Risley Hall, Derbyshire

Risley Hall is a country house, now a hotel and spa set in 17 acres (69,000 m2) of private landscaped grounds in the Derbyshire countryside, near the village of Risley, and close to Junction 25 of the M1. It comprises 35 bedrooms and several function rooms. The building's main function is as a hotel and spa, but it also caters for weddings, which take place in the 16th-century Great Hall, with open-beamed ceilings and mullion windows. The Spa Closed down in 2016 as is yet to be reopened.

This article is about the Risley Hall in Derbyshire, England. For the Residential College at Cornell University, see Risley Residential College.
Risley Hall
facade
General information
Town or cityRisley, Derbyshire
CountryEngland
Coordinates52.9158°N 1.31824°W / 52.9158; -1.31824
Completed16th century
ClientWilloughby family

History

The Willoughby family acquired the manor of Risley in 1350 and were the main builders of Risley Hall, which dates from the 16th century. In the 16th century the Willoughbys built the Church of All Saints, Risley, and founded a free school in the village. The estate then passed by marriage to Anchitell Grey but returned to the Willoughby family on the death of his daughter. The Latin House was built in the early 18th century. The Risley Park Lanx, a Romano-British silver plate, was discovered in the grounds of Risley in 1729. It was recently thought to have been rediscovered and was put on display at the British Museum, until the object in question turned out to be a forgery and was promptly removed.[1]

The manor of Risley goes back to the 11th century. In Victorian times the house prospered under the ownership of a flamboyant entrepreneur, Ernest Terah Hooley.[2]

The lodge in the park is no longer part of the reduced estate. It was described by a visitor about 1700: "The main house is an ancient, large convenient building ... [with] a very fine park a little mile outside the town, in which stands a very handsome lodge, on a considerable eminence, from which there is a noble prospect."[3]

Risley Hall is owned by the Crosbie family and was managed by the Oxford Hotels and Inns group until 2012 when the Bespoke Hotels group took over.

References
  1. Local History and Heritage: Erewash Borough Council; John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870
  2. Heritage Britain: Hotels in Risley, Derbyshire
  3. Quoted in Nicholas Cooper, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680, 1999:111f.
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