Bescot Hall is a former

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

in the area of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

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 ...

that is known as

Bescot Bescot is an area of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is served by Bescot Stadium railway station, adjacent to which is Bescot depot where locomotives are maintained. The Banks's Stadium was built in 1990 for Walsall F.C. The area i ...

. Only partial earthworks remain, including the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

, which is a shallow depression for most of its circuit.

History

Bescot Hall was constructed before 1311 and it was first possessed by the Hillary family; it may have been associated with the nearby Bescot Castle. In 1403, Sir Roger Hillary died and the manor was passed on to the possession of his wife, Margaret. When she died, the property was passed on to Sir John Saer de Rochford, Roger's nephew. It later passed into the possession of the Mountfort family. In 1460, the manor passed into the possession of Sir Baldwin Mountfort following the death of Sir William Mountfort. Edward Mountfort, who died in 1691, appears to be the last male heir in the family and the estate was passed on to his daughter who passed it on to her husband Jonas Slaney in 1717. By 1717, the estate was stated as having an area of . Slaney sold the estate to Richard Wilks and in 1794, the estate was purchased by Richmond Aston. The original building was demolished during the 18th century and it was rebuilt on a new site north-east of the original moat on what is now the west side of Bescot Drive. The second building was used as a private school between 1922–29 and it was eventually demolished in 1937 and only earthworks remain.Salter, Mike, 1993, ''Midlands Castles (Birmingham)'' p. 30

References

{{reflist Manor houses in England Ruined houses Ruins in the West Midlands (county)