Moor Hall
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The Moor Hall is a 1905 house, built for Colonel Edward Ansell of
Ansells Brewery Ansells Brewery was a regional brewery founded in Aston, Birmingham, England in 1858. It merged with Tetley Walker and Ind Coope in 1961 to form Allied Breweries. The brewery remained in operation until 1981, after which production transferred ...
, in
Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...
,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
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 has been used as a
hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
since 1930 and subsequently extended. It is on the site of a former 15th century building. It gives its name to a suburb of the town, situated between the district of
Roughley Roughley is an electoral ward within the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, and is the most northerly part of the administrative area covered by the Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council and the City of Birmingham. Over half of Roughley Ward is at ...
and Sutton town centre.


The old house

First records of a hall on the site date back to the 15th century when it was owned by a Roger Harwell. In 1527, Bishop
John Vesey John Vesey or Veysey ( – 23 October 1554) was Bishop of Exeter from 1519 until his death in 1554, having been briefly deposed 1551–3 by King Edward VI for his opposition to the Reformation. Origins He was born (as "John Harman"), probab ...
bought of land for £1500 in Sutton Coldfield called Moor Crofts and Heath Yards close to the farm in which he had been born and raised. Built in brick, it was a substantial
mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
for his own occupation. When he was not in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
on Court duties or in
Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
on church duties, he lived at Moor Hall. It is said he employed 140 scarlet liveried
servants A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly d ...
. He frequently entertained Henry VIII, which is why, it is thought, Sutton Coldfield was awarded its royal charter. In 1551, he retired on a pension of £485 a year at the age of about 88 but lived only a further four years. When Vesey died in 1555, Moor Hall fell into the possession his nephew, John Harman. The 1671 Valuation of Sutton Coldfield shows the property in the possession of John Addyes with a value of £61 a year. The Addyes family remained in occupation until 1762. At this time the property was said to comprise twenty rooms on three floors but was described in 1762 by an 'Impartial Hand' as: After the mid-19th century, the house saw a series of tenants. A former cock pit or
bear pit A bear pit is an enclosure historically used to display bears, typically for entertainment and especially bear-baiting. The pit area was normally surrounded by a high fence, above which the spectators would look down on the bears. The most trad ...
, in the grounds, are
Grade II listed 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 ...
.


1905 Building

In 1903, Colonel Edward Ansell of
Ansells Brewery Ansells Brewery was a regional brewery founded in Aston, Birmingham, England in 1858. It merged with Tetley Walker and Ind Coope in 1961 to form Allied Breweries. The brewery remained in operation until 1981, after which production transferred ...
bought the house. He demolished it and, in 1905, constructed an entirely new modern mansion for his own occupation on the site. All of the wood carvings and stone work were created on site, and architects from all over the country came to admire the workmanship. The fireplace in the lounge bar has MCMV (1905) carved in the mantel and over the main entrance. A stained glass window says 1906. The Ansells lived in the new house until 1930 when the whole estate was auctioned off.


Use as a hotel

The house and grounds were sold for £35,000 to a local builder Robert Streather who converted the 1905 mansion into a hotel, created a
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...
on the park and in exchange was granted permission to develop the remaining land with upmarket residential properties. It was said to be the sort of place where: The 1905 house is still discernible as part of the much altered and extended hotel. It was 1961 when Michael Webb (1930-2024) bought the property and gradually developed the 17 bedroom guesthouse into the present 4 star hotel with 83 bedrooms, 8 conference rooms, 2 restaurants and leisure centre and spa. It is now owned by the Webb family. They currently own Moor Hall hotel, The George Hotel in Lichfield, The Gables near Bristol and Broads Travel in Sutton Coldfield and Lichfield. The Hotel is now part of the Webb Hotels and Travel group, while the golf course is privately owned. A
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
on the rear of the building, erected by the Sutton Coldfield Civic Society, commemorates John Vesey.


References

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