History of Calke Abbey

Rebuilding Calke

Sir John Harpur, 4th Baronet (1679–1741), was only 15 months old when he inherited the Calke estate. By the time he came of age in 1701, careful management had produced an estate with an annual income of around £500,000 in today’s money. He swiftly set about refashioning Calke, funding the rebuilding of the mansion between 1701–3, and the stables between 1712–6.

The rebuilding of Calke was a local affair. Although the architect behind the design of the mansion has not been firmly identified, William Gilkes of nearby Burton-on-Trent designed the stables. The mansion was built in the fashionable Baroque style. The impressive, if severe, exterior incorporated large sash windows, towering Ionic pilasters and an elaborate cornice. By contrast, the interior was opulently decorated with plasterwork and carving, and made luxurious with giltwood furniture and rich, colourful textiles. Some of these features – including Calke’s principal staircase – survive in the house.

Progress and prosperity

Sir Henry Harpur, 5th Baronet (1708-48) married Lady Caroline, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Rutland, further elevating the family’s social status. Their son, Sir Henry ‘Harry’ Harpur, 6th Baronet (1739-89) changed little in the mansion as far as we know. Typically, however, for a landowner living through the Industrial Revolution, he enclosed Calke’s limeyards, giving him the exclusive and very lucrative rights to manage the extraction of lime and its kilns. He replaced the old formal garden with an informal landscaped park, part of which is still called ‘The Wilderness’. Known as an owner and breeder of racehorses, 'Harry' Harpur also introduced the Riding School in 1768, designed by Derby architect Joseph Pickford.

Love and legacy

Like many aristocratic young men, the 7th Baronet, also Henry (1763–1819), went on the Grand Tour. He absorbed the art and architecture of Europe, the influences of which he would bring to bear at Calke. His marriage in 1792 to Nanny Hawkins (died 1827), a lady’s maid, was a love match. Henry’s wedding gift to Nanny, an impressive royal blue enamelled watch and chain, is preserved in the collection.

Together, from 1793, Henry and Nanny made substantial alterations to the house. Under the direction of William Wilkins Senior, the architect and scholar, they remodelled some of the rooms and redecorated others in the latest fashions, including the Drawing Room, Dining Room and Library. Wilkins also added the portico to the house’s south front and built the lodges and grotto in the park. 

Henry and Nanny's son, Sir George, 8th Baronet (1795–1845), was a loving family man who also treated his tenants benevolently. He reformed the management of the estates, rebuilt the Church and redecorated parts of the house, including the Saloon, in the 1840s. He and his wife, Jane (1799–1881), collected many of the paintings hanging at Calke today.

Natural history collections at Calke

The natural history collection at Calke, one of the largest and most varied collections of its type still in a country house setting, was assembled across a number of generations. Henry 7th Baronet (1763–1819), like many gentlemen of the time, spent his money on intellectual pursuits, particularly the study of natural sciences. It was Henry and his wife Nanny who began to collect natural history specimens.

Sir John Harpur Crewe, 9th Baronet (1824–86) – who lived at Calke tending and enlarging his flocks of cattle and sheep – increased the number and variety of natural history specimens. He collected not only stuffed birds, but also quadrupeds and fishes, as well as paleontological and geological material. He also commissioned cabinets to hold his collection. John’s wife, Georgiana (1824-1910) was a botanist and plant collector. She commissioned the Flower Garden in the mid-19th century. Restored by the National Trust in 1988, it contains a rare auricula theatre, designed to display prized specimens.

Their son, Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe, 10th Baronet (1846–1924) acquired eggs, shells, grasses, insects and many other items, many of which he collected personally on his own hunting expeditions. By the time he died in 1924, his exhibits numbered several thousand and were displayed across every floor of the house.

A legacy preserved

In 1924, the 10th Baronet’s daughter, Hilda (1877–1949) inherited the estate. On her death she left it to her nephew, Charles (1917–81).

After 1924, almost nothing was done to alter Calke, although it was gradually modernised. The telephone was introduced in 1928 and electricity in 1962. On Charles’ death in 1981, the estate was inherited by his brother, Henry (1921-91), the last Harpur Crewe to own Calke. A substantial Capital Transfer Tax liability led the Trustees of the Harpur Crewe Settled Estates to offer Calke Abbey to the Treasury in lieu of tax, with the intention that the property should pass to the National Trust for preservation. This also included Calke’s contents, the Park and an extensive area of adjacent agricultural land. In March 1984, the National Heritage Memorial Fund was given an extra sum of money by the government so that Calke could pass to the Trust. This attracted great national interest, and the public donated almost double the £250,000 asked for by a National Trust appeal.

The National Trust decided to alter very little at Calke, seeing it as a place which uniquely preserved evidence for the lives of its owners, residents and estate workers, although it undertook a series of extensive repairs in 1986-8 before opening the house to the public. As a result, at Calke the past is remarkably well preserved, and very tangible.

Further reading

• Brewster, L. 'The Harpur Crewe Collection of Natural History at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire', in 'Journal of the History of Collections' (Vol. 9, 1997), 131-8.
• Colvin, Howard. 'Calke Abbey, Derbyshire: A Hidden House Revealed' (Sheridan House Inc., 1985).
• Baronets | Ticknall Life, accessed 12 November 2025.