Size matters
HISTORICALLY the heart of a 3,744-acre Derbyshire country estate, Hopton Hall near Matlock was for 600 years the ancestral home of the Gell family, whose wealth derived from substantial lead-mining interests near the picturesque town of Wirksworth. Today, the restored, 17,400sq ft Hall, listed Grade II, with its original stable block and thriving holiday-cottage complex set in 50 acres of gardens, parkland and woodland, is for sale through Savills (0115–934 8020) at a guide price of £7 million.
In 1371, Robert Gyle de Hopton was leasing land in the village of Hopton; a century later, his great-grandson Ralph Gell ‘held the whole of the township of
