Rufford
Having spent a fairly wet, Bank holiday monday, walking around Rufford Park. I found myself lost in thought about the place. I remember going to a big park, with a great ruin, when I was very little and had come up north for a holiday. I also remember not going for a long time, in between the trip as a kid with, Nannar and Grandad and me, moving up north, in search of fame and fortune. I had somehow fused the park and it's ruined Abbey into a location I believed to be, Clumber park, another place not so far away.
It was the first time I went to Rufford, with the girl who became my wife that my memories returned and I realised that the 'ruined building' I remembered but could not place was actually, Rufford Abbey at Rufford Park. It was a happy memory I held as a kid, a place I seem to remember with joy. There is something quite wondrous about the building. On this Bank Holiday for some reason I found myself wondering what the actual history to the place was.
To try and give an impression of size, this photo is from behind the building and you can see the length of what remains, where a great section has been carved away from the only part of the building that still functions as, I presume office space, which in the below photo is the section furthest to the right with the chimney stacks and complete roof.
You can just make out from the behind, the entrance porch, that's the two storey, tudor style section in the middle of the photo on the left. A better shot of the entrance is below, which once you've passed through you enter the ruined section of the house. I have now walked these ruins quite a few times, as has my children, though they have tended to run through the ruins. The one impression you do get is one of size. As mostly a ruin, it is pretty large. Though, as I discovered it was larger.
A little history. Rufford Abbey was initially founded as a Cistercian Monastery in the 12th Century, about 8o years after the Norman conquest, by the Earl of Lincoln, the monastery dutifully expanded over time. With the dissolution of the monasteries, its 400 year history as a place of monkish worship ended and it was then granted to the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, a warrior who served with distinction under both Henry VI & VIII. It was however the 6th Earl who partly demolished the Abbey and started construction of a grand home on the site. The estate then passed into the hands of the, Savile family, in the mid 1600's the family greatly re-modelled and added to the estate, and when ownership passed into the Earl of Scarborough side of the family, the majority of what we see now was re-modelled in the 1830/40's when the building contained 111 rooms, the entrance porch below for instance in a tudor style.
In 1841 the Lime tree avenue was added to the estate, which cut through from the House to the Nottingham Road.
Rufford then pottered through the Victorian/Edwardian ages as a grand and important estate, not unfamiliar with royal visitors. In the 1930's things began to change. The 2nd Lord Savile died, leaving a 12yr old son who had a board of trustees to run the estate for him. With the onset of war and the rising costs of wages and maintenance (balance against reduced rental income) meant the trustees had to sell the estate in 1938, all 18730 acres. It was then bought by a Nottingham industrialist, Albert Ball. Albert Ball then sold the house contents at auction and then much of the estate in parcels of land for development in 1938. The Abbey and immediate grounds was bought by Henry Talbot de vere Clifton. During the war the site was taken over by the MOD and used as a station for the Leicester Yeomanry and then the coldstream guards.
Then as an army headquarters building, it had been sorely neglected and to fall into a poor state of repair, so much so that in 1949 a local trust had been set up to save the building. The government at the time did say any demolition would require parts to be kept from the original Abbey structure. In 1952 Nottingham County Council came to the rescue and bought the Abbey and 130 acres of land, what is now Rufford Park essentially. However, the building was now damaged beyond repair with dry rot, subsidence, rising damp and bulging walls. In the end it was decided to demolish the Abbeys upper walls, the 17th Century North wing and 18th Century East wing. The building then came under the care ultimately of English Heritage, while Nottinghamshire County Council designated, Rufford Park a country park.
And in a manner reminiscent of so many great homes the perfect storm of neglect, decay and social and economic changes has now left us with the ruin in Rufford park. Which, as impressive as it still is to a certain degree gives little clues to the home that was there as so much has been demolished. I got to thinking what it would have looked like prior to the sad decline and found a few pictures which shows Rufford Abbey as it was and makes you realise how grand it truly was, not quite in the league of Blenheim and Chatsworth and the great state houses, but it certainly wasn't shabby.
Noting the wing on the far left of the photo, this is now just a grassed area with nothing of the structure left.
The back of the house was equally, if not more so as impressive as the front. As you can see, it must have been quite a sight and place to live in, in its day and what is left today is now to me, seeing these photos and looking a little into the history, just that little bit sadder for it. That such a wonderful house had fallen into such disrepair as to be ruined. But that is the way of things. Ironically one of family connections to Rufford, the Earls of Shrewsbury also links into another great house, in a far worse state than Rufford but what would have been as impressive if not more so, were it not ruined and that is, Wingfield Manor, which they also owned and which was gutted in the Civil War. Though it's undeniable size and impression still dominates the village of South Wingfield in Derbyshire.
It was the first time I went to Rufford, with the girl who became my wife that my memories returned and I realised that the 'ruined building' I remembered but could not place was actually, Rufford Abbey at Rufford Park. It was a happy memory I held as a kid, a place I seem to remember with joy. There is something quite wondrous about the building. On this Bank Holiday for some reason I found myself wondering what the actual history to the place was. To try and give an impression of size, this photo is from behind the building and you can see the length of what remains, where a great section has been carved away from the only part of the building that still functions as, I presume office space, which in the below photo is the section furthest to the right with the chimney stacks and complete roof.
A little history. Rufford Abbey was initially founded as a Cistercian Monastery in the 12th Century, about 8o years after the Norman conquest, by the Earl of Lincoln, the monastery dutifully expanded over time. With the dissolution of the monasteries, its 400 year history as a place of monkish worship ended and it was then granted to the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, a warrior who served with distinction under both Henry VI & VIII. It was however the 6th Earl who partly demolished the Abbey and started construction of a grand home on the site. The estate then passed into the hands of the, Savile family, in the mid 1600's the family greatly re-modelled and added to the estate, and when ownership passed into the Earl of Scarborough side of the family, the majority of what we see now was re-modelled in the 1830/40's when the building contained 111 rooms, the entrance porch below for instance in a tudor style.In 1841 the Lime tree avenue was added to the estate, which cut through from the House to the Nottingham Road.
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Then as an army headquarters building, it had been sorely neglected and to fall into a poor state of repair, so much so that in 1949 a local trust had been set up to save the building. The government at the time did say any demolition would require parts to be kept from the original Abbey structure. In 1952 Nottingham County Council came to the rescue and bought the Abbey and 130 acres of land, what is now Rufford Park essentially. However, the building was now damaged beyond repair with dry rot, subsidence, rising damp and bulging walls. In the end it was decided to demolish the Abbeys upper walls, the 17th Century North wing and 18th Century East wing. The building then came under the care ultimately of English Heritage, while Nottinghamshire County Council designated, Rufford Park a country park.
And in a manner reminiscent of so many great homes the perfect storm of neglect, decay and social and economic changes has now left us with the ruin in Rufford park. Which, as impressive as it still is to a certain degree gives little clues to the home that was there as so much has been demolished. I got to thinking what it would have looked like prior to the sad decline and found a few pictures which shows Rufford Abbey as it was and makes you realise how grand it truly was, not quite in the league of Blenheim and Chatsworth and the great state houses, but it certainly wasn't shabby.
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