Baggrave Hall

Baggrave Hall

Baggrave Hall is an 18th-century Grade II* listed country house in the parish of Hungarton, Leicestershire, UK.[1]

It is a two and three-storey Palladian-style building constructed during the 1750s in ashlar, with a Swithland slate hipped roof and brick ridge chimney stacks. An additional wing in red brick can be dated to 1776. The current grounds of the hall cover 220 acres (0.89 km2). The hall was listed Grade II* in 1951.

History

Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site belonged to Leicester Abbey.[2] It was subsequently sold to Francis Cave, whose grandson, Sir Alexander Cave, sold it before 1625 to Edward Villiers, half brother to the Duke of Buckingham. [3] The hall was occupied in the later 17th century by John Edwyn, whose grandson, also John, rebuilt it, incorporating parts of the 16th-century manor house.[1] In 1770, his daughter Anna Edwyn married Andrew Burnaby, archdeacon of Leicester, and thus ownership of the estate passed to the Burnaby family. Later owners included Edwyn Burnaby, high sheriff of Leicestershire. In recent times it became the home of the Earle family, who sold it around 1975.[4]

The fabric of the building was severely damaged in 1988–90 whilst in the ownership of an overseas company controlled by Asil Nadir, who had bought the estate for £3 million. Stonework was removed, walls undermined and interior walls, floors and ceilings ruined. The current owner has promised to rectify the damage as much as possible.[5] The house can be viewed close at hand from a public footpath that runs between South Croxton and Lowesby.

Legend

A folk tale tells that the hall was named after an incident involving a maidservant. It is said that she allowed a beggar woman to take refuge at the hall, but later noticed by her boots that she was a man in disguise. Fearing he was a robber, she murdered him and placed him inside a potato bag, in which he was buried.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Baggrave Hall, Hungarton". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  2. ↑ "Baggrave Hall, South Croxton , England". Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  3. ↑ Historic England. "Baggrave Hall (1000482)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Institute of Historic Building. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "BAGGRAVE HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE". Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  6. ↑ Ash, Russell (1973). Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. Reader's Digest Association Limited. p. 298. ISBN 9780340165973.

Coordinates: 52°40′28″N 0°58′06″W / 52.6744°N 0.9682°W