Kedleston Hall

Kedleston Hall is yet another vast estate with a long, sweeping drive. It is set to advantage in park land that extends down towards a river, spanned by a beautiful stone bridge.

The hall itself is an example of the Palladian influence on British architecture popular in the eighteenth century. The Roman influence is visible in the Marble Hall with its many frescoes, statues, and columns, and in the pantheon-inspired Saloon. The large central block of the house was designed to serve as a showcase for Lord Scarsdale's furniture and art and was used by the family on grand occasions.

Sir Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Lord Scarsdale, inherited the Curzon estates in 1758. He immediately set about rebuilding his grandfather's modest brick-built structure, demolishing an entire small village and all the out-buildings in the process. Curzon met the Scottish architect Robert Adam during the commission of his showpiece home and promptly fired the architects in his employ; the majority of the existing house was completed by 1765 under Adam.

The Indian Museum beneath the Saloon houses Lady Mary Curzon's peacock dress, a legendary gown worn by Vicereine Curzon at the 1903 Dehli Durbar. It is made of silk chiffon and embroidered with jewels and metal threads to resemble peacock feathers, with the wing cases of brilliant scarab beetles used to accentuate the eyes of the feathers.

Very close to the Hall is All Saints' Church, the only remnant of the medieval village of Kedleston. Its dominating features include a startling number of Curzon family tombs and memorials and, on the floor in front of the altar, two circular wooden covers which (as the photograph nearby attests) cover the effigies of the Fifth Lord of Kedleston and his wife.

Date of Our Last Visit: July 2004