Castern Hall, also known as Casterne Hall, is a privately owned 18th-century country house in the

Manifold Valley The River Manifold is a river in Staffordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Dove (which also flows through the Peak District, forming the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire). The Manifold rises at Flash Head just so ...

, near

Ilam, Staffordshire Ilam () is a village in the Staffordshire Peak District of England, lying on the River Manifold. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 402. Ilam village Ilam is best known as the location of the neo-Gothic Il ...

, England.

History

The grange at Castern was owned by

Burton Abbey Burton Abbey at Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, England, was founded in the 7th or 9th century by St Modwen or Modwenna. It was refounded in 1003 as a Benedictine abbey by the thegn Wulfric Spott. He was known to have been buried in the ab ...

until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was acquired by Roger Hurt, youngest son of Nicholas Hurt of Ashbourne, who settled there in the mid-16th century. Later, Nicholas Hurt (1649-1711) married the heiress of

Alderwasley Alderwasley ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 469. Alderwasley Hall is the home to one of the sites of Alderwasley Hall School whic ...

and in time

Alderwasley Hall Alderwasley Hall School is an independent residential special school. The school is for children and young people aged 5 to 20 with High-Functioning ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), Asperger's Syndrome, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), and ...

became the family's principal residence. The Castern house was remodeled in about 1740 by Nicholas Hurt, who became

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

in 1756. The present three-story, five-bayed entrance front in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, Ge ...

dates from this period. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the house was often rented out to tenants. The Alderwasley estate was sold in the 1930s and Castern became the family's principal residence once again before being sold again by the family. The house was substantially featured in ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Poirot'' (also known as ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'') is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. David Suchet starred as the eponymous detective, Agatha Christie's fictional H ...

'' in the episode "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge". Other movies and series that have been shot there were ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'' (1983), ''

Far from the Madding Crowd ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in ''Cornhill Magazine'', where it gained a wide readership. The novel is set in ...

'' (1997) and '' Jonathan Creek: Frog Hollow''. (1999)

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in Staffordshire Historic house museums in Derbyshire

History

See also

References