Apley Hall
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Apley Hall is an English
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
house located in the
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Stockton near
Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the United Kingd ...
,
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
. The building was completed in 1811 with adjoining property of of private
park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
land beside the
River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...
. It was once home to the Whitmore & Foster families. The Hall is a Grade II* listed buildingImages of England: architectural description of listed building
claimed as one of the largest in the county of
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
.


History

The Whitmore family had been feudal landowners of Apley since 1572 when the manor was purchased by William Whitmore (d. 1593), a haberdasher of London. The will of William Whitmore, dated 6 August 1593 records:
ANNO 36 ELIZABETH. Monday next after the Feast of S. Ambrose, Bishop April Whitmore (William), haberdasher.—To George, William, and Thomas his sons he leaves the manor or lordship of Stockton, co. Salop, and his lands, tenements, &c., at Stockton, Apley, Hickford, Astley, and Norton, co. Salop, by equal thirds, in several tail, with cross remainders; remainder to Elizabeth, Anne, Margaret, Mary, "Francis," and Jane his daughters. Provision made against cutting off the
entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust, established by deed or settlement, that restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents that property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise ali ...
. To Anne his wife the farm called "Balmes," (fn. 14) situate in the parishes of Hackney, Shorditch, and Tottenham, for life; remainder to all his children equally. Dated 6 August, 35 Elizabeth .D. 1593 Roll 274 (15).
William Whitmore's eldest son was Sir William Whitmore of Apley, knight,
High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The high sheriff, sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of t ...
in 1620, and his second son was Sir George Whitmore (d. 1654),
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
. Sir William resided at Apley and in 1634 purchased the manor of Balmes in Hackney, held under a lease by his father, for his brother Sir George, who there received King Charles I in 1641. Sir William's son and heir was
Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet (28 November 1612 – 1653) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England between 1640 and 1644. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War. Biography Whitmore was the son ...
(d. 1653). On the second baronet's childless death in 1699 Apley passed to his cousin
William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
(died 1725). The existing Georgian style house was remodeled during the
Regency period The Regency era of British history is commonly understood as the years between and 1837, although the official regency for which it is named only spanned the years 1811 to 1820. King George III first suffered debilitating illness in the late ...
in Neo-Gothic style between 1808 and 1811 for
Thomas Whitmore Thomas Whitmore may refer to: *Thomas Whitmore (1599–1677), English lawyer and politician *Thomas Whitmore (1782–1846), English Whig MP for Bridgnorth *Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet (1612–1653), English MP for Bridgnorth *Thomas Charlton ...
,
High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The high sheriff, sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of t ...
in 1806 and Member of Parliament for
Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the United Kingd ...
1806–31. It incorporated a faux chapel, hexagonal turrets and battlements. Design work has been attributed to members of the architectural Wyatt family but more likely John Webb and construction work was undertaken by the Carline family of
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
. Thomas Whitmore's son
Thomas Charlton Whitmore Thomas Charlton Whitmore (5 January 1807 – 13 March 1865) was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1852. Whitmore was the eldest son of Thomas Whitmore of Apley Park and his wife Catherine Thomass ...
strongly opposed the construction of the
Severn Valley Railway The Severn Valley Railway is a standard gauge, standard-gauge heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The single-track line runs from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, calling at four intermediate stations and three request stop ...
which ran through the Apley Park estate on the opposite bank of the river Severn. The railway opened in 1862 after the Severn Valley Railway Company agreed to pay £14,000 compensation and £150 per acre for the land purchased, and also to provide a station at which at least two trains per day in each direction could be stopped on request. Linley station was built to meet that requirement. In 1867, the Foster family purchased the property for a record amount. Famous English eccentric
Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners (18 September 188319 April 1950), also known as Gerald Tyrwhitt, was a British composer, novelist, painter, and aesthete. He was also known as Lord Berners. Biography Early life and education B ...
, 14th Baron Berners was related to the Fosters (as a grandson of William Orme Foster, the purchaser) and was born at Apley in 1883. The Hall and Estate remained in Foster family ownership until 1960 when the last incumbent of the Foster family died and the Hall passed onto his nephew General Goulburn and from him to Lord Hamilton of Dalzell. Due to the vastness of the house and its substantial upkeep it was difficult to find a family willing to occupy Apley Hall and so alternative uses were sought. In 1962 the house became a state secondary modern boarding school run by Shropshire County Council and remained so until its closure in 1987. Apley Hall remained empty and suffered a great deal of deterioration and vandalism during the following 10 years and was listed on English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk. in 1997 the house was bought by Neil Avery an entrepreneur and conservation specialist as a family home, the house was restored and subsequently removed from the Buildings at Risk register. During 2003 the house was sold to specialist developers who have since divided the Hall into several self-contained apartments. There had long been speculation that
Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Aca ...
author
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
had based his fictitious ''
Blandings Castle Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth and the setting for numerous tales and adventures. The stories were written between 1915 and 1975. The ...
'' on Apley, a point raised by Michael Cobb in 1977, based on studying railway journeys and times. In 2003, Dr Daryl Lloyd and Dr Ian Greatbatch (two researchers in the Department of Geography and Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis,
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
) made use of a
Geographic Information System A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...
to analyse a set of geographical criteria, such as a
viewshed A viewshed is the geographical area that is visible from a location. It includes all surrounding points that are in line-of-sight with that location and excludes points that are beyond the horizon or obstructed by terrain and other features (e.g. ...
analysis of
The Wrekin The Wrekin ( ) is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire Council, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of ...
and drive time from Shrewsbury. Their final conclusion was that Apley was the best suited location for fulfilling the geographical criteria. In 2004 the hall was put up for sale and made into divided apartments, the most expensive of which was sold for £1.5 million, whilst the rest of the 8,500 acre estate is still owned by the
Baron Hamilton of Dalzell Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, in the County of Lanark, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in for the Liberal politician John Hamilton. He had previously represented Falkirk and Lanarkshire South in the House of Comm ...
family.


See also

*
Grade II* listed buildings in Shropshire Council (A–G) Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...
* Listed buildings in Stockton, Shropshire


References

*''Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric'', London, 1998 *''A Wodehouse Handbook'' vol.1, N.T.P. Murphy


External links


Official website

Avery Group: Classical Ruin Rescue

Millichope and Apley Park Boarding Schools
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Apley Hall Houses completed in 1811 Grade II* listed buildings in Shropshire Country houses in Shropshire