The Drakelowe Name

The Drakelowe company was named in memory of  Penelope Gresley (1928-2003). Drakelowe is a hamlet in South Derbyshire, England. Drakelowe, whose name means 'Dragon's Mound', is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but was deserted later during the Middle Ages. A chronicler at the nearby Burton Abbey, writing in the early twelfth century, claimed that this desertion took place because of supernatural events that had driven the residents away. Drakelowe Hall was the principal residence, and was home to the Gresley Baronets.

The Baronetcy of Gresley of Drakelowe was created on 29 June 1611 for George Gresley of Drakelowe Hall, Derbyshire who was later High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme. The Gresley Baronetcy was the sixth oldest baronetcy in Britain until it became extinct on the death of the 13th and last Baronet in 1976.

The Gresleys were an ancient Norman family, descended from Nigel de Stafford, the son of Robert de Stafford, scion of one of the most powerful families in England. The Domesday Book recorded Nigel de Stafford holding the Manor of Drakelowe near the conclusion of the 11th century, and his descendants, the Gresleys, continued to hold it for nine hundred years – as long as any family in England is said to have owned the same manor. The family established the Priory of Gresley near their castle in Gresley before the year 1200.

The last of the Gresley family vacated Drakelowe Hall in 1931 after 28 generations had lived there. The Hall was demolished three years later, in 1934, when the site was redeveloped as Drakelowe Power Station, which itself was later demolished in 2006. It remains unused today.