Elvaston Castle Country Park, Elvaston, Derbyshire, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. 

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The estate was owned by Walter Blount, created Lord Mountjoy in 1465, during the 15th century and it passed to Sir Michael Stanhope in the 16th century. It remained in the Stanhope family who were created earls of Harrington in 1742. The second Earl made Elvaston his principal seat in the later 18th century. The fourth Earl has been described as 'a renowned eccentric and dandy' (Glenn Anderson Associates 1997) and following his marriage to actress Maria Foote in 1831 and the scandalised reaction of polite society, he withdrew from public life and concentrated on developing the Castle and grounds at Elvaston. The Earl's interest in romantic medievalism and chivalric themes influenced the layout of the gardens which were closed to the public until his death in 1851 but became well known during the 19th century through articles in gardening journals and writers such as E Adveno Brooke.

The Stanhope family continued to live at Elvaston until the eleventh Earl moved to Ireland in 1939. The site was let and subsequently sold to a development company in 1963.

In 1969 it was acquired by Derbyshire County Council and opened as a Country Park in 1970, in which use it remains (1998).