Summary

Wootton lodge is a privately owned Grade II listed 17th Century house situated in Wootton, near Ashbourne, in East Staffordshire.

Please note: Wootton Lodge is not open to the public, but you can view the magnificent estate from a nearby walking route. A ‘To The Park’ walk route map, can be collected from Dalton’s Dairy. Maps are FREE for Dalton’s Dairy patrons, so it would be rude not to sample one of their handmade ice-creams while in the area!

The impressive west entrance front has basements and three storeys topped by a balustraded parapet. Five main bays are flanked at north and south by three-sided angled bays, all windows being mullioned and transomed. The rear courtyard has a pair of matching pavilions

Nearby Calwich Abbey estate, now is disrepair, owned the lodge prior to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and in 1543 Henry VIII granted it to John Fleetwood (High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1548 and 1568). Fleetwood converted the priory building into a house: Wootton Lodge was built around 1614, possibly by the architect Robert Smythson.

During the English Civil War the house was held for the Crown and was badly damaged during a Parliamentary siege. It was restored in about 1700 when a flight of balustrade entrance steps was added. Fleeing from Cromwell’s army during the Civil War, one owner of Wootton Lodge took refuge in the coal cellar of Lower House at Prestwood. This had just been built by William Orpe, a member of one of Ellastone’s oldest families, who had a strong connection with the nearby Croxden Abbey.

Wootton Lodge was also the home of Thomas Wilson-Patten in 1800, who owned Oakamoor copper works.

During the 19th and 20th centuries the house was occupied by several tenants, including Granville, Dewes, Unwin and Heywood.

In the 1930s, for four years, Wootton Lodge was the home of the British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley and wife, Diana Mitford. Recently showcased in the highly acclaimed Peaky Blinders series.

In 1950, when many great houses and their estates were being broken up due to heavy taxes and the lack of staff, the house was purchased by the then-famous war poet Major Alan Rook to create two households: one for himself and his playwright partner Dennis Woodford, the other for his mother Dorothy Sophia Rook.

Latterly the estate was purchased and much improved by businessman J. C. Bamford and Wootton Lodge is still owned by the Bamford family today.

Exterior shots of Wootton Lodge were used in the 1947 Technicolor film Blanche Fury.

Bus: TBC

Train: Uttoxeter

Other attractions in the area: Please see bottom of page

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