Locko Park

Locko Hall

facade
Location within Derbyshire
General information
Location Just over 1 mile north of Spondon, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom.
Town or city Derby
Country England
Coordinates 52°56′22″N 1°23′33″W / 52.9395°N 1.3925°W / 52.9395; -1.3925
Construction started c1725
Client Robert Ferne
Design and construction
Architect Francis Smith of Warwick

Locko Park is a privately owned 18th-century country house in Dale Abbey in the borough of Erewash, near Spondon, Derbyshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The estate was acquired by William Gilbert from William Byrde in 1563.[1] The oldest part of the house is the chapel of 1669. The main south facing block of the present house, built about 1725 out of locally sourced Keuper sandstone[2] for the member of parliament, Robert Ferne,[3] has three storeys and nine bays and a substantial Tuscan porch. The architect is believed to have been Francis Smith of Warwick.[4] The current house was built on or close to the site of a hospital of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, which was in existence at least as far back as 1296. The order was dedicated to the care of lepers, and the name Locko derives from the old French word for rags, loques,[5] in reference to the strips of lint that were applied to sores.[6]

John Lowe purchased the estate in 1747 from the last descendant of the Gilbert family.[1] In 1790 the property was bequeathed to William Drury who changed his name by Royal Sign Manual dated 10 July 1790 to William Drury-Lowe. In 1792, he employed William Emes, who was responsible for the gardens of Calke Abbey and Kedleston Hall, to landscape the park; the actual work, including the creation of the 16 acre lake, was carried out by Emes' partner, John Webb.[7] Williams's daughter and heir, Mary-Anne, married Robert Holden in 1800. Their son William also took the name Drury-Lowe in 1849.

Locko Park from the southwest, 1898

Substantial additions were made to the house in the 19th century by architect Henry Stevens of Derby, including, the present west range, the parapet to which bears the dates 1804 and 1896, and the Italianate tower which rises above it dating from 1853. The porch to the east front is dated 1861.

The house remains in the ownership of the Drury-Lowes, and is currently the residence of Lucy Palmer, the eldest daughter of Captain Patrick Drury-Lowe, and husband of David Palmer of the Huntley and Palmer biscuit family.[8] The house is not generally open to the public, although it is available for corporate and private functions. Several members of the Drury-Lowe family have served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire. The park used to be host to a substantial herd of fallow deer, and some can still be seen in the area.

A side note

John Lowe and Robert Williams were partners in the banking firm of Lowe, Vere, and Williams. They financed an East Indiaman, Locko, which they named for Locko Park. She completed three voyages for the British East India Company between 1781 and 1788.

References

  1. 1 2 The History of Locko Hall and Park Estate
  2. ↑ Maxwell Craven. "The Derbyshire Country House". Breedon Books (1991) p131. ISBN 0-907969-96-8. Print
  3. ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner. "The Buildings of England: Derbyshire". Penguin Books (1978) p264. ISBN 0-14-071008-6
  4. ↑ John Cornforth (June 1969). "Locko Park, Derbyshire". Country Life, CXLV. Cited by Nikolaus Pevsner. "The Buildings of England: Derbyshire". Penguin Books (1978) p264. ISBN 0-14-071008-6
  5. ↑ Stately Homes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, retrieved 13 February 2012
  6. ↑ H. B. Wheatley, London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions. CUP, 2011, p412. ISBN 978-1-108-02807-3
  7. ↑ Frank Constable (June 1997), "Locko Park Gardens", Derbyshire Life 62 6 p38
  8. ↑ "Mrs David Palmer" (June 1997), Derbyshire Life 62 6 p37
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