Accident at Rangemore Hall due to falling tree

Part of a listed building must be bulldozed after a major oil leak caused by a falling tree contaminated much of the land of the 200 year old Rangemore Hall.

It is estimated that up to 2,500 litres of heating oil was lost after a protected tree toppled onto a heating oil storage tank in the Coach House grounds of Rangemore Hall during high winds and the land has been contaminated as a result.

An application has now been lodged with East Staffordshire Borough Council to bulldoze the steps, and retaining wall of the Coach House to allow for a clean up operation of the foundations.

The Hall in Dunstall Road, Rangemore is now a residential building and five of its properties are affected by the spill and also heating oil serviced from individual tanks.

Last summer, a number of trees were removed from the grounds, but a large tree was left in place due to its preservation order on the understanding that it would be removed in February over stability concerns.

However, during high winds on January 25th 2014, the tree uprooted and fell across the Coach House garden and landed on a storage tank, rupturing it and causing minor damage to another. 

It is estimated between 2,000 and 2,500 litres of oil may have been lost to the ground.

One resident said she saw the tree fall and that when it struck the tank, the oil shot into the air.

Tim Ridley environmental scientist from loss insurers Ecologia, who have made the application said "The oil was then seen to begin flowing across the tarmac drive surface, downhill towards the rear of the Coach House, across towards the Ewing Wing and into nearby drainage covers".

The fire service sealed the nearby drains with bentonite mats, and to lay absorbent pads across the tarmac drive.

Following the spill, vapours were observed in three of the properties near the spill point. As a result, demolition needs to take place to allow access to the heating oil contaminated soils as a result of a large spill near the building structure.

The walls and steps will be rebuilt when remediation works are completed.

By Helen Kreft of Burton Mail.

Dovecliff Hall

Dovecliff Hall is a fine Grade II listed Georgian house built in 1790 for the local affluent family of Thomas Thornewill. Mr Thornewill was the owner of a forge which had been converted from the Stretton corn mill. The house passed to Mrs Thornewill on her husband's death in 1843 and was then taken over by their son Edward in 1880 on the death of his mother.

In 1869 Mr Thornewill's grandaughter, Harriet Georgian Thornewill married Michael Arthur Bass and subsequently became Lord and Lady Burton. Lord Bass was a charitable man who made many contributions to Burton including the Ferry Bridge. Lord Bass was a good friend of King Edward VII, and the King visited the Bass brewery and the family on their estate at Rangemore Hall in 1902, thus beginning the brewing of the now famous King's ale.

In 1881, the estate of Dovecliff Hall was sold to William Joseph Smith of Derby who also bought the family's iron works at Stretton. Smith died in 1891 and in 1897 his widow Frances sold Dovecliff Hall to Hugh Spencer Charrington a Burton brewer.

Both the Bass and Charrington families owned breweries in the town, and the house passed into the Bass family when Caroline the daughter of Lord Bass married into the Charrington family at the same time as the breweries merged.

Hugh Charrington died in 1921 and until 1928 the house went through periods of being either empty or occupied by tenants. In 1928 the house was opened as a hotel but reverted back to a private house when purchased by Colonel Sharpe in 1936 whose portrait hangs today in the hotel reception.

My friend and myself being Needwoodians decided to go on holiday and revisit Needwood and Rangemore as well as surrounding areas. We stayed at Dovecliff Hall Hotel in Stretton near Rolleston on Dove. We thought the hotel reminds us of Needwood by looking at the photographs on the website. Little did we know the history of Dovecliff Hall and the connection to Rangemore Hall which was a coincidence. We both had a fantastic stay in Dovecliff Hall Hotel. It was a memorable time taking a trip down memory lane, and retracing our steps to when we were school children. It has been more than forty years since I last left Needwood School, and have not been back since until June 2014.