Modernising Calke Abbey
Sir Vauncey was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Hilda. To settle death duties, Hilda sold half of her father’s natural history collection, as well as some books. With her husband, Godfrey Mosley, Hilda economised the estate, reducing the number of employees and living in a smaller section of the house. Hilda was the first to install a telephone at Calke and lifted the ban on motor vehicles on the estate.
Hilda’s nephew Charles continued to modernise the estate. He ensured that proper sanitation was brought to Ticknall, and installed electricity at Calke for the first time in 1962.
Later years
Charles’s brother Henry inherited the estate in 1981, at a time of high capital taxation. He faced a tax debt which, at the height of the crisis, attracted interest charges of £1,300 a day. Henry worked to save Calke for the nation, granting permission for historian Howard Colvin to access family records. This resulted in Colvin’s book, Calke Abbey, Derbyshire: A Hidden House Revealed, generating interest in the campaign to save Calke.
Colvin’s work showed that the interiors of Calke had scarcely changed since photographs of the house in 1886. Rich layers of history awaited in the family’s belongings, the estate buildings, and the house and gardens. Despite a divided opinion, Calke Abbey was declared to be ‘of heritage quality’ and eventually came into the hands of the National Trust.
Preserving Calke in a state of decay
When Calke Abbey was handed to the National Trust in 1985, we decided not to restore these rooms, which had been untouched for many years, but rather preserve them as they were found. Calke vividly portrays a period in the twentieth century when many country houses did not survive to tell their story.
Over the years, we've undertaken necessary repairs to halt the decay of the house and its collections. As you explore the house, you'll discover abandoned rooms, peeling wallpaper, and a vast collection of strange and unique objects – presented exactly as we found them.
Uncover more layers of Calke’s history when you visit the ‘un-stately home’. Your visits help us to preserve this unique place for many generations to come.