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Lenton Hurst
Lenton Hurst was constructed between 1898 and 1899 by Thomas Fish and Son to designs drawn up by the local architect Arthur Marshall. The building was commission by William Goodacre Player. Once completed W.G. Player moved in with his family moved in. William Goodacre Player and his brother, John Dane Player were the managing directors of Player's tobacco business following the death of their father, John Player, in 1884.
After retiring from the business in 1926 and selling Lenton Hurst in 1930 William Goodacre Player moved to Whatton Manor. The new owner of the house was Sir Thomas Shipstone, occupant of Lenton Firs. Sir Thomas continued to live at Lenton Firs and let out Lenton Hurst. His first tenant was Frederick M. Ratcliffe, the manager of Shipstone's brewery. Shipstone died in 1940, but Frederick M. Ratcliffe may have stayed on for much of the Second World War as it was only in 1945 that the building was rented out to University College. The building was then used for members of H.M. Forces attending residential courses organised by the Department of Adult Education. Various other courses were put on the College which required the residential accommodation provided by Lenton Hurst. In 1950 the University bought both the Lenton Firs estate and the Lenton Hurst estate. The house became a detached part of Wortley Hall until Lenton Hall was built alongside it whereupon Lenton Hurst became part of the Lenton Hall complex.
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Aerial View of Lenton Hurst - 2022 |
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W.G. Player commissioned Marshall and Turner, Nottingham based architect to create some original designs of what his new house could look like. These were undertaken in 1896 and were subsequently published appeared in the 4 December 1896 edition of The Building News. The final designs for the house were slightly different from what originally appeared in the Building News. |
An undated picture postcard focusing on the building known as Lenton Hurst. Behind it can be glimpsed part of the Lenton Hall complex of buildings suggesting the photograph must have been taken sometime after 1965. |
Probably dating from the same era as the previous photograph we can see that the side elevation of the proposed building in 1896 underwent relating little in the way of changes. |
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A view of the western aspect of Lenton Hurst taken in 2007. The photograph was taken by Kevin Lockhart. This and some of Kevin's other photographs can be found on his Flickr site where Kevin is known as tiny soprano. |
Lenton Hurst from above. Robin Macey took this photograph while travelling across the university campus in a hot air balloon. |
The sunken garden to the south of the building was apparently created by Gertrude Jeykll, the renowned garden designer, in 1911. This image was taken by Matt Buck in May 2008. |
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A close-up of formal garden which still follows the design as laid out in 1911. This photograph was also taken by Kevin Lockhart in 2007. |
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