Ingestre Hall is a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

17th-century Jacobean mansion situated at

Ingestre Ingestre is a village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 194. It is four miles to the north-east of the county town of Stafford. ...

, near

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Formerly the seat of the

Earls Talbot Earl Talbot is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. This branch of the Talbot family descends from the Hon. Sir Gilbert Talbot (died 1518), third son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. His great-great-grea ...

and then the

Earls of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...

, the hall is now owned by

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, or Sandwell Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government servic ...

and is in use as a residential arts and conference centre.

History

Ingestre is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. During the reign of

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

the manor was owned by the de Mutton family. During the reign of

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...

the house passed to the Chetwynd family, through the marriage of heiress Isabel de Mutton and Sir John Chetwynd. Their descendants were raised to the peerage in 1733 as Baron Talbot and later in the century as

Earl Talbot Earl Talbot is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. This branch of the Talbot family descends from the Hon. Sir Gilbert Talbot (died 1518), third son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. His great-great-gre ...

. The imposing mansion was built in red brick, on the site of an earlier manor house, in 1613 for Sir Walter Chetwynd, (

High Sheriff of Staffordshire This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire. The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. The sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities as ...

in 1607). A later

Walter Chetwynd Walter Chetwynd Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (1 May 1633 – 21 March 1693), of Ingestre Hall, Staffordshire was an English antiquary and politician. Life He was the only child of Walter Chetwynd (1598–1669), the eldest son of Walter Ch ...

, his grandson, was created Viscount Chetwynd in 1717. The daughter and heiress of the 2nd Viscount married Hon. John Talbot in 1748 and their son John Chetwynd-Talbot (who was later 3rd Baron Talbot, and from 1784

Viscount Ingestre A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is so ...

and

) inherited the Ingestre estate. The house was renovated in the early 19th century by architect John Nash for the 2nd Earl, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot. In 1856 the 3rd Earl and 3rd Viscount Ingestre, Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, succeeded a distant cousin to become the 18th

Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...

. The hall was badly damaged by fire and largely rebuilt in 1882. The rebuilding was to the designs of the Adelphi, London based architect, John Birch. In 1895,

Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury Major Charles Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, 20th Earl of Waterford, 5th Earl Talbot , KCVO (13 November 1860 – 7 May 1921), styled Viscount Ingestre from 1868 to 1877, was a British peer. Unusually for a wealthy nobl ...

founded the Staffordshire

Polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

Club at Ingestre Hall. Players included

Charles Stanhope, 8th Earl of Harrington Charles Augustus Stanhope, 8th Earl of Harrington (9 January 1844 – 5 February 1917), known as Viscount Petersham from 1866 to 1881, was a British peer and successful polo player. Biography Early life Harrington was the son of Charles Stanho ...

, Algernon Burnaby, Captain Daily Fergusson, Captain the Hon. Robert Greville, Gerald Hardy, Albert Jones, Captain "Wengy" Jones, Edward and George Miller, Norman Nickalls,

Bertram Portal Bertram may refer to: Places *Bertram, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Australia *Bertram, Iowa, United States, a city *Bertram, Texas, United States, a city *Bertram Glacier, Palmer Land, Antarctica Other uses *Bertram (name), a list of peo ...

, Captain Gordon Renton, Jasper Selwyn and John Reid Walker. The Ingestre estate of was broken up in 1960 when sold off by the 21st Earl. West Bromwich Borough Council (later to become part of Sandwell MBC) purchased the Hall in , and has since operated a Residential Arts Centre from the site.

Residential arts centre

The 1961 sale stipulated that the hall "must be used for the purpose of promoting the arts and education". Ingestre Hall hosts schools and youth groups for children between 7 and post 16 and provides "enrichment of education and life experiences for children and young people through the creative arts". Ingestre Hall projects its aims to "extend the legacy of Ingestre Arts to be nationally recognised as a centre of excellence where children and young people’s horizons are broadened and where they are inspired and motivated to achieve their full potential in an aspirational environment where creativity and sense of self is valued and encouraged to blossom". Ingestre Hall is unique in the UK as a local authority arts centre that has welcomed, over the past five years, more than 12,000 children and young people on arts residentials.

References

''Staffordshire Historical Collections, Volume 4'' (1883) pp 1-20 from British History Online

* *

External links

Ingestre Hall, Sandwell Borough Council

St Peters Primary School at Ingestre Hall
{{Coord, 52.8197, -2.0372, display=title Country houses in Staffordshire Grade II* listed houses in Staffordshire Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom Education in Sandwell

History

Residential arts centre

See also

References

External links