Bretby and Tutankhamun

This week we visited Bretby which is in southern Derbyshire only a few miles from Burton on Trent.
Bretby means "The dwelling place of Britons" and its believed to be the site of a major battle between the Danes and kingdom of Mercia in AD880.
We hoped to see where the castle was sited and whats left of Bretby Hall.
We parked at the village green next to the old water pump and set off down the footpath marked Bretby Hall. One of the houses overlooking the green was a school opened for scholars in 1806.

Village water pump

Bretby Mews

Bretby Hall

 Bretby has a really interesting history. It was listed in the Doomsday Book under the title of  "Land of the king of Derbyshire). The first hall was built in 1680, this went through several notable families including the Earls of Chesterfield. The 2nd Earl was responsible for the design of the gardens which were said to be comparable to the walled gardens at Versailles.
 The present hall was built around 1812 to a design by Sir Jeffry Wyatville. Benjamin Disraeli was a regular visitor to the Hall.
Again the hall passed onto some notable families and in particular the 5th Earl of Carnarvon (the Egyptologist ). He sold off parts of the estate to fund Howard Carter who discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun. The Carvarvons never lived at Bretby Hall but they did visit regularly. The Carnarvons lived in Highclere which is now famous for being Downton Abbey in the hit TV series.
The hall was sold to Derbyshire County Council in 1926 and was used as an orthopaedic hospital until the 1990's. It has now been developed into luxury apartments.
Bretby park is also well know for top quality pheasant shoots.

Impressive front to Bretby Hall

Nice gates, but don't know where the road went to

One of the lakes next to the hall

This tree must be at least 6 feet wide.

Lovely leafy track

Sail boat weather vane

Breakfast stop.

Back to the car parked at the village green.

An interesting little walk this week in an area we've not been before. A little disappointed that a lot of the park area was no public access so we obviously missed a lot.
Cheers