Elvaston Castle state of disrepair revealed

A tour behind the scenes of the Elvaston Castle estate reveals the sheer scale of repairs and “TLC” that will be required by whoever chooses to buy it.

Derbyshire County Council is now looking to offload the estate after around 50 years in a bid to settle its own financial difficulties.

Council leadership are clear that the authority simply cannot continue to operate the castle and wider estate due to annual costs far exceeding the income from visitors.

This is worsened by an ever-growing number of significant repairs which are required to the estate’s many listed buildings, where there is a legal obligation to maintain their condition.

Council leadership say only “critical” repairs are now being carried out to avoid further deterioration and to maintain health and safety of staff and visitors.

They detail that repairs stretching into the “many millions” of pounds are required by whoever takes on the property.

Over the next six months this opportunity falls to the community groups first, through the asset of community value process, after which bids will open up to the wider market, including private investors and organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage.

On a tour of the castle and some of the estate’s listed buildings it is clear to see how much work is required.

At the listed former gas house, which had powered kitchens in the castle, the roof has collapsed and plants are growing out of the brickwork. “Lack of funds” is the reason given for the absence of repairs.

It is a similar story at the former kennels and at the stables – both of which are listed – where nature is effectively reclaiming the properties.

Only parts of the stables can now be used for some of the estate’s horses due to the failing structural integrity of the buildings.

The last inhabitant of Elvaston Castle, once owned by the Harrington family, was a warden in the 1990s. Now its only living inhabitants are bats – evidence of which can be seen in almost if not every room within the maze-like castle.

In most rooms, the walls and ceiling show signs of damp and dry rot, which had been spreading up through the house from the bottom to the top.

Many rooms have had the ceilings and walls stripped back in a bid to quash this spread.

Rotten planks of wood, now-warped doors and window blinds lay discarded on the floor.

In one room tall wooden props have been deployed to hold the ceiling and its joists in place.

Many parts of the castle appear broadly the same as they had done on a previous tour the Local Democracy Reporting Service was given six years ago in 2019 by the Elvaston Castle and Gardens Trust, which has been overseeing the estate in partnership with the council.

However, a significant increase in disrepair is clear to see.

Many of these repair works had been started but are now “paused” in advance of the ongoing pursued sale of the site. What happens next will be for the new owners to decide, but as council leadership makes clear, this will likely require “deep pockets” and “plenty of TLC”.