Armitage Park (which has reverted to an earlier name of Hawkesyard Hall) is a 19th-century

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 ...

country house at

Armitage Armitage is a village in Staffordshire, England, on the Trent and Mersey Canal south of Rugeley and north of Lichfield. With the village of Handsacre it forms the civil parish of Armitage with Handsacre, which had a population of 5,335 at th ...

near

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is north of Lichfield, southeast of Stafford, northeast of ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

History

The land at Armitage was purchased by

Nathaniel Lister Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Hebrew name Nathanael. It can be a given or surname. People with the name Nathaniel Given name * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * Nate Archibald (born 1948), Americ ...

, (poet and author, Member of Parliament for

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

and uncle of

Baron Ribblesdale Baron Ribblesdale, of Gisburne Park in the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 26 October 1797 for Thomas Lister, the former Member of Parliament for Clitheroe. His great-grandson (the title having ...

) following his marriage to Martha Fletcher a Lichfield heiress and he built the house in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style about 1760. Mary Spode, Mother of Josiah Spode IV, bought the property Circa 1838 and the house was much altered and extended by her in 1839. Josiah Spode IV was

High Sheriff of Staffordshire This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire. The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. The sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities as ...

in 1850. On Spode's death in 1893 the property was left to his niece Helen Gulson who had a vision of Mary in the gardens of the Hall. This vision led to the building of the Church at Hawkesyard with the Altar being placed on the very spot where Mary was seen. Helen Gulson left the Hall, Church and grounds to the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

and moved into a property in the Halls grounds which became known as Gulson House. Hawkesyard became the first Roman Catholic conference centre in the United Kingdom under the guidance of Fr. Conrad Pepler. In the 1990s the Priory and dorms were converted into a nursing home. The nursing home is trading as Hawksyard Priory Nursing Home Limited and is registered for a maximum of 106 residents under a CQC registration. When the Dominicans left in 1988 the Hall fell into a state of disrepair and was boarded up. In 1999 the Hall and gardens were purchased by Relaine Estates Limited who were determined to return the building and surrounding grounds to their former glory. The Company decided to use the original name of Hawkesyard and set about the restoration of the building, partly by using photographs from Shugborough Hall's collection. The transformation of the Hall and outer buildings were completed in 2007. Hawkesyard Hall and its grounds are now primarily used as a Weddings, Conference and Events venue.

References

Images of England: Spode House
* ''Burke's History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland'' Volume 1 (1835) p 219
A guide and history of Hawkesyard Priory and Spode House, Rugeley, Staffordshire
by

Columba Ryan Columba Ryan (born Patrick Ryan, 13 January 1916 in Hampstead – 4 August 2009) was a British priest of the Dominican Order and a philosophy teacher, university chaplain, and pastor. He was the brother of John Ryan, the British animator and c ...

External links

Hawkesyard Hall Website
{{Authority control Grade II listed buildings in Staffordshire Houses completed in 1760