Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire

Stanford Hall is a Grade II* listed 18th-century English country house in Stanford on Soar, Nottinghamshire, just north of Loughborough. It is home to the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC). History The manor of Stanford, complete with its stone manor house, was sold in 1661 by the Raynes family to a London alderman, Thomas Lewes (died c. 1702). He was succeeded by his grandson Francis Lewis (c. 1692–1744), who was an MP and High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1713–14. The estate then passed to the fourth and last generation of Leweses, Charles Lewes, who died with no heir. After him it passed by marriage to the Dashwood family, of whom the first to occupy the property was Charles Vere Dashwood. He commissioned William Anderson of Loughborough to rebuild the house in brick between 1771 and 1774. The house is constructed in red brick with ashlar dressings, with a hipped slate roof topped with a painted balustrade, built in two storeys with a seven-bay frontage. It then descended in the Dashwood family to Charles Lewes Dashwood, who sold it in 1887 to Richard Ratcliff, a brewer from Burton-on-Trent. Ratcliff employed the local architect W. H. Fletcher to make substantial changes to the house, which included building new two-storey wings flanking the main block and a new service wing. The house passed on his death in 1898 to his son, also Richard, By 1928 the owner was Richard Snr.'s granddaughter Kathleen, who had married Lawrence Kimball. Sir Julien Cahn In 1928 Sir Julien Cahn purchased the hall from the Kimballs for £70,000 (equivalent to £3,802,102 as of 2025). Here Cahn commissioned the architect Percy Richard Morley Horder to build a cricket pitch, nine-hole golf course, bowling green, large trout lake, sea lion pool, penguin pool, lido, tennis court and thatched pavilion, an outdoor heated swimming pool with coral walls holding fountains and artificial caves added to the wooded parkland and formal gardens. The largest addition was a theatre designed by Cecil Aubrey Masey built in 1937 for £73,000 (equivalent to £4,299,451 as of 2025) which seated 352 people. The walls were decorated with murals by Beatrice MacDermott. It comprised a raked auditorium, orchestra pit and Wurlitzer organ which can be raised and lowered during performances. The organ was made for Théâtre de la Madeleine in Paris. It was purchased by Cahn for £20,000 and enlarged when it was installed. The house was extensively remodelled over the next decade under the direction of Sir Charles Allom, principal of arguably the finest of the large interior decorating concerns, White Allom Ltd. Together with Queen Mary, Allom advised on the redecoration of Buckingham Palace and had many multi-millionaire clients, such as Henry Clay Frick, whose Fifth Avenue town house now houses the Frick Collection and whose decoration by White Allom is highly regarded. The same is true of Stanford Hall. Stanford Hall retains most of the interior structures and installations of Cahn's day, though most of the art moderne marble bathrooms were removed in the 1960s. The furnishings selected with Allom were of the highest quality. The inclusion of many fine antiques, and the theming of the rooms by date and country gave the impression of a house that had evolved over time. By 1940 it was one of the finest and most luxurious of small country houses in the United Kingdom. Cahn died in the White Allom panelled library in 1944. In 1939 he had lent part of the house to be used for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. Bomber crash In 1941 a Blenheim bomber crashed onto the cricket pitch in foggy conditions; no one died in the incident. Co-operative College 1945–2001 The hall was purchased for £54,000 in 1945 (equivalent to £2,015,072 as of 2025), by the Co-operative Union to house its Co-operative College. In 1952 Stanford Hall was designated a Grade II* listed building. Raynsway Properties 2001–2007 The Co-operative College relocated to Holyoake House in Manchester in 2001 and sold Stanford Hall to Raynsway Properties, which planned to convert it into luxury apartments and also build a 147-bedroom hotel in the grounds. Chek Whyte 2007–2011 In March 2007, the hall was sold by Leicester-based Raynsway Properties for £6.25 million to Chek Whyte Industries, which planned to convert it and built a £60 million retirement village within the grounds. In March 2009, the grounds hosted the English schools' cross-country championships. In September 2009, after the fall in property prices because of the 2008 financial crisis, Chek Whyte submitted proposals for an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), which were later withdrawn. Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) In October 2011, the hall and its grounds were purchased on behalf of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, as a potential site for a 'Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre' (DNRC). The Duke, who had served in the Territorial Army since the age of 21 and was committed to supporting military welfare, led a major fundraising campaign for the proposed new establishment. On 13 June 2013, Rushcliffe Borough Council "resolved to grant planning permission... for the redevelopment of the Stanford Hall estate as the potential site for the DNRC". On 10 July 2014, HM Government announced that it had granted approval for the establishment of the DNRC at Stanford Hall. Work started on the £300 million three-year project on 24 August 2015. Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster handed over the DNRC facility to the nation at a gifting ceremony held on the estate on 21 June 2018. The centre was received by the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, in the presence of the Duke of Cambridge. See also Grade II* listed buildings in Nottinghamshire Listed buildings in Stanford on Soar References External links DNRC Stanford Hall – DNRC estate redevelopment History of Stanford Hall Theatre The DiCamillo Companion – Stanford Hall Stanford Hall Outdoor Pool The Co-operative College – Origins and Development