Edwinstowe House was an extended Georgian Country Home.       Built 1768 by Sir William Boothby

An aerial view of Edwinstowe House in 1938. Showing how much smaller Edwinstowe was then than it is now. The Thoresby housing estate now covers the fields at the top of the photograph. The doctor’s house stood, in its own grounds, opposite the colliery houses. The River Maun can be seen emerging from beneath the bridge forming the southern boundary of the gardens of Edwinstowe House.

Portrait of Major General Sir William Boothby, 4th Baronet. Sir William, a British Army officer who saw active service during the Seven Years’ War, built this house in 1768, and lived here until he inherited and moved to the family estate near Ashover, Derbyshire. He was unmarried and died in 1787 being buried in Bath Abbey.

 

Portrait by David Morier

In the Census of 1851, William Clayton from Surrey, a Land Agent, lived there with his family and servants.

White’s Directory of 1872 lists that Thomas Bayley, Justice of the Peace and Master of Rufford Hounds, lived there with his family and servants. He moved to London in the late 1880s and died there at his sleeping apartment at St. James’s Place, Pall Mall in 1889.

For a short time until his death in May 1911, Edward Wright, retired surgeon, lived at Edwinstowe House. He practised as surgeon in Ollerton and the neighbourhood for 42 years, and was Hon. Sec. to the Rufford Hunt for over 25 years. He had one daughter Muriel.

Memorial to Miss Muriel’s father surgeon for Edwinstowe & surrounding area. 

Muriel was born  April, 1885 at Southwell (Edwinstowe) and died 7th July, 1966 at Nazareth House, Salisbury, Rhodesia. In 1916, Muriel not only ran the Sunday School, she held a Sunday School Treat at Edwinstowe House for about 150 children with 120 from Edwinstowe and the rest from Carburton and Clipstone. She was a member of the Rufford Hunt and was on the committee for agricultural war work.

Captain & Mrs Hume on their wedding day, Edwinstowe 5th December 1913.

Captain Hugh Bliss Torriano Hume. Captain of the 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. He was  born in 1880 and died on 19th June, 1935 at Alton, Hants. In 1919 he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) and gained the rank of Major in the Sherwood Foresters. He had been posted to India just after his wedding to Muriel and he then moved to the Western Front when in 1914, he was invalided home to Edwinstowe from France suffering from an internal complaint. He fought in the Boar War in 1902. He was mentioned in the 1919 Birthday Honours list appointments by King George V.

In later years the house became the home of Mr. T.E.B. Young (later Sir Eric) and his family, Managing Director of the Bolsover Colliery Company, Eric and Margaret Young and their three children were the last people to occupy Edwinstowe House as a private family residence.

 

 

Lieutenant Thomas Eric Boswell Young served in the Yorkshire Regiment in France during World War I. He was born on 6th February 1891 in West Hartlepool, Durham. In the early 1920s, he was living at Worsbrough Hall at Hoyland near Barnsley with his widowed mother and sister. He was a qualified mining engineer and was the Colliery Manager of Rockingham and Skiers Spring Collieries.

 

 

 Margaret Mary Young who married Eric,  was born in August 1901 to parents Albert Edward Hayward, Rector of Emley, and Ethel Mary Hayward. She was one of five children. She had a daughter, Iris, born in 1922, with her first husband Albert Edward Boxall. That marriage ended in divorce. She met Eric Young at a Fancy Dress Ball in a ‘very grand’ country house in Yorkshire in 1926. When Eric asked her who she was with, she replied she was working as the professional dance partner to the leader of the Band, Victor Sylvester.

The couple were married in 1927 at Worsbrough in West Yorkshire. 

Diana Fassino, daughter of Eric and Margaret, sent to Acorn, this picture of Edwinstowe House as it was in 1940, showing the house standing in the beautiful grounds with ornamental parts of the garden and a swimming pool.

Diana’s book shares life in a mining village for a middle-class family. She writes with great affection about her life in Edwinstowe.

         

Diana and Staff

This photo was taken some time in 1944 or 1945 of Diana and her siblings.

The coal industry was nationalised in 1946/7 and Eric Young was appointed to the National Coal Board as Production Director and responsible for Production. This link for further information. https://edwinstowehistory.org.uk/local-history/industry/national-coal-board/

In  June 1998: The building was bought by the Training and Enterprise Council in 1998 and, after extensive refurbishment, opened as a centre for start-up businesses. The opening ceremony was attended by Violet, the former house maid at Edwinstowe House.

At the rear of the house is a Wetland reserve. The T & E Council became involved with the wetland reserve on land bordering the river Maun. Further information on this link https://edwinstowehistory.org.uk/local-history/river-maun/

Nottinghamshire Enterprises moved into Edwinstowe House.

Training and Enterprise Council – Edwinstowe House In 1990, the North Nottinghamshire Training and Enterprise Council became tenants of the British Coal Offices in Edwinstowe. In April 1996 the ex-British Coal headquarters is under new management.
The new owners are the North Notts Training and Enterprise Council (TEC). Pat Richards, TEC Chief Executive, said the building will become a Centre for Business Excellence attracting new investment and new jobs into the area. The centre will also become part of the Government’s University for Industry infrastructure, linking our small business community to the latest technology and development in learning. Specific objectives for the project include: To provide a supportive environment for up to 20 small firms with growth ambitions. Accommodation on commercial terms for up to 7 existing businesses. Development of high-quality conferencing, seminar and exhibition facilities. The building will undergo a complete revamp designed to suit modern working practices. The new project will cost in the region of £1 million it is anticipated funding will be secured from Europe, agencies with an interest in the economy of North Nottinghamshire and the private sector. The TEC launch the first world wide web pages for 28 North Notts Tourist venues. More than 300 people have “visited” the area via the net. Edwinstowe Library are to benefit from having an Opportunities Database installed by the TEC.
The database contains job vacancies from across the East Midlands. Edwinstowe House, the former British Coal Headquarters, recently purchased by North Nottinghamshire Training and Enterprise Council (TEC), is to benefit from an injection of European money. A European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) bid worth £582,000 had been successful in securing funds for its redevelopment.
The development of the site over the next few years will attract new investment and jobs to the area. In addition to providing serviced workspace for innovative business, this project will provide flexible accommodation and high-quality conference, exhibition and meeting facilities.
The European money will support the redevelopment and renovation of Edwinstowe House to provide accommodation for at least 20 business employing up to 100 people.

On the 17 th April 2007 the porcelain map of Edwinstowe was unveiled by Linda Shepherd, the Chief Executive of the Nottinghamshire Enterprises, based at Edwinstowe House, High Street. The map was the result of many months of work undertaken by several enthusiastic ladies from the village, tutored by Paul Bramley. This latest work of art made by Edwinstowe residents is sited on the pathway leading to Edwinstowe House.

In 2013, the Woodhead Group founded by Robert Woodhead in 1946 bought Edwinstowe House. Woodhead Enterprises Ltd moved from Bilsthorpe to Edwinstowe. The property became the new business headquarters for Robert Woodhead Ltd.

The business was started shortly after W.W.II by Robert Woodhead and was based in the family’s workshops situated just off Church Street. The company moved to Bilsthorpe in 1990. The company specialised in high quality construction and renovation and over the years carried out many prestigious projects for large clients and charitable organisations.Robert Woodhead & Margaret Woodhead

The late Margaret Woodhead was the widow of Robert Woodhead. She was a well-known local historian and a founder member of our historical society. She was the mother of Managing Director David Woodhead. In 2015 David Woodhead the Chief Executive of Woodhead Enterprises LTD gave the Edwinstowe History Society use of a room to establish a Community Archive Centre in Edwinstowe House.

March 2026

 The house is now a business centre, providing office space for businesses and spaces for meetings and conferences. EHS currently hire a room here for our meetings.

Acknowledgements. Wikipedia. The Acorn. When the Cat Had my Tongue (memoir by Diana Fassino)