Pell Wall Hall is a neo-classical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 country house on the outskirts of Market Drayton

Market Drayton

Market Drayton is a small market town in north Shropshire, England. It is on the River Tern, between Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" and earlier simply as "Drayton" ....

 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...

. Faced in Grinshill

Grinshill

Grinshill is a small village, hill and civil parish in Shropshire, England, United Kingdom.The parish is one of the smallest in the district. There is a stone quarry here and the hill rises to 192m above sea level....

 sandstone

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,...

, Pell Wall is the last completed domestic house designed by Sir John Soane and was constructed 1822–1828 for local iron merchant Purney Sillitoe at a total cost of £20,976.

After Sillitoe's death, Pell Wall was inherited by Marten Harcourt Griffin who between 1872 and 1875 added the south wing and had the all the interiors remodelled. Financial problems caused Pell Wall to be let from 1891 until 1901 when it was purchased by a brewer from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 named James Munroe Walker who occupied the house until 1917. It was used for its original purpose until 1928 when it was acquired by the Brothers of Christian Instruction

Brothers of Christian Instruction

The Brothers of Christian Instruction also known as the De la Mennais Brothers is a Christian educational organization founded in 1819 by Gabriel Deshayes and Jean-Marie de la Mennais for the instruction of youth. Their aim remains that of their Founder :"to educate the young and to make Jesus...

, initially as a theological college

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

 and latterly as a boys' boarding school

Boarding school

A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

. The building was abandoned in 1962 and left to deteriorate until May 1986 when it was gutted by a fire which burnt for three days.

Ownership of Pell Wall passed to the local authority in 1988 under a compulsory purchase order

Compulsory purchase order

A compulsory purchase order is a legal function in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland that allows certain bodies which need to obtain land or property to do so without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for public betterment - for...

; it was subsequently sold to the Pell Wall Preservation Trust for £1. Over the next ten years later Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 and Edwardian additions were completely removed and the shell of the John Soane original was restored using a one million pound grant from English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

and a loan from the Architectural Heritage Fund. The house is still in a shell state comprising five ground-floor rooms, six first-floor rooms, six second-floor rooms and a large cellar. In November 2009 Pell Wall Hall and its four acre grounds was put up for sale and was subsequently purchased for £580,000 by a private buyer who has stated his intention to "reinstate this country residence in empathy with Sir John Soane’s original drawings.”

External links

• Photographs and memories of Pell Wall on Francis Frith
• Photographs and QuickTime virtual reality movies of Pell Wall taken in 1996 and 1997 for an Open University project on the Built Environment