece of English heritage that could never be replaced.
Ruddington Hall is still owned by MidlandHR and houses their many employees in the day to day workings of a busy office environment.