Stapleford Park is aGrade I listedcountry house[1] inStapleford, nearMelton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England, which is now used as a hotel. It was originally the seat of the Sherard and Tamblyn families, later theEarls of Harborough and, from 1894, of the Gretton family, who would become theBarons Gretton.
The house has developed to its present form in stages. The north wing was originally built for Thomas Sherard c.1500 and remodelled in 1633 byWilliam and Abigail Sherard. The main H-plan range was built forBennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard c.1670 and remodelled by the4th Earl of Harborough c.1776. The orangery was added c.1820 and additional ranges were added by architectJohn Thomas Micklethwaite for brewer John Gretton in 1894–98.[1]
Stapleford Park had passed down in the Sherard and Tamblyn family since 1402. The3rd Baron Sherard was made Earl of Harborough in 1719, the title expiring on the death of the 6th Earl in 1859. The estate was then bought in 1885 by James Hornsby and sold in 1894 to John Gretton, who carried out much alteration and new building. His son,John Gretton, MP, who succeeded him in 1899, subsequently became Baron Gretton.[1]
American fast-food restaurateur and hotelierBob Payton bought the house from Lord Gretton in 1988 to convert it into a hotel. He restored the buildings, according to his obituary "hiringWedgwood,Turnbull & Asser,Crabtree & Evelyn to decorate its rooms".[2]
The hotel ceased trading on 16 October 2024.[3]
St Mary Magdalene's Church in the park was built in 1783 byGeorge Richardson for the 4th Earl Harborough.[4][5]
The6th Earl objected to a proposal in 1844 to run theSyston and Peterborough Railway through Stapleford Park along the course of theRiver Eye. Its construction would threaten the strugglingOakham Canal, of which he was a shareholder. The dispute led to a series of brawls and confrontations between the Earl's men and canal employees on one side and the railway's surveyors on the other with up to 300 involved in each skirmish. The dispute has been called the "Battle of Saxby".[6]
Eventually the railway ran around Stapleford Park in what is known as "Lord Harborough's Curve". The tight bend was a nuisance for the express trains, and later when theMidland and Great Northern Joint Railway built a connection toBourne, the opportunity was taken to reduce the curve, with Saxby station being moved in the process. Lord Harborough had died in the meantime and the estate had been bought byLord Gretton, who was more sympathetic to the railway.
In 1958, theStapleford Miniature Railway was constructed by the2nd Lord Gretton in the parkland, as part of a public attraction which also included a lion reserve. The park and house became a major tourist attraction through the 1960s and 70s. The park though closed in 1982 and the house was sold to become an exclusive country hotel. The railway and parkland, however, are still owned by the Gretton family, and open for charity a few times a year.
52°45′14″N0°47′45″W / 52.7540°N 0.7958°W /52.7540; -0.7958