Nevill Holt Hall And Church, around 1906 (original image)...
Nevill Holt Hall And Church, around 1906 (original image) (Ref:M.H99.1987.110.0)
This image is a copy photograph of a postcard of Nevill Holt Hall and church as it appeared in 1906 when it was owned by the Cunard family of shipping line fame.
Nevill Holt is first recorded as simply 'Holt', meaning a wood. A Robert de Nevill was lord here in the 1120s. Holt Hall dates from the 14th century and incorporates many styles of architecture from mediaeval times onwards. The stone porch and oriel window were built for Thomas Palmer in 1474. His daughter Katherine married William Nevill, of Rolleston, Nottingham in 1457 and the lands at Holt were settled upon her. On his death in 1474, William Nevill, as the first in a line of Nevills spanning almost four hundred years, took up residence at Holt Hall. Most of the Gothic features were added in the nineteenth century.
The Nevills themselves disappeared from the local scene in the 1860s and in 1920 the Hall was purchased for use as a school and by then, was known as Neville Holt. It continued as a school for boys aged 7 to 13 years until 1978 when girls were also admitted. It closed as a school in the late 1990s and after extensive restoration has returned to domestic use.
