Condover Hall
Encyclopedia
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
building, described as the grandest manor house in Shropshire, standing in a conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
on the outskirts of Condover
Condover
Condover is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies 4.7 miles south of the county town of Shrewsbury, and just east of the A49. The Cound Brook flows through the village on its way from the Stretton Hills to a confluence with the River Severn...
village, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, four miles south of the county town of Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
.
A Royal manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
in Anglo Saxon times, until the 16th century Condover Manor was in and out of Crown Tenure until, in 1586, Elizabeth I made a grant of the current Manor to Thomas Owen, a Member of Parliament and Recorder of Shrewsbury.
For the forty years since 1960 the Hall had been run as a residential school, initially for blind children when owned by the RNIB and latterly under private ownership as a school for autistic
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
children, covering boy boarders and coeducational day pupils. The school and college both closed during 2009.
Construction
Stafford
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...
also appears to have had some major contribution to the building design. The most compelling evidence can be found in drawings in the Sir John Soane's Museum that seems to prove that the Hall was designed by the influential Elizabethan architect John Thorpe
John Thorpe
John Thorpe or Thorp was an English architect. Little is known of his life, and his work is dubiously inferred, rather than accurately known, from a folio of drawings in the Sir John Soane's Museum, to which Horace Walpole called attention, in 1780, in his Anecdotes of Painting; but how far these...
in the early 1590s.
Built out of pink sandstone, quarried at nearby Berriewood, Condover Hall has the typical Elizabethan two storey high ground floor rooms lit by tall windows with their regular mullions and double transoms. There are fine chimneys, gables and a good example of a strapwork frieze. The grounds are laid out in formal 17th century style with boxed yew hedges and sandstone balustraded terraces decorated with Italianate terracotta vases. Near the Cound Brook there is an amusing flagstaff held by a sandstone gnome.
Later years
Owned by the Owen family until the late 1860s the house then passed to the Cholmondeley family and Mary CholmondeleyMary Cholmondeley
Mary Cholmondeley was an English novelist.The daughter of the vicar at St Luke's Church in the village of Hodnet, Market Drayton, Shropshire, England, where she was born, Cholmondeley spent much of the first thirty years of her life taking care of her sickly mother...
(1859–1925) lived in the hall for a few months in 1896 before moving to London. Her uncle, Reginald Cholmondeley owned the house at the time and was host to the American writer Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
(1835–1910) when he visited in 1873 and 1879.
Local legend holds that no heir to Condover Hall will prosper since the hall was cursed from the gallows by a butler falsely accused of murder: Before Heaven I am innocent, though my master’s son swears me guilty. And as I perish an innocent man, may those who follow my murdered lord be cursed. The butler had been condemned by the lies of the son of Knyvett, lord of the manor, who stabbed his father to death. As he stumbled down the basement stairs, Knyvett reached out his bloodied hand leaving an imprint upon the wall which defied all attempts to wash it away — the marked stone had to be eventually chipped clean.
In 1930 there was a Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
"Hall Class 4900
GWR 4900 Class
The Great Western Railway 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 mixed traffic steam locomotives designed by Charles Collett. A total of 259 were built, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and 6900–6958. The LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 and LNER Thompson Class B1 both drew heavily on design features...
" Steam locomotive No. 4915 with a 4-6-0 configuration named "Condover Hall" that remained in regular service until 1965. In the 1980s Hornby toys issued an electric toy replica of the engine. The train used in the Harry Potter films as the Hogwarts Express is an identical Hall class locomotive.
Second World War
Between August 1942 and June 1945 the hall was commandeered by the War OfficeWar Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
and pressed into service as the officers' mess for nearby RAF Condover
RAF Condover
RAF Condover was a Royal Air Force Flying Training Command airfield and air navigation training establishment between August 1942 and June 1945, unusually for both fighter and bomber crews at different times...
.
Residential schools
Before 2005 it was owned by RNIB and operated as Condover Hall School for the Blind, a residential facility for children aged between 5 and 18. RNIB built a covered heated swimming pool for use by the pupils. The hall was sold in 2005 to the Priory GroupPriory Group
The Priory Group is an independent provider of mental health care facilities in the United Kingdom. They also manage schools, some for students with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism...
, who opened a residential school for autistic children and a college for young people with Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
. The facility opened in 2006, but in 2008 the closure of both sites was announced. Condover Horizon school closed in January 2009, and Farleigh College Condover closed in June 2009.
The Hall has undergone a multi million pound refurbishment programme to turn it into a well equipped residential activity centre. Activities provided range from archery, abseiling to a laser maze and dance studio, the Hall intends to encourage physical activities and deliver cross-curricular learning opportunities. There is even a Harry Potter themed spell room for younger children. Sports teams and events are hosted using the all weather sports pitches, indoor sports hall and swimming pool, and the centre provides specific Netball coaching and match weekends. The centre can provide accommodation for 500 residents.
With an occupancy of up to 500 people, the accommodation is situated in newly refurbished buildings throughout the estate grounds.