Sudbury Hall is a country house in Sudbury, Derbyshire

Sudbury, Derbyshire

Sudbury is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, located approximately to the south of Ashbourne. It is part of the Derbyshire Dales district. The £0.5m A50 bypass opened in 1972...

, England.

Sudbury Hall is one the country's finest Restoration

Restoration style

Restoration style, also known as Carolean style Restoration style, also known as Carolean style Restoration style, also known as Carolean style (from the Latin Carolus (Charles), refers to the decorative arts popular in England from the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 to the late 1680s after...

 mansions and has Grade I listed building status.

The Vernon family

Vernon family

The Vernon family was a wealthy, prolific and widespread English family with 11th century origins in Vernon, France.-Vernon of Shipbrook, Cheshire:...

 came to Sudbury as a result of the 16th century marriage of Sir John Vernon to Ellen Montgomery the Sudbury heiress. The house was built between 1660 and 1680 by George Vernon, grandfather of George Venables-Vernon

George Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon

George Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon was a British politician.Vernon was the son of Henry Vernon, of Sudbury, Derbyshire, and his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of Thomas Pigott by his wife Mary, sister and heiress of Sir Peter Venables, Baron of Kinderton, Cheshire...

 the 1st Baron Vernon

Baron Vernon

Lord Vernon, Baron of Kinderton in the County of Chester, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1762 for the former Member of Parliament George Venables-Vernon. He had previously represented Lichfield and Derby in the House of Commons...

 and is notable for its superb Great Staircase, fine Long Gallery, and portraits by John Michael Wright, and of Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

's mistresses. Inside there are a mixture of architectural styles with beautiful carvings by Grinling Gibbons and Edward Pearce, murals by Louis Laguerre and elaborate plasterwork by Samuel Mansfield, James Pettifer and Robery Bradbury. The carvings above the main entrance porch were sculpted by William Wilson

William Wilson (architect)

Sir William Wilson was an English architect, builder and sculptor.Born in 1641 in Leicester, he was the son of a baker. In his early life, it is believed that he served an apprenticeship with a statuary mason. It is also claimed that he studied under Sir Christopher Wren at Oxford University where...

. There are formal gardens with a tree-fringed lake.

The house was also used as the internal Pemberley

Pemberley

Pemberley is the fictional country estate owned by Fitzwilliam Darcy, the male protagonist in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. It is located near the fictional town of Lambton, and believed by some to be based on Chatsworth House, near Bakewell in Derbyshire.In describing the estate, Austen...

 scenes in the BBC dramatisation (1995)

Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV serial)

Pride and Prejudice is a six-episode 1995 British television drama, adapted by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Simon Langton, the serial was a BBC...

 of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...

.

The property was leased for three years from 1840 by Queen Adelaide

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen

Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...

, the widow of William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...

. It is now owned and maintained by the National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

. to whom it was gifted by the Vernon family in 1967.

The National Trust Museum of Childhood is housed in the 19th-century servants wing of Sudbury Hall. It should not be confused with the V&A Museum of Childhood

V&A Museum of Childhood

The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green in the East End of London is a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum , which is the United Kingdom's national museum of applied arts.-History:...

, which is in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

See also

• Catherine Pegge
  Catherine Pegge
  Catherine Pegge, born about 1635, was a long term mistress of Charles II. She had two children by him, Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth and Catherine FitzCharles....
  
  
• George John Venables-Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon

External links

• Sudbury Hall — The National Trust Museum of Childhood information at the National Trust