National Trust sale of historic school building on hold

Stainsby School, on the Hardwick estate, was due to go under the hammer at an auction on October 14, but this has been put on hold by trust bosses.

A spokesman said: “We have decided to delay our online auction of Stainsby School for a brief period while we attend to a title matter.

“The auction will continue as soon as this is completed.”

The Victorian building had been been earmarked as the ‘last possible site’ for a community hub serving the rural area of Derbyshire and the move has come under fire from parish councillors and trustees of the Stainsby Festival.

Coun Tony Trafford, Stainsby arts festival chairman and a member of Ault Hucknall Parish Council, said: “The council was promised a long time ago by the National Trust that it would work in partnership to establish a community hub for the hamlets.

“The trust has done nothing for nine years, during which the building has deteriorated.

“Despite overtures from the council, nothing has happened and now we have discovered they are going to sell to the highest bidder.”

The National Trust has defended its decision to sell the building, which it says ‘will enable us to continue to protect and preserve’ Hardwick Hall for ‘generations to come’.

Stainsby School is located on the Hardwick estate, which covers a mostly rural area of farmland and hamlets surrounding the 16th Century Elizabethan home of Bess of Hardwick.

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