Calke Abbey

Calke Abbey
Calke Abbey
Location within Derbyshire
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical, Baroque
Location	Ticknall, Derbyshire
Country	England, United Kingdom
Coordinates	52°47′59″N 1°27′21″W / 52.79972°N 1.45583°W / 52.79972; -1.45583Coordinates: 52°47′59″N 1°27′21″W / 52.79972°N 1.45583°W / 52.79972; -1.45583
Construction started	1701
Completed	1704
Owner	Harpur Baronets (Harpur and Harpur-Crewe Families) The National Trust
Designations	Grade I listed

Harpur Baronets (Harpur and Harpur-Crewe Families)

Calke Abbey is a Grade I listed country house near Ticknall, Derbyshire, England, in the care of the charitable National Trust.

The site was an Augustinian priory from the 12th century until its dissolution by Henry VIII. The present building, named Calke Abbey in 1808, was never actually an abbey, but is a Baroque mansion built between 1701 and 1704.

The house was owned by the Harpur family for nearly 300 years until it was passed to the Trust in 1985 in lieu of death duties. Today, the house is open to the public and many of its rooms are deliberately displayed in the state of decline in which the house was handed to the Trust.

Calke Priory was founded by Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester some time between 1115 and 1120 and was dedicated to St Giles; d'Avranches had inherited from his father vast estates in both England and Normandy, of which Calke and many of the surrounding villages were part.
Calke Priory was initially an independent community, but after the death of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester in 1153, it (along with most of his Derbyshire estates) became part of the dowry of his widow, Maud of Gloucester. Maud initially granted nearby St. Wystan's Church, Repton to the canons at Calke Priory, but subsequently had a new priory, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, built at Repton. In 1172 she moved the Canons from Calke to the new Repton Priory, with Calke then becoming a subordinate "cell" to Repton Priory.