Nat Gould

Biggin Hall

Biggin Hall near Hartington in Derbyshire dates from the seventeenth century (1).

By the early nineteenth century it was the home of Ann Goodwin 1754-1840 and her sister Margaret Goodwin 1760-1842.

Upon the death of Margaret Goodwin, the last of the Goodwins to live there, it was inherited under the provisions of her Will by Richard Gould 1780-1843, a son of the Gould family of Pilsbury Grange, then living at Crowdecote with his wife nee Alice Horobin 1796-1887 and their children.

They moved to Biggin Hall in 1842 and restored the house (2).

However on 12 April in the following year Richard Gould died aged 62 years, and was buried at Hartington on 19 April 1843. During her long widowhood Alice Gould continued to live at Biggin Hall, farming there with her three bachelor sons John Gould 1818-1904, Richard Gould 1828-1915 and Edmund Gould. The farm grew in size from 65 acres in 1851 to 84 acres ten years later and to 250 acres by 1881.

When the 1851 Census was taken, Anne Shaw was living with the Goulds at Biggin Hall in a separate household. However she was there only briefly: in 1841 she was living at Ivy Cottage and by 1861 at Biggin Cottage. Ann Shaw was a major benefactor in Biggin, being largely responsible for the building of the village church, vicarage and school (3).

(1) Peter Featherstone, Biggin and Hartington Nether Quarter (1998) page 33
(2) ibid page 185.
(3) ibid pages 150-155.