Thornbridge Hall, as experienced by David Adams, tour guide from 2021

I was looking through a local magazine for an opportunity to volunteer.

As I read through, I was intrigued to see an article relating to Thornbridge Hall, a place I had seen on my travels but never visited.

I sent an email and was asked to meet Emma to discuss volunteering.

I turned up on a day where the rain never stopped.

I was given a cup of coffee and this soaking wet lady on a bike arrived and introduced herself, it was Emma, and we started chatting. During our chat I mentioned I was a tour guide. 90 minutes later I had talked myself into starting guiding at Thornbridge.

So armed with the guide book and the archive room I started to piece together an outline for a tour.

So after much research and delving into the history I arranged a biweekly tour unsure if anyone was going to visit.  As the first tour was launched it filled almost instantly.  It has proved to be a most popular feature.

The hall is owned by Emma and Jim Harrison and they bought it in 2002.

Together with their 4 children and a close group of friends and family they started to build what is today one of the most delightful and interesting family homes you could ever wish to visit. More about them later.

There has been a house on this site from the late 1100’s and for the first 600 years was owned by the Longsdon family. It would have been a small manor house and farming would have been its main function. It was also good for hunting and fishing with the river Wye close by.

The industrial revolution started in the late 1700’s and halls such as Thornbridge were considered suitable for the nouveau riche: mill owners who were successful and making huge profits.

One such industrialist was Andrew Morewood who made his fortune making linen in Manchester and sending it to St Petersburg in Russia.

He bought the house for £10000, a huge fortune in those days.

Another industrialist Frederick Craven then purchased the hall in the mid 1800’s.  His factory printed calico cloths and again the profits were huge.

He bought Thornbridge as there was a railway line from Matlock to Manchester completed in 1849. He said in his journal

 “I can catch the milk train at 9 o’clock on a Monday morning and be in Manchester not long after to monitor my business.”

He then rebuilt the hall in the latest Victorian style. A classical Victorian house with wonderful pitched roofs, and a beautiful garden.

During the building of the Hall, he asked William Morris to design a number of stained-glass windows which can still be seen today. As a great collector and purveyor of antiques it was the perfect shop window.

The next incumbent for the Hall was George Jobson Marples, a Sheffield solicitor who had inherited the equivalent of £25,000,000 in today’s money.

A man with money, power, and a big house, he wanted to be a squire with a title.  That never happened but, as an employee, whenever you met him you were instructed to address him as Lord Marples. He spent his money changing the house to look like a castle with crenelated stone work but the biggest mistake was to install a flat roof. This was the downfall of the house during the late1900’s.

He redesigned the stable block into a carriage house suitable for his carriage and horses that as a “Squire” befitted his financial position.

The railway was very important to him. He looked at the station in Great Longstone and decided it was not grand enough for his requirements.  He embarked on the planning of a new, bigger, and grander station. This was completed and called Woodlands. Designed with 2 entrances.

The everyday people could get on the train at Great Longstone. Then, the train would move 20 yards down the track. Stop. And Mr Marples and his guests would board; thus, creating an exclusive entrance.

It would appear his reign was very strict and if you visit and look at the workers cottages, they are not adjoined to the hall but close enough for instant attention.

He died in the late 1920’s with not much of his fortune left as in 1913 he invested money in a German armaments company. Not the best business decision he ever made!!!

Next to move into the Hall was Charles Boot. A member of the Boot construction company from Sheffield. His role in life was connected to demolition.  If you have ever been to Clumber Park you will notice there is no house. This burnt down in the 1930’s and Boot was given the task of taking it down and rendering it safe.

He is also responsible for placing urns and statues in the grounds of the Hall said to have originated from Clumber Park.

His big passion was feature films. One night at a dinner he met Joseph Rank from the Rank Organisation (you probably remember the big gong that preceded a Rank film) and they decided on a joint venture to build their own film studio known as Pinewood Studios on the country park Boot owned just outside London.  A studio I spent many years working in, on and off, but did not know it’s owners history.

On the death Of Charles Boot the Hall was purchased by Sheffield council as a teacher training college for ladies. The college was very successful for many years and it is always a privilege and delight to meet the ladies who resided here over the years.  Their stories are an inspiration for my tour information which I happily recount whenever I can.

It is at this time that Emma first appears in the Thornbridge story.  As a 15 year old she was taken to the Hall on a day out with her care worker, Donna with whom she is still in contact today, and immediately fell in love with the Hall and vowed that one day she would own it. A dream many of us have but never realise.

The hall started to decline as the teacher training college ceased and it became a center for many varying functions.  When Jim and Emma bought the Hall in 2002 it was almost derelict: a sad situation for a building that had such a rich history.

Taking on the challenge Jim and Emma rebuilt the house over the next 20 years producing an amazing Country Hall befitting its history.

In 2004 Jim was persuaded do what all great homeowners do and install a brewery. The old carpenter’s workshop was converted and employing two young brewers the whole process started. The first beer was named Lord Marples which was dark and bitter.

But in 2006 after trial and error a beer called Jaipur was produced and it has become the most popular of all the Thornbridge Beers.

Becoming so popular as a brewery it now sits proudly in Bakewell on the Riverside estate where you can visit the Taproom and experience many of the beers on tap and enjoy the best pizzas you have ever tried.

The whole estate is to go into a trust. This is to ensure that it can be enjoyed by generations to come and will never again be neglected.

In addition to this, a charity has been set up called “ The Thornbridge 4 Everyone Foundation” to support disadvantaged children in the local areas.  It pays for complete days out to allow those children to sample life away from the towns and cities and, being involved as I have been, it is a joy to see them all having a wonderful time.

Monies that come in from ticket sales, garden produce and the cafe all make the charitable work possible.

So, please come to Thornbridge and join a tour to see how the family live.

Walk around the RHS partner garden to see all the work the gardeners have put in.

Come and enjoy all that is on offer at the Quackers cafe, sampling Eleanor’s delicious cakes and all the food prepared and cooked on site. Various meats available to buy from the cafe…

It has been the most wonderful first year and I look forward to seeing you.