Plaish Hall is a

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

in Plaish, in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Cardington, in the

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 ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated 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 ...

. Plaish Hall was the house of the Jacobean

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Sir William Leighton, who was most probably born there in c.1565.

History

The estate that surrounds Plaish Hall was first mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as '''pleshā''''', -'' which is thought to derive from an Old English term for "shallow pool", '''plæsċ ''.'' Plaish was owned by a wealthy landowner named Roger de Lacy. A

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 ...

was built in the 15th century, on the site where Plaish Hall now stands. William Leighton, the Chief Justice of

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

, rebuilt the 15th-century manor house between 1540 and 1580. It is not understood how Leighton came into the ownership of the manor house at Plaish; it was either purchased or inherited. Leighton did not demolish the entirety of the existing manor house when rebuilding it, and incorporated sections of it into Plaish Hall. The house which Leighton built was considerably larger and more impressive, consider to be amongst the earliest brick houses in Shropshire. During this time in which the house was built, Leighton's son - the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

and

Sir William Leighton - was born in c.1565, most probably at Plaish Hall. Sir William Leighton was knighted in 1603 by

King James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

, and wrote a

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a term o ...

for him entitled Virtues Triumphant'''. However, the year after his father's death in 1607, Sir William Leighton was sued for debts by Sir William Harmon and in 1610 was outlawed and imprisoned for debt. Sir William Leighton died 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 ...

and was buried at

St Bride's, Fleet Street St Bride's Church is a Church of England church in Fleet Street in the City of London. Likely dedicated to Bridget of Kildare, Saint Bridget perhaps as early as the 6th century, the building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christo ...

on 31 July 1622. The house was Grade I listed on 29 January 1952. The garden wall was

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 ...

as "Garden Walls Adjoining Plaish Hall To South East" on 7 April 1986.

Architecture

The present house incorporates part of an earlier 15th-century house, and was later extended and altered. It is in red brick with blue

diapering Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, and silverwork. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces. Etymology For the full etymolo ...

on a

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

, and has

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

dressings,

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

, and a stone-slate roof with

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and stone copings. The house has an H-shaped plan, with a central hall, and gabled cross-ranges, two storeys, attics and a basement. Above the doorway is a balcony with scrolled brackets and a

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

. The windows vary, and include casements, some

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed and transomed windows, and flat-roofed

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

s. The chimneys were said to be inspired by those at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, which was being constructed within the same period.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

remarked that Plaish Hall was "the most important of its date in Shropshire".

Tradition

The

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Charlotte Sophia Burne Charlotte Sophia Burne (1850–1923) was an English author and editor, and the first woman to become president of the Folklore Society. Life Charlotte Sophia Burne was born on 2 May 1850 at Moreton vicarage in Staffordshire, near to the border w ...

recorded a story involving Plaish Hall in her 1883 work, 'Shropshire Folk-Lore'. It is said that William Leighton - who built Plaish Hall between 1540 and 1580 - once sentenced a builder to death as the Chief Justice of

. However, he then employed the man to construct the chimneys at Plaish Hall and would let the builder live, on the condition that they were "as no man ever saw before, or could build the like of after". Apparently displeased with the finished work, Leighton is said to have had the man

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

from one of the chimneys at Plaish Hall. Leighton had a reputation for hanging many men, but the actual vadility of the story is debated. The Dowager Lady Mander later recounted being told the same tale in the 1940s. The claim that Plaish Hall was the first brick-built house in Shropshire is well-known but uncertain. Pevsner did remark, however, that Plaish Hall's brickwork would have certainly appeared impressive when first built; red-brick was "at that moment, the fashionable material".

References

External links

* {{cite web, url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=111386&resourceID=19191, title=Plaish Hall, publisher=Heritage Gateway, accessdate=10 March 2023 Country houses in Shropshire Grade I listed buildings in Shropshire Grade I listed houses Cardington, Shropshire