St. Helen's House
St. Helen's House
nown affectionately as Pickford's
masterpiece and built in 1767, St
Helen's House is probably Derby's
finest surviving Georgian town house.
Built for John Gisbourne of Yoxall
Lodge, Staffordshire, in 1767, this fine
Palladian mansion once stood in 80
acres of parkland and was visited by
society's elite, who would have been
almost certainly entertained in some
splendour. The house would have had
all of the necessary accessories to
have impressed the most influential
people of the day. Grand balls and
dinner parties would have been a
regular occurrence at this grand
house.
he first monastery in Derbyshire
is believed to have existed on the site
prior to the present building being
erected. In 1137 a man called 'Ibvi
gifted a parcel of land to be used as an
oratory (chapel) which was dedicated
to St Helen and served by a
community of Augustinian canons.
t Helen's House has had several
uses in its time including once being
owned by William Strutt, eldest son of
the industrialist Jedediah Strutt, who
made many improvements to the
interior. The building then became
Derby School, during which time
several new parts were added,
including a red-brick chapel.
oday the building is the property
of Derbyshire County Council, and
houses an adult education centre.
There are many who believe that the
building would be better utilised as a
museum to accommodate some of
Derby's treasures including paintings
by Joseph Wright, whose pictures
quite possibly hung there in earlier
days.
eedless to say, the building is said
to be haunted by many ghosts. One is
said to be that of a young lady, who
comes sweeping down the stairs as if
hurrying away from something, or
someone, that is chasing her.
nother
ghost is said to be that of a monk who
has been seen on several occasions in
different parts of the building. One
previous lady worker at St Helen's
House, who was employed there when
it still functioned as a school,
informed me that on several
occasions whilst she was working late
in the evening she had heard an eerie
and chilling voice whisper her name.
On further investigation this lady
found no other person present. When
questioning colleagues about her
experience she was told that this type
of strange occurrence had happened
frequently to several people, and
some members of staff were so used to
this that they had nicknamed the
ghost 'The Whisperer'.
ertain parts of the building are
also said to have cold spots, and one
gentleman, a student at the building
in 1992, witnessed a grey smoky
figure, seemingly almost of human
shape, descend as if from the ceiling
and pass through a wall.
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The information on this page is supplied courtesy of Wayne Anthony (author) and Richard Felix (local historian).
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