Longford Hall is a large country house in Longford, a village in 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...

 near the town of Newport

Newport, Shropshire

Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some north of Telford and some west of Stafford sitting on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border...

, built in 1785 for Ralph Leeke who was political agent of the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

, designed by Joseph Bonomi

Joseph Bonomi

Joseph Bonomi or Giuseppi Bonomi may mean either of a father-son pair notable in architecture and sculpture:*Joseph Bonomi the Elder , architect*Joseph Bonomi the Younger , sculptor, Egyptologist...

 (1739–1808), who had worked with Robert

Robert Adam

Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...

 and James Adam.

The hall is placed on top of a low rise and looks over farmland towards the Lilleshall

Lilleshall

Lilleshall is a village in Shropshire, England.It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Telford and Wrekin borough and the Wrekin constituency....

 monument which is surrounded by burials. As with many such buildings, the first 100 feet in front of the hall is manicured grass, bordered by a ha-ha

Ha-ha (garden)

Ha-ha is a term in garden design that refers to a trench, one side of which is concealed from view, designed to allow an unobstructed view from a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, while maintaining a physical barrier in one direction, usually to keep livestock out that are kept on an expansive...

 which prevented animals from entering. There is a small series of gardens, including a "quad". Behind the hall are a selection of buildings around a central square containing a dovecote

Dovecote

A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...

 which once formed the farm supporting the estate. These buildings were renovated and sensitively converted into housing between 2001 and 2004. The central dovecote is circular and forms an unusual dwelling.

The hall and lands are currently owned by Adams' Grammar School

Adams' Grammar School

Adams' Grammar School is a selective state grammar school in Newport, Shropshire, rated by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills as a Grade 1 outstanding school , the latest OFSTED report concludes "this is a truly impressive school"...

and are used by them as their junior boarding house and sports fields. Some land was sold off in 2000 for private housing - now the "Longford Park" housing estate. To get between the school and the hall, one travels approximately one mile along Longford Road.

Longford Lake

Across the playing fields, approximately 500 metres, is the Longford Lake. This lake is used for private fishing by the school and holds a wide variety of fish, including carp.

Boarding Masters

Boarding House Masters at Longford Hall have included:

• Mr Oliver G. Atkinson (Start date unknown, died at the Hall 1979 after an illness)
• Dr David Westgate (1979 - )
• Mr Rodney Jones (Start and end dates unknown, but was housemaster in 1984)
• Mr Gerald Leach (- 1991)
• Mr George Mayne (1991–1994)
• Mr Philip North (1994–2001)
• Mr Lee Hadley (2001–2007)
• Mr Matthew Skeate (2007 -)

Matrons

• Mrs Atkinson (? - circa 1982)
• Mrs Anderson
• Mrs Fowler
• Miss Pickering
• Mrs Vernon
• Mrs Peters
• Miss Davies
• Linda