Blakeshall is a hamlet in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England. It is one of the ancient townships of the manor of

Wolverley Wolverley is a village; with nearby Cookley (1 mi northeast), it forms a civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. It is 2 miles north of Kidderminster and lies on the River Stour and the Staffordshire a ...

, whose extent was similar to that of the modern civil parish of Wolverley &

Cookley Cookley is a village in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England, a few miles to the north of Kidderminster. Also, a few miles south-west of Stourton, Staffordshire and is close to the villages of Kinver and Wolverley. It lies ...

Early history

The Sebright family held land in Blakeshall from the end of the 13th or early 14th century until at least the mid-17th century. In 1809 Blakeshall was the property of a John Smith, from whom it passed to the Hancocks family.

Blakeshall Hall

Blakeshall 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, Hi ...

Listed Building, possibly 18th century, remodelled and extended in the 19th century.

Hancocks Village

Blakeshall Hall and the surrounding Blakeshall Estate were owned by William Hancocks, a local ironmaster, from around 1844. Hancocks laid out a 'Swiss' style village on the Estate near the hamlet of Drakelow. This village was home to around 50 families; Blakeshall Common School being built in 1855 to serve around 72 children from the village, the nearby rock houses and the local area. In the 1890s the school became a mission chapel for a non-denominational society. The mission left in 1898 but the building remained in used for occasional chapel and church purposes until the 1920s when the Hall and Estate were sold to the Grazebrook family. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the village site became part of the

Drakelow Tunnels Drakelow Tunnels are a former underground military complex beneath the Blakeshall Estate north of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, covering , with a total length of around . They were originally built as a Second World War shadow factory, and we ...

shadow factory, later developed during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

as a fall-back government centre. The old school building, the last evidence of the village, was demolished in the early 1980s. the area remains in private ownership and is not accessible to the public.

Jennings Farm

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

lived at Jennings Farm, Blakeshall in the 1970s. An early version of the Led Zeppelin song Bron-Y-Aur Stomp was recorded as "Jennings Farm Blues".

Blakeshall Common

To the north of the old village, the former Blakeshall Common, although not within the ancient bounds of the manor of Kingsford, formed part of Kingsford Forest Park which is now incorporated into

Kinver Edge Kinver Edge is a high heath and woodland escarpment just west of Kinver, about four miles west of Stourbridge, and four miles north of Kidderminster, and is on the border between Worcestershire and Staffordshire, England. It is now owned by th ...

Gallery

Blakeshall Common School Drakelow 1978.jpg, Blakeshall Common school in 1978

References

Villages in Worcestershire {{Worcestershire-geo-stub