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When we acquired Smalley Lodge in November 2004 it had been
empty since 1999 and had suffered from vandalism and fire damage; many of the original stone features, windows and internal features had been severely fire damaged or removed.
Grade ll-listed Smalley Lodge, Bell Lane, Smalley, was built for the Miller Mundy family in 1861 by W.E Nesfield (1835-1888) as a gatehouse to the Shipley Hall estate. But since 1999 the building, which is situated at the entrance to the country park, had remained empty and disused. Derby County Council, which acquired the park and the gatehouse in the 1970s, said that coal board tenants lived in the three-bedroomed property from 1951 to 1999. But a spokesman said it was now in a poor state of repair and requires complete renovation. The county council said it could not find any use for the lodge, so it went to auction with a guide price of £125,000.
A schedule of work for the restoration of the gatehouse was imposed as a condition of the sale. Smalley Lodge lies in a third of an acre of garden and woodland, which is bisected by a bridleway through to Shipley Park. A county council spokesman said, "The building is in a poor state of repair and surplus to the county council's requirements. In August 2003, we opened a tender process to sell the property. Unfortunately, the successful bidder was unable to complete and it's now being put up for auction."
We entered into an agreement and schedule of works to ensure that the lodge was restored to its former glory the restoration was approached from the angle of conserving as much as possible of the surviving historic fabric, so repair rather than renewal was our first approach.
Where replacement was judged necessary, such as windows and stone finials, exact replicas were duplicated from the surviving examples we were able to save and from studying the many photographs and descriptions received from the former occupiers and local historians.
The kitchen and two storey rear elevation were deemed unsafe by structural engineers due to settlement, subsidence and fire damage and consequently required demolition; therefore we began the mammoth task of taking the entire rear elevation down brick by brick and cleaning over 4000 facing bricks that were needed for the rebuilding from new foundations as per the existing layout. All existing stone window sills and heads were saved and reused.
Internally the Red and Black quarry floor tiles were also taken up, cleaned and re-laid as per the existing chequer board pattern , all timber skirting boards, architrave's and doors were replicated in fine detail to preserve the Victorian architectural period.
We moved into Smalley lodge in June 2005; the lodge has now become a popular attraction and place of interest for the many walkers and locals who pass through the Bell Lane bridleway.
The restoration of Smalley Lodge has been both challenging and rewarding for our family, and we hope has brought back to life an historic piece of local Derbyshire history for both the community and the many visitors to Shipley Country Park.
Work has now begun on the restoration of the Listed Well Head which we plan to open in the summer for use as a wishing well for passerby's to make there wish!
The property was bought at auction in November 2004 by Ian & Lara from Derby, who are now in the process of restoring Smalley Lodge to its former glory and turning it into a family home.
The property has recently featured on Channel 4's House Auction programme who have followed the progress of the renovations over the last 11 months.
