Alderley House
Encyclopedia
The present day Alderley House is a mid-19th century Grade II listed country house designed by Lewis Vulliamy
and built for Robert Blagden Hale in the small Cotswold
village of Alderley
, near Wotton-under-Edge
in Gloucestershire
. It was built on the site of The Lower House, Sir Matthew Hale's
original 17th century manor house, and is situated immediately to the southwest of St Kenelm's Church. In 2009 it reverted to a private residence after 70 years serving as the private prepapratory school Rose Hill School, Alderley
.
after he acquired the manor of Alderley in 1656. In the latter part of the 18th century, The Upper House (the original manor house) was rebuilt by another Matthew Hale on the lower slopes of nearby Winner Hill and this property subsequently became the family's principal seat. In 1859, the position was reversed yet again when Robert Blagden Hale had The Upper House completely demolished and The Lower House substantially demolished, having the latter rebuilt in a more fashionable style to the designs of Lewis Vulliamy
. Materials from both of the earlier houses were used in the contstruction of the new property, Alderley House as it remains today: a double-pile U-plan block with a north-facing single storey porch to the entrance court forming an E-plan.
Both The Lower House and its successor, Alderley House, were principally used by the Hale family as a private residence until the early 20th century. However, c.1925 it started to be used as a crammer
and in 1939 it became the home of Rose Hill School when it relocated from Banstead
, Surrey
following the outbreak of World War II
. It was also in this year that the late-10th century will of Æthelgifu was discovered in one of the outbuildings, but it is unclear whether or not these two events are connected. The property proceeded to serve as the private preparatory school Rose Hill School, Alderley
for the next 70 years until the summer of 2009 when the school merged with Querns Westonbirt School, with the resulting Rose Hill Westonbirt School co-locating with Westonbirt School
in nearby Tetbury
. Relocation of the school rendered the site at Alderley redundant, and it was sold: Alderley House once again returned to functioning as a private residence.
area of Gloucestershire
from the beginning of the 17th century up until the early 20th century, and their lineage can be traced back to William the Conqueror. The story of the Hale family houses in that small village of Alderley is unusually complex.
Alderley is situated 2 miles to the south of Wotton-under-Edge, sandwiched between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott, underneath Winner Hill, and in the 16th and 17th century it was home to a number of woollen mills. The first of the Hale family's houses in the village was West End House, built in 1608 by Robert Hale (c.1572-1614), a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He was the second son of another Robert Hale who had made his money as a successful cloth merchant in Wotton-under-Edge. The younger Robert Hale had acquired land in the village in 1599 through his marriage to Joan Poyntz (1577–1612), the daughter of Matthew Poyntz, a gentleman living in the village at that time. This house was substantially rebuilt in the 18th centuy, but continued to be called West End House until the mid-19th century; today it is known as The Grange or Alderley Grange and is a Grade II listed building. It was Robert and Joan's only child, the famous 17th century jurist Sir Matthew Hale
(1609–1676), who in 1656 - some 50 years after being born in West End House - acquired the manor of Alderley in exchange for Meysey Hampton
with Andrew Barker of Fairford Park, and between then and 1662 had The Lower House built, a new house so called in order to distinguish it from the original manor house (The Upper House) on the other side of the road.
With both of Sir Matthew Hale's parents dying before he had reached the age of 5 he was brought up by Anthony Kingscot, a close relative and devout puritan. He remained firmly religious throughout his life and it is possible that this influenced his choice of location for the house: immediately to the southwest of St Kenelm's Church, whose origins date back to c.1450. In 1663, the year after the construction of The Lower House was completed, Sir Matthew Hale was granted the right of way from his new manor house into the churchyard. The Lower House was then to remain the Hale family home for the next 100 years.
The Lower House was a substantial property: a nine-bay house with gables at either end and five small dormer windows in between. It was completed in the same year that Parliament introduced the Hearth Tax, and the surviving Hearth Tax Assessment records a house of 18 hearths.
When ill-health forced him to relinquish his position as Lord Chief Justice
in 1676, Sir Matthew Hale retired to his seat at Alderley where he died on Christmas Day the same year; he was buried in St Kenelm's churchyard. His first wife Anne Moore, daughter of Sir Henry Moore and granddaughter of Sir Francis Moore
, had borne him 10 children. He outlived all but the eldest daughter and the youngest son and, as a result, had taken into his care some of his grandchildren (after the death of their parents). It was to these grandchildren that he left his estate, while he bequeathed West End House to his daughter, Mary; the latter property subsequently passed out of the family when it was sold by one of her descendants in the middle of the 18th century, around which time it was substantially rebuilt.In Nick Kingsley's series The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, he makes 3 references to West End House (now Alderley Grange) being bequeathed by Robert Hale to his daughter and it then passing out of the Hale family in the subsequent generation: Volume I (2nd ed., 2001), p.38; Volume II (1st ed., 1992) pp.50, 256. However, (a) Robert Hale did not have a daughter (Sir Matthew Hale - his son - was an only child), and (b) in Sir Matthew Hale's Will he leaves instructions that his father's house should be left to his daughter (ie Robert Hale's granddaughter). It would therefore appear that Mr Kingsley is incorrect in this regard.
For a period of more than one hundred years following the death of Sir Matthew Hale, The Lower House remained the family seat. However, between 1776 and 1780, another Matthew Hale (possibly Sir Matthew Hale's great-grandson) decided to rebuild The Upper House on the lower slopes of nearby Winner Hill (to the east of St Kenelm's Church), after which this became the new family home; consequently, The Lower House may have been abandoned for a while.
) chose The Lower House when he set up his own independent establishment. At that time, prevailing Victorian attitudes expanded the number of servants that households were expected to contain, whilst simultaneously endeavouring to ensure that male and female servants were kept separate wherever possible. And so it was that in 1844 he had a new service wing added to the west side of the house: the wing had a distinctive crow-stepped gable to the garden front and is thought to have been designed by Lewis Vulliamy
.
Following the death of his father (who had been managing the family estates) on 20 December 1855, Robert Blagden Hale, the then Tory MP for West Gloucestershire, found himself in possession of various properties including Cottles House - another manor house in West Wiltshire
, built in 1775-78 for Robert Hale and inherited by his father in 1814 - as well as the two large houses in Alderley, both of which were unfashionable and dilapidated. He progressively withdrew from his official appointments in order to devote himself to "the life of a country gentleman" and in 1857 he stood down as an MP and sold Cottles House. Two years later in 1859 he then had both The Upper House and most of The Lower House demolished in order to build a new manor house in a more fashionable style: of The Lower House, the south end of the service wing built in 1844 and the original Jacobean
cellars were retained, but the only surviving remnants of The Upper House are a pair of 18th century Gatepiers
in the village and a restored Gothick Folly
of 1779 on the summit of Winner Hill. Alderley House (as the new house was named) was built on the site of The Lower House to the designs of Lewis Vulliamy
, utilising the original cellars and incorporating the retained part of the 1844 service wing as the property's west wing. Materials from the demolition of both The Upper House and The Lower House, including one of the staircases, were used in the construction, and it is to this design that the property remains today.
The house is built of ashlar
with a Cotswold stone slate roof. It forms 3 sides of an entrance court, with a shallow, single storey porch in the middle of the central range making a token gesture at an E-plan. The parapet above the entrance porch features a heron's head motif (the Hale family crest) above the initials of Robert Blagden Hale.
The main body of the house is a double-pile (a type of compact plan in which rooms face outwards in both directions from a central dividing wall), a style that became standard for country houses from the Restoration onwards. Alderley House was one of the earliest examples of a double-pile plan in Gloucestershire, and its entrance court range consists of 3 full storeys whereas the garden side range has 2 storeys and attics.
Including the new decoration and furnishings and the architect's commission, the total cost of building the house was £16,746 15s 8d. This represents the lower end of the range of country house building costs in the Victorian period; it is an extremely modest sum in comparison with the vast cost of Westonbirt House
(also designed by Vulliamy) whose construction for Robert Stayner Holford
(Robert Blagden Hale's brother-in-law) began after the completion of the redesigned Alderley House.
When Robert Blagden Hale died in 1883 the eldest son Major-General Robert Hale inherited Alderley House and the two unmarried sisters Georgina and Theodosia, lived with him. These living arrangements are mentioned by the artist A. S Hartrick in his memoirs. When Major –General Robert Hale died in 1907 his younger brother Mathew inherited Alderley House. Mathew died in January 1912 and Anne Sherwood, his sister, then inherited. According to the terms of the will of their father Robert Blagden Hale she legally added the name Hale to her surname so that she became Anne Sherwood-Hale in August 1912. Unfortunately she died the following month in September 1912. Her eldest son Thomas Edward Sherwood-Hale then inherited Alderley House.
Thomas Edward Sherwood-Hale JP MBE (1861–1945) lived much of his life in New Zealand. After World War I
, he moved into the house for a few years, but after that he resided at the nearby Mount House. which was also owned by the Hale family. In about 1925 Alderley House was let to a Major Lionel Wynne-Wilson who ran it as a crammer
. At the outbreak of World War II
in 1939, the house was again empty and Rose Hill School
was evacuated to it from Banstead in Surrey. It was in the same year that the late 10th century will of Æthelgifu (see History of Hertfordshire
) was discovered by James Fairhurst among material in one of the outbuildings. This document formed part of the literary effects of Lord John Selden
(1584–1654), of whose estate Sir Matthew Hale was both one of the executors and one of the beneficiaries, but it is unclear whether or not its discovery is a serendipitous consequence of the school moving into the property. The school remained for the duration of the war and when Thomas Sherwood-Hale died in 1945, his son Robert Goodenough Sherwood-Hale inherited the house. Alderley House was subsequently made the permanent home for Rose Hill School, Alderley
, with the school trustees purchasing the property freehold in 1950.
In 2009, Rose Hill School, Alderley merged with Querns Westonbirt School to form Rose Hill Westonbirt School. The new school co-located with Westonbirt School
in the grounds of Westonbirt House
in nearby Tetbury
, rendering the property at Alderley surplus to requirements. A change of use for the property was approved by Stroud District Council and it was subsequently marketed as a private residence for c.£3m at the end of 2009. After purchasing the house, the new owners employed the services of Humphrey Cook Associates to renovate the house back to its original state in 1860.
The portrait of Sir Matthew Hale which hangs in Alderley House is a copy or replica: the original hangs in the Guildhall
and was placed there by the thankful citizens of London after Hale offered his services in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London
.
In September 2009 the property was used as one of the filming locations for a Season 24 episode of BBC1's
hospital drama Casualty
which aired in early 2010.
"The Country Houses of Gloucestershire", Volume II (1st edition, 1992) pp. 50,256 - Nicholas Kingsley
"The Country Houses of Gloucestershire", Volume III (1st edition, 2001) pp. 8,43,56-58 - Nicholas Kingsley & Michael Hill
Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy was an English architect belonging to the Vulliamy family of clockmakers.-Life:Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 1791, and articled to Sir Robert Smirke...
and built for Robert Blagden Hale in the small Cotswold
Cotswold
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in central England that give their name to:*Cotswold *Cotswold *Cotswold Chase, a horse race*Cotswold Games, annual games in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire...
village of Alderley
Alderley, Gloucestershire
Alderley is a village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, about fourteen miles southwest of Stroud and two miles south of Wotton-under-Edge. It lies underneath Winner Hill, between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott...
, near Wotton-under-Edge
Wotton-under-Edge
Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern end of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058 Wotton is about from the M5 motorway. The nearest railway station is...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. It was built on the site of The Lower House, Sir Matthew Hale's
Matthew Hale (jurist)
Sir Matthew Hale SL was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronæ, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown. Born to a barrister and his wife, who had both died by the time he was 5, Hale was raised by his father's relative, a strict...
original 17th century manor house, and is situated immediately to the southwest of St Kenelm's Church. In 2009 it reverted to a private residence after 70 years serving as the private prepapratory school Rose Hill School, Alderley
Rose Hill School (Alderley)
Rose Hill School, Alderley was a co-educational, boarding and day, Pre-preparatory and Preparatory School for children aged 2-14 years old. It was situated in Cotswold countryside in the village of Alderley, near to Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England. Its motto, 'conando floreamus',...
.
Brief History
The first 350 years' history of the property is interwoven in a fairly complicated manner with that of the Hale family, with The Lower House (the original property on the present day Alderley House site) having been constructed by Sir Matthew HaleMatthew Hale (jurist)
Sir Matthew Hale SL was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronæ, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown. Born to a barrister and his wife, who had both died by the time he was 5, Hale was raised by his father's relative, a strict...
after he acquired the manor of Alderley in 1656. In the latter part of the 18th century, The Upper House (the original manor house) was rebuilt by another Matthew Hale on the lower slopes of nearby Winner Hill and this property subsequently became the family's principal seat. In 1859, the position was reversed yet again when Robert Blagden Hale had The Upper House completely demolished and The Lower House substantially demolished, having the latter rebuilt in a more fashionable style to the designs of Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy was an English architect belonging to the Vulliamy family of clockmakers.-Life:Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 1791, and articled to Sir Robert Smirke...
. Materials from both of the earlier houses were used in the contstruction of the new property, Alderley House as it remains today: a double-pile U-plan block with a north-facing single storey porch to the entrance court forming an E-plan.
Both The Lower House and its successor, Alderley House, were principally used by the Hale family as a private residence until the early 20th century. However, c.1925 it started to be used as a crammer
Cram school
Cram schools are specialized schools that train their students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities...
and in 1939 it became the home of Rose Hill School when it relocated from Banstead
Banstead
Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in the county of Surrey, England, on the border with Greater London. It lies south of London, west of Croydon and of the county town of Kingston-Upon-Thames. Banstead is on the North Downs and is protected by the Metropolitan Green Belt;...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
following the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was also in this year that the late-10th century will of Æthelgifu was discovered in one of the outbuildings, but it is unclear whether or not these two events are connected. The property proceeded to serve as the private preparatory school Rose Hill School, Alderley
Rose Hill School (Alderley)
Rose Hill School, Alderley was a co-educational, boarding and day, Pre-preparatory and Preparatory School for children aged 2-14 years old. It was situated in Cotswold countryside in the village of Alderley, near to Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England. Its motto, 'conando floreamus',...
for the next 70 years until the summer of 2009 when the school merged with Querns Westonbirt School, with the resulting Rose Hill Westonbirt School co-locating with Westonbirt School
Westonbirt School
Westonbirt School is an independent day and boarding school for girls located in Gloucestershire in South West England. Founded in 1928, it is a member of the Allied Schools organisation...
in nearby Tetbury
Tetbury
Tetbury is a town and civil parish within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded, probably by Ine of Wessex, in 681. The population of the parish was 5,250 in the 2001 census.In the Middle Ages,...
. Relocation of the school rendered the site at Alderley redundant, and it was sold: Alderley House once again returned to functioning as a private residence.
Sir Matthew Hale's Original 17th Century House
The Hales of Alderley were the leading gentry family in the Wotton-under-EdgeWotton-under-Edge
Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern end of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058 Wotton is about from the M5 motorway. The nearest railway station is...
area of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
from the beginning of the 17th century up until the early 20th century, and their lineage can be traced back to William the Conqueror. The story of the Hale family houses in that small village of Alderley is unusually complex.
Alderley is situated 2 miles to the south of Wotton-under-Edge, sandwiched between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott, underneath Winner Hill, and in the 16th and 17th century it was home to a number of woollen mills. The first of the Hale family's houses in the village was West End House, built in 1608 by Robert Hale (c.1572-1614), a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He was the second son of another Robert Hale who had made his money as a successful cloth merchant in Wotton-under-Edge. The younger Robert Hale had acquired land in the village in 1599 through his marriage to Joan Poyntz (1577–1612), the daughter of Matthew Poyntz, a gentleman living in the village at that time. This house was substantially rebuilt in the 18th centuy, but continued to be called West End House until the mid-19th century; today it is known as The Grange or Alderley Grange and is a Grade II listed building. It was Robert and Joan's only child, the famous 17th century jurist Sir Matthew Hale
Matthew Hale (jurist)
Sir Matthew Hale SL was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronæ, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown. Born to a barrister and his wife, who had both died by the time he was 5, Hale was raised by his father's relative, a strict...
(1609–1676), who in 1656 - some 50 years after being born in West End House - acquired the manor of Alderley in exchange for Meysey Hampton
Meysey Hampton
Meysey Hampton is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, approximately 30 miles to the south-east of Gloucester...
with Andrew Barker of Fairford Park, and between then and 1662 had The Lower House built, a new house so called in order to distinguish it from the original manor house (The Upper House) on the other side of the road.
With both of Sir Matthew Hale's parents dying before he had reached the age of 5 he was brought up by Anthony Kingscot, a close relative and devout puritan. He remained firmly religious throughout his life and it is possible that this influenced his choice of location for the house: immediately to the southwest of St Kenelm's Church, whose origins date back to c.1450. In 1663, the year after the construction of The Lower House was completed, Sir Matthew Hale was granted the right of way from his new manor house into the churchyard. The Lower House was then to remain the Hale family home for the next 100 years.
The Lower House was a substantial property: a nine-bay house with gables at either end and five small dormer windows in between. It was completed in the same year that Parliament introduced the Hearth Tax, and the surviving Hearth Tax Assessment records a house of 18 hearths.
When ill-health forced him to relinquish his position as Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
in 1676, Sir Matthew Hale retired to his seat at Alderley where he died on Christmas Day the same year; he was buried in St Kenelm's churchyard. His first wife Anne Moore, daughter of Sir Henry Moore and granddaughter of Sir Francis Moore
Francis Moore (barrister)
Sir Francis Moore was a prominent Jacobean barrister and MP.He was born the posthumous son of Edward Moore, a yeoman of East Ilsley in Berkshire and educated at Reading Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford....
, had borne him 10 children. He outlived all but the eldest daughter and the youngest son and, as a result, had taken into his care some of his grandchildren (after the death of their parents). It was to these grandchildren that he left his estate, while he bequeathed West End House to his daughter, Mary; the latter property subsequently passed out of the family when it was sold by one of her descendants in the middle of the 18th century, around which time it was substantially rebuilt.In Nick Kingsley's series The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, he makes 3 references to West End House (now Alderley Grange) being bequeathed by Robert Hale to his daughter and it then passing out of the Hale family in the subsequent generation: Volume I (2nd ed., 2001), p.38; Volume II (1st ed., 1992) pp.50, 256. However, (a) Robert Hale did not have a daughter (Sir Matthew Hale - his son - was an only child), and (b) in Sir Matthew Hale's Will he leaves instructions that his father's house should be left to his daughter (ie Robert Hale's granddaughter). It would therefore appear that Mr Kingsley is incorrect in this regard.
For a period of more than one hundred years following the death of Sir Matthew Hale, The Lower House remained the family seat. However, between 1776 and 1780, another Matthew Hale (possibly Sir Matthew Hale's great-grandson) decided to rebuild The Upper House on the lower slopes of nearby Winner Hill (to the east of St Kenelm's Church), after which this became the new family home; consequently, The Lower House may have been abandoned for a while.
Lewis Vulliamy's 19th Century Redesign for Robert Blagden Hale
In 1805, during the period of time when The Upper House was the main Hale family residence, Robert Hale Blagden Hale (1780-1855) inherited the properties in Alderley. In the 1830s, his eldest son, Robert Blagden Hale (1807-1883, brother of the Rt. Rev. Matthew Blagden HaleMatthew Blagden Hale
Matthew Blagden Hale was the first Bishop of Perth and then the Bishop of Brisbane.Born in Alderley, Gloucestershire, England, Matthew Hale was the son of Robert and Lady Theodosia . His maternal grandfather was The Earl of Mayo, Lord Archbishop of Tuam...
) chose The Lower House when he set up his own independent establishment. At that time, prevailing Victorian attitudes expanded the number of servants that households were expected to contain, whilst simultaneously endeavouring to ensure that male and female servants were kept separate wherever possible. And so it was that in 1844 he had a new service wing added to the west side of the house: the wing had a distinctive crow-stepped gable to the garden front and is thought to have been designed by Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy was an English architect belonging to the Vulliamy family of clockmakers.-Life:Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 1791, and articled to Sir Robert Smirke...
.
Following the death of his father (who had been managing the family estates) on 20 December 1855, Robert Blagden Hale, the then Tory MP for West Gloucestershire, found himself in possession of various properties including Cottles House - another manor house in West Wiltshire
West Wiltshire
West Wiltshire was a local government district in Wiltshire, England, formed on 1 April 1974, further to the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the former urban districts of Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge, Warminster and Westbury, along with Bradford and Melksham Rural District and...
, built in 1775-78 for Robert Hale and inherited by his father in 1814 - as well as the two large houses in Alderley, both of which were unfashionable and dilapidated. He progressively withdrew from his official appointments in order to devote himself to "the life of a country gentleman" and in 1857 he stood down as an MP and sold Cottles House. Two years later in 1859 he then had both The Upper House and most of The Lower House demolished in order to build a new manor house in a more fashionable style: of The Lower House, the south end of the service wing built in 1844 and the original Jacobean
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
cellars were retained, but the only surviving remnants of The Upper House are a pair of 18th century Gatepiers
Pier (architecture)
In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers. The simplest cross section of the pier is square, or rectangular, although other shapes are also common, such as the richly articulated piers of Donato...
in the village and a restored Gothick Folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
of 1779 on the summit of Winner Hill. Alderley House (as the new house was named) was built on the site of The Lower House to the designs of Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy was an English architect belonging to the Vulliamy family of clockmakers.-Life:Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 1791, and articled to Sir Robert Smirke...
, utilising the original cellars and incorporating the retained part of the 1844 service wing as the property's west wing. Materials from the demolition of both The Upper House and The Lower House, including one of the staircases, were used in the construction, and it is to this design that the property remains today.
The house is built of ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
with a Cotswold stone slate roof. It forms 3 sides of an entrance court, with a shallow, single storey porch in the middle of the central range making a token gesture at an E-plan. The parapet above the entrance porch features a heron's head motif (the Hale family crest) above the initials of Robert Blagden Hale.
The main body of the house is a double-pile (a type of compact plan in which rooms face outwards in both directions from a central dividing wall), a style that became standard for country houses from the Restoration onwards. Alderley House was one of the earliest examples of a double-pile plan in Gloucestershire, and its entrance court range consists of 3 full storeys whereas the garden side range has 2 storeys and attics.
Including the new decoration and furnishings and the architect's commission, the total cost of building the house was £16,746 15s 8d. This represents the lower end of the range of country house building costs in the Victorian period; it is an extremely modest sum in comparison with the vast cost of Westonbirt House
Westonbirt House
Westonbirt House is a country house in Gloucestershire, England. It belonged to the Holford family from 1665 until 1926. The first house on the site was an Elizabethan manor house...
(also designed by Vulliamy) whose construction for Robert Stayner Holford
Robert Stayner Holford
Robert Stayner Holford , of Westonbirt, in the village of Weston Birt, co. Gloucestershire, MP for East Gloucestershire, was a wealthy landowner, gardening and landscaping enthusiast, and an art collector...
(Robert Blagden Hale's brother-in-law) began after the completion of the redesigned Alderley House.
After Robert Blagden Hale
Robert Blagden Hale had married Anne Jane Holford in 1832 and they had five children, two males and three females. The two males were Robert Hale (1834–1907) who later became a Major-General in the British military and Mathew Holford Hale (1835–1912) who became a Colonel. The three females were Anne Hale (1833–1912), Georgina Hale (1836–1934) and Theodosia Hale (1838–1922). Of the five children only one (Anne) married and the other four lived at Alderley House for most of their lives. Anne, the eldest daughter married, Thomas Henry Sherwood in 1859 and they had five children, three boys and two girls.When Robert Blagden Hale died in 1883 the eldest son Major-General Robert Hale inherited Alderley House and the two unmarried sisters Georgina and Theodosia, lived with him. These living arrangements are mentioned by the artist A. S Hartrick in his memoirs. When Major –General Robert Hale died in 1907 his younger brother Mathew inherited Alderley House. Mathew died in January 1912 and Anne Sherwood, his sister, then inherited. According to the terms of the will of their father Robert Blagden Hale she legally added the name Hale to her surname so that she became Anne Sherwood-Hale in August 1912. Unfortunately she died the following month in September 1912. Her eldest son Thomas Edward Sherwood-Hale then inherited Alderley House.
Thomas Edward Sherwood-Hale JP MBE (1861–1945) lived much of his life in New Zealand. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he moved into the house for a few years, but after that he resided at the nearby Mount House. which was also owned by the Hale family. In about 1925 Alderley House was let to a Major Lionel Wynne-Wilson who ran it as a crammer
Cram school
Cram schools are specialized schools that train their students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities...
. At the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, the house was again empty and Rose Hill School
Rose Hill School
Rose Hill School is a British Independent School situated in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. It is a member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools. The school is co-educational.-Summary:...
was evacuated to it from Banstead in Surrey. It was in the same year that the late 10th century will of Æthelgifu (see History of Hertfordshire
History of Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is an English county, founded in the Norse–Saxon wars of the 9th century, and developed through commerce serving London. It is a land-locked county that was several times the seat of Parliament. Today, with a population slightly over 1 million, Hertfordshire retains much of its...
) was discovered by James Fairhurst among material in one of the outbuildings. This document formed part of the literary effects of Lord John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
(1584–1654), of whose estate Sir Matthew Hale was both one of the executors and one of the beneficiaries, but it is unclear whether or not its discovery is a serendipitous consequence of the school moving into the property. The school remained for the duration of the war and when Thomas Sherwood-Hale died in 1945, his son Robert Goodenough Sherwood-Hale inherited the house. Alderley House was subsequently made the permanent home for Rose Hill School, Alderley
Rose Hill School (Alderley)
Rose Hill School, Alderley was a co-educational, boarding and day, Pre-preparatory and Preparatory School for children aged 2-14 years old. It was situated in Cotswold countryside in the village of Alderley, near to Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England. Its motto, 'conando floreamus',...
, with the school trustees purchasing the property freehold in 1950.
In 2009, Rose Hill School, Alderley merged with Querns Westonbirt School to form Rose Hill Westonbirt School. The new school co-located with Westonbirt School
Westonbirt School
Westonbirt School is an independent day and boarding school for girls located in Gloucestershire in South West England. Founded in 1928, it is a member of the Allied Schools organisation...
in the grounds of Westonbirt House
Westonbirt House
Westonbirt House is a country house in Gloucestershire, England. It belonged to the Holford family from 1665 until 1926. The first house on the site was an Elizabethan manor house...
in nearby Tetbury
Tetbury
Tetbury is a town and civil parish within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded, probably by Ine of Wessex, in 681. The population of the parish was 5,250 in the 2001 census.In the Middle Ages,...
, rendering the property at Alderley surplus to requirements. A change of use for the property was approved by Stroud District Council and it was subsequently marketed as a private residence for c.£3m at the end of 2009. After purchasing the house, the new owners employed the services of Humphrey Cook Associates to renovate the house back to its original state in 1860.
Historical Timeline
| 1599 | Land at Alderley acquired by Robert Hale by virtue of his marriage to Joan Poyntz. | ||
| 1608 | West End House (now known as The Grange, or Alderley Grange) built for Robert Hale. | ||
| 1656 | The manor of Alderley acquired by Sir Matthew Hale. | ||
| 1662 | Construction of The Lower House completed for Sir Matthew Hale. | ||
| 1663 | Right of way from The Lower House into the churchyard of St Kenelm's Church granted to Sir Matthew Hale. | ||
| 1676 | Death of Sir Matthew Hale. | ||
| 1776 - | 1780 | The Upper House rebuilt on the lower slopes of nearby Winner Hill by another Matthew Hale, becoming the new family home; The Lower House may have been abandoned. | |
| 1805 | Properties at Alderley inherited by Robert Hale Blagden Hale. | ||
| (circa) | 1835 | The Lower House chosen by Robert Blagden Hale (son of Robert Hale Blagden Hale) as his establishment. | |
| 1844 | Service wing added to west side of The Lower House. | ||
| 1859 | Demolition of both The Upper House and most of The Lower House (cellars and 1844 service wing retained), construction of current Alderley House on the site of The Lower House started. | ||
| 1863 | Construction of current Alderley House completed. | ||
| 1883 | Death of Robert Blagden Hale; ownership of Alderley House passed to his eldest son Major-General Robert Hale | ||
| 1907 | Death of Major-General Robert Hale; ownership of Alderley House passed to his younger brother Colonel Mathew Hale | ||
| 1912 | Death of Colonel Mathew Hale in January 1912 and his sister Anne Sherwood-Hale inherits Alderley House | ||
| 1912 | Death of Anne Sherwood-Hale in September 1912 and her son Thomas Edward Sherwood-Hale inherits Alderley House | ||
| (circa) | 1925 | Alderley House let to Major Lionel Wynne-Wilson for use as a crammer. | |
| 1939 | Rose Hill School evacuated to the then empty Alderley House from Banstead, Surrey; the will of Æthelgifu discovered in one of the outbuildings. | ||
| 1950 | Freehold of Alderley House purchased by trustees of Rose Hill School. | ||
| 2009 | Rose Hill Westonbirt School formed by the merger of Rose Hill School, Alderley Rose Hill School (Alderley) Rose Hill School, Alderley was a co-educational, boarding and day, Pre-preparatory and Preparatory School for children aged 2-14 years old. It was situated in Cotswold countryside in the village of Alderley, near to Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England. Its motto, 'conando floreamus',... and Querns Westonbirt School and co-located with Westonbirt School Westonbirt School Westonbirt School is an independent day and boarding school for girls located in Gloucestershire in South West England. Founded in 1928, it is a member of the Allied Schools organisation... in nearby Tetbury. Change of use for Alderley property approved by Stroud District Council and Alderley House sold for use as a private residence. Restoration of the house commissioned by the new owners and effected by Humphrey Cook Associates. |
Miscellany
Vulliamy's original plans for the redesign were the addition of a range of rooms on the north side of the house, but for some reason this scheme was abandoned and the more radical reconstruction plan adopted.The portrait of Sir Matthew Hale which hangs in Alderley House is a copy or replica: the original hangs in the Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
and was placed there by the thankful citizens of London after Hale offered his services in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
.
In September 2009 the property was used as one of the filming locations for a Season 24 episode of BBC1's
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
hospital drama Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
which aired in early 2010.
Sources
"The Country Houses of Gloucestershire", Volume I (2nd edition, 2001) pp. 10,38-39 - Nicholas Kingsley"The Country Houses of Gloucestershire", Volume II (1st edition, 1992) pp. 50,256 - Nicholas Kingsley
"The Country Houses of Gloucestershire", Volume III (1st edition, 2001) pp. 8,43,56-58 - Nicholas Kingsley & Michael Hill
External links
- The genealogy of The Hale Family of Alderley c.1520-1912
- Maps of the property: Google Maps Satellite Image, Bing Maps Bird's-eye View, O.S. Map
- Aerial photographs (by H A Wingham, dated 1951–63) of Alderley House and Rose Hill School, National Monuments Record
- Hunter Page Planning's Change of Use application document for Rose Hill School