Newark Observer: Staunton Hall is a modest but imposing building

In an occasional series of off-beat articles about life in and around Newark, our columnist reflects on the modest magnificence of Staunton Hall.

Downton Abbey remained a fascinating series, despite looking more and more like Coronation Street displaced in time, place and social status.

One of its alluring attractions was the way that the fortunes of its main characters changed over time, oscillating from grovelling to grandeur, with no-one confident of their future place in society.

It also seemed to indicate a time long gone, so that we viewers all appeared to be inquisitive observers of the past.

But this is far from true.

Downton Abbey, in a less extravagant form, is alive, well and very much kicking, in Staunton Hall, only seven miles from Newark.

Staunton Hall is a modest but imposing building, not afraid to show its assets but neither extravagantly displaying them.

Staunton Church, a public building, is in the grounds of the hall, an invasion of privacy that would have appalled the magnificent Maggie Smith — Lady Grantham in Downton Abbey — but which has been part of Staunton life for centuries.

The secret of Staunton Hall is its modest magnificence; it has never overreached itself. It has neither courted fame and status, nor avoided it.

As a consequence it has remained a constant and consistent companion to the village of Staunton since it was built in 1573.

But its history extends over a much longer period, as there were Stauntons in the Vale of Belvoir before the invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066.

So, for more than ten centuries the Stauntons have maintained a stable country hall in unison with its village, hardly the stuff of Downton Abbey, and certainly not attractive as a television series.

How has the Staunton family managed to keep things going so well and to stay in the background?

Edmund Staunton, the former owner who still lives close by but has recently passed ownership to his son, explained it to me: “The history of stately homes is one of clogs clattering upstairs and the silver sliding on down. The Stauntons are different; they have just stayed on the landing.”

And long may they stay there, while we others keep running up and down.