History of Quenby Hall Stilton

Cheese and Quenby Hall - the early days

Quenby Hall was built in 1627.  In the 1700s, when park enclosures were introduced to control grazing, milk production went up quite dramatically – and it was then that the housekeeper Elizabeth Scarborough started making and selling a distinctive unpressed cheese at local markets.

In 1759, Shuckburgh Ashby bought Quenby Hall, moved in with his family and brought it back to life as a working, farming estate. At the same time, he restored the dairy into what’s now recognised as one of England’s earliest purpose-built Stilton dairies.

Around the same time, Elizabeth Scarborough’s daughter married and began selling Quenby Hall cheese at her husband’s inn on the Great North Road in Stilton – a popular thoroughfare for travellers. And that’s how our distinctive blue cheese came to be known as Stilton.

Ups and downs

For the next few decades, cheese production thrived at Quenby; but sadly, the later generation of Ashbys decided not to live at the hall, renting it to smart hunting people from London who put a stop to the dairy’s business (if you were looking smart in your tailcoat, you didn’t want a dairy across the courtyard!)

Despite being the home of Stilton, Quenby Hall stopped making cheese in the mid 1800s. It wasn’t until 2005 that current owner Freddie de Lisle decided to revive the industry his forebears began 300 years before  – and after much research and planning, Quenby’s new dairy was built.

Just two years later, it had already made an impression on the Stilton industry (which is limited to just six dairies in England by law) and  our uniquely creamy, complex Stilton won a host of prestigious awards.

Sadly early in 2011 Quenby was forced to stop production and close down owing to cash flow difficulties through over-expansion - victims of their own success.  We hope that in future the dairy will be re-opened.