Mawley Hall is a privately owned 18th-century country mansion near

Cleobury Mortimer Cleobury Mortimer (, ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-east Shropshire, England, which had a population of 3,036 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. It was granted a market charter by King Henry ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is a

Grade I listed building 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 ...

.Heritage Gateway: architectural description of listed building
/ref> The Blount family of Sodington Hall,

Mamble Mamble is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills (district), Malvern Hills District in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is located on the A456 road, A456 between Bewdley and Tenbury Wells. Notable buildings include the 13th ...

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 ...

, wealthy coalowners and ironfounders, acquired estates in neighbouring Shropshire. They were prominent

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and Walter Blount was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1624 (see

Blount baronets There have been two baronetcies created for persons with the surname Blount (pronounced "Blunt"), both in the Baronetage of England Baronets are hereditary titles awarded by the Crown. The current baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced th ...

). As Royalist supporters and therefore on the losing side during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

they suffered financial difficulties in the 17th century but their fortunes recovered following the

English Restoration The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...

of 1660. In 1730 Sir Edward Blount commissioned

Francis Smith of Warwick Francis Smith of Warwick (1672–1738) was an England, English master-builder and architect, much involved in the construction of country houses in the Midland counties of England. Smith of Warwick may refer also to his brothers, or his son. Ar ...

to design a new mansion house for the estate at Mawley. It is built on a rectangular plan of nine by seven bays with a nine bay three storey entrance front to the north east. The advanced three central bays carry Doric

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

and

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. The garden front to the south west is similar in design and decoration with a central entrance approached by a double flight of steps with wrought iron balustrades. The house is particularly noted for its

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

interiors, plasterwork by Francesco Vassalli and the

Adam style The Adam style (also called Adamesque or the Style of the Brothers Adam) is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and ...

dining room.

Lady Elizabeth Blount Elizabeth Anne Mould, Lady Blount (born Elizabeth Anne Mould Williams lastly Elizabeth Anne Mould Morgan; 7 May 1850 – 2 January 1935) was an English pamphlet writer and social activist. She led a society who believed in a flat earth, and cond ...

had married the 9th baronet and she brought up their family here. Afterwards she attracted much attention as an exponent of the

flat Earth Flat Earth is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of the Figure of the Earth, Earth's shape as a Plane (geometry), plane or Disk (mathematics), disk. Many ancient cultures, notably in the cosmology in the ancient Near East, anci ...

theory, conducting convincing, but flawed experiments to prove the claim. The Blounts were in residence until the mid-20th century. In 1962 the house was sold to Anthony Galliers Pratt, who carried out a total restoration and whose son, Rupert, remains in residence. The house is open to the public at restricted times.

References

External links

Mawley Hall websiteMawley Hall entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
{{coord, 52.3744, -2.4589, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade I listed buildings in Shropshire Country houses in Shropshire Cleobury Mortimer

See also

References

External links