Somersal Herbert Hall is a privately owned

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

16th-century country house at Somersal Herbert, near Ashbourne,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

, in England. It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...

. The Fitzherbert family came to Somersal in the 13th century when the estate was acquired by Thomas Fitzherbert, second son of Sir William Fitzherbert of

Norbury Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross. Etymology The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note tha ...

. The present timber-framed house was built by John Fitzherbert on the site of an earlier manor house in 1564. The entrance front at the south and other parts were encased in brick in 1712, when the property was enlarged. The Somersal line of the Fitzherbert family was extinct on the death of Richard Fitzherbert in 1803. The estate was initially sold in 1806 outside the family but was later repurchased by his cousin Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Baron St Helens, younger brother of Sir William Fitzherbert, Bt of

Tissington Tissington is a village in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. The appropriate civil parish is called Tissington and Lea Hall. The population of this parish at the 2011 census was 159. It is part of the estate of Tissington Ha ...

. He lent it in 1808 for life to cousins of his, the novelist Frances Jacson (1754–1842) and her sister

Maria Jacson Maria Elizabetha Jacson (1755 – 10 October 1829) was an eighteenth-century English writer, as was her sister, Frances Jacson (1754–1842), known for her books on botany at a time when there were significant obstacles to women's authorship. I ...

(1755–1829), a writer on botany and gardening, who were in financial straits caused by a spendthrift brother.Joan Percy: Jacson, Frances... In: ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: OUP, 2004
Retrieved 19 November 2010.
/ref> In about 1850 Sir Henry Fitzherbert, Bt enlarged the house by the addition of a north wing for his second son Richard who was in occupation of the house in 1881. His son Anthony emigrated to New Zealand and the estate was sold. It was modernised and restored in 1899; further restoration work was carried out in 2004.

References

''Magna Britannia'' Vol 5 Derbyshire (1817) p246 from British History Online
{{coord, 52.9137, -1.7981, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire Country houses in Derbyshire

See also

References