Friendship

Friendship

Thursday, 5 March 2015

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.



























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