Plans for home to become Chatsworth’s ‘second house’
THE Grade II-listed home of the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire could be returned to its original state to become the “second house” of the Chatsworth Estate and the future home for members of the family.
An application to convert numbers one and two The Old Vicarage, in Jap Lane, Edensor, back into a single dwelling has been submitted to the Peak District National Park Authority by the Chatsworth Settlement Trust.
The substantial historic building, believed to date back to the 18th century, was converted into two homes in the 1970s, and Deborah Cavendish, the mother of the current Duke of Devonshire, lived in one half until her death in 2014.
The design and access statement said: “The proposal is to reunite the two properties as one dwelling that can serve as the second house on the Chatsworth Estate.
“This is considered as a positive heritage gain, but it also follows in the tradition of having a dower house on a great estate. No.1 Old Vicarage served as such when the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire lived there from 20062014. Today it is no longer just for a widow, but with estates being handed over to the next generation much earlier, the second house needs to be a house for a family that will continue to be involved with the estate and the locality.” Proposed changes to the property include the alteration of the fuel shed to form a staff room and cloakroom, the installation of a lift to make the house suitable for old age, construction of a shed for storage within the yard and alterations to form a bedroom suite for the owners with separate dressing and bathrooms for each.
There would also be alterations to the stables to provide ancillary accommodation for the house and adaptation of a garage in the north yard to create a plant room, as well as the introduction of a ground source heat pump beneath the garden.
When Edensor was transformed into a “model village” between 1837-40 the vicarage was remodelled in an “Italianate village” style.
It is thought to have been the principal house in the village due to its association with William Barker and his son Alexander, who both held the post of the Chatsworth Land Steward to the Dukes of Devonshire in the first half of the 18th century.