Tapton House
Tapton House, in Tapton, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, was once the home of engineer George Stephenson, who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives. In its time Tapton has been a gentleman's residence, a ladies' boarding school and a co-educational school.
Tapton House grounds are now open for free use by the general public of Chesterfield to walk around and visit the Tapton Gardens. The grounds are also shared with the Tapton Park Innovation Centre. The House itself is now the High Education Campus of Chesterfield College, and is a Grade II* listed building.
Tapton House was constructed in the late 18th century by the Wilkinson family of bankers, who also helped fund the construction of the Chesterfield Canal. English mechanical engineer George Stephenson, builder of the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, leased the house from the family from 1832 until his death in 1848.
The house then was bought by Charles Markham, Director of Staveley Coal and Iron Company and three times Mayor of the town, in 1871 and became the family home until 1925, when he gave the 200 acres (0.81 km2) of parkland to the Borough of Chesterfield. The borough turned the house into a school and in 1931, the first pupils passed through its doors as Tapton House Central Selective School. After the Second World War it became a co-educational grammar school, Tapton House Grammar School. The school continued to teach students until 1993 when it closed. After refurbishment in September 1994 it became a College of Further and Higher Education for the people of Chesterfield and the surrounding area, known as The Tapton House Campus of Chesterfield College.
George Stephenson, born in 1781, had already become a nationally known figure before he came to Chesterfield in the 1830s to construct the North Midland Railway which stretches 72 miles (116 km) from Derby to Leeds. His son Robert designed the historically important steam locomotive named Rocket for the Rainhill Trials at Liverpool in 1829.
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