European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 03, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Neighbors Lizibeth countess of Shrewsbury built Many houses i i Hull remained her favorite. Sherwood Forest where Britain put up her Duke s by Brian. Smith staff writer oni r a playground for Saxon Kings then under the Nurman conquerors a Royal game preserve Sherwood Forest and nearby Peak Forest have nowadays practically disappeared from the map. What remains is a concentration of great houses collectively known As the Duk eries built by various powerful families in the years since the Tudor monarchs ended the wars of the roses that had turned the country into an armed my. Oldest of the big houses is Haddon Hall 3 Romani fortified Manor House that nestles Down in the Woods by the River Wye. Tales of elopement and wild chases across the moors Are still Atla thed to the first builders the Vernon who lived and built Here Between 1155 and 1530. The manners family who inherited the property around 1600, led the Hall unused for More than 100 years which preserved he medieval furnishings. Eat h year Between 30 and 40 Beeves Between 400 and 500 sheep and eight or 10 Swine were cooked in the great Kite hens Uhic h t an still be seen. A few Miles away the palate of the Peak Chatsworth Touse sits proudly on the Banks of the Derwent the first House was an elizabethan mansion built by Bess of Hardwick while she was married to a member of the Cavendish family but this was razed by the first Duke of Devonshire in 16b7. All that remain from earlier times Are a Hunting Tower and Queen Mary s Bower a miniature ornamental fortress repute to have been built for the unhappy Mary Queen of scots during her Long imprisonment in England. The new House was decorated by some of the finest craftsmen of the time. The gardens Laid out by capability Brown in the informal landscape style then becoming popular arc a calculated wilderness. The entire Village of Edensor was removed from the opposite Bank of the River and the villagers All workers on the Cavendish estates were presented with new Model Homes out of sight up the Valley. Buried at St. Peter s Church in the Village is the older sister of John f. Kennedy lady Kathleen Hartington who married into the Cavendish family. The Chatsworth estate is still Large and apart from the Ever present flocks of sheep Small herds of Deer Tan sometimes be seen on the hillsides. Ten Miles or so to the East the other Side of Chesterfield the ruins of Bolsover Castle glower Down across a Coalfield Hun Orama pit Heads and steaming Coke ovens cover the floor of a Valley that was once teeming with boar and red Deer. A pompous fortress like country Palace built by one of the Cavendish clan it was devastated while being taken by Oliver Cromwell s forces during the British civil War in 1644. It remained in ruinous condition for centuries but is presently undergoing comprehensive restoration. A few Miles to the South fortunately spared from the ravages of War Hardwick Hall gleams in an almost untouched Countryside. More Glass than Wall As local saying has it Hardwick is an eli7abethan masterpiece. The elegant building is flooded with Light from its enormous and for that time tremendously expensive leaded windows. The four times married Eli Beth countess of Shrewsbury better known As Bess of Hardwick undeterred by the demolition of her House at Chatsworth kept on building until her death at the Ripe old age of 87. Hardwick Hall started in 1591, was her favorite and the proud is initials still decorate the ornamental parapets. Across the Lane from the Hall Are the picturesque but crumbling ruins of the old Hall totally abandoned by Bess when she moved into the new building. They still Bear a few fragments of elaborate plasterwork on the inside Walls. Thoresby Hall a victorian Neo Tudor creation was built on the site of an earlier House on lands carved from Sherwood Forest in 1683. Furnished and decorated in the most lavish victorian fashion by the Tarl and countess Manvers a statue of Robin flood in the Garden Points toward the major Oak an enormous hollow Oak tree two Miles away close to the Sherwood Forest visitor Center. One of the residents of the previous Hall was lady Mary Montagu an 18th-Century writer and traveler who introduced the idea of immunization from smallpox to England from Turkey about 1720, predating Edward Lenner s discovery of inoculation by 75years. The spirit of the times was changing after centuries of dynastic War the Tudor monarchs had stripes Magazine october 3,198s