Manor Houses And Halls Of Greater Birmingham

[Pedrocut]

Wharley Hall sale in 1871...

 

[Dennis Williams]

Another pleasant reminisce…remember going to see the Dada when he was in Warwick Hospital awhile back now, and we came home a back way, looking to end up in Kenilworth in a more scenic way….and stumbled upon this lovely Restaurant, the Saxon Mill….and so began a love affair with nearby GUYS CLIFFE, a near neighbour, and just visible from the restaurant……and I looked it up and have been a fanboy ever since…..it is still there, and now asking folks for help in it’s restoration……anyway, here’s it’s history, so far…especially poignant for the rolled up trouser leg brigade! …incidentally,The Saxonmill was originally called Gibbeclive Mill in the 12th century. It was the property of St Mary's Abbey, Kenilworth and the Augustinian canons until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was rebuilt in 1822. It was a working mill until 1938, and it was converted into a restaurant and bar in 1952.

Guy's Cliffe is a hamlet on the River Avonand the Coventry Road between Warwickand Leek Woottonin Warwickshire, England, near Old Milverton.

The name Guy's Cliffe originates from the name of the country houseand estate that the land belonged to, which in turn was named after the cliff which the house itself was built on. The house has been in a ruinedstate since the late 20th century.

History - Before 1900
Guy's Cliffe has been occupied since Saxon times and derives its name from the legendary Guy of Warwick. Guy is supposed to have retired to a hermitage on this site, this legend led to the founding of a chantry. The chantry was established in 1423 as the Chapel of St Mary Magdeleneand the rock-carved stables and storehouses still remain. After the Dissolution of the Monasteriesby Henry VIIIthe site passed into private hands.

The current, ruined house dates from 1751 and was started by Samuel Greatheed, a West India merchant and Member of Parliamentfor Coventry1747-1761. Samuel Greatheed was one of the most prominent slave traders in the Caribbean and later received the large sum of £25,000 in compensation from the government following the abolition of the slave trade.

The estate also comprised a mill, stables, kitchen garden and land as far as Blacklow Hill. Blacklow Hill is north-west of the house. It is the site of an ancient settlement and the location of Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall's murder.

In 1308 Edward IItravelled to Boulogneto marry Isabella, leaving Piers Gaveston, a Gasconknight to act as regent. Resentment against Edward's rule and Gaveston's position of power grew, some barons began to insist Gaveston be banished. Edward could do little to prevent Gaveston being captured in 1312 under the orders of the Earl of Lancasterand his allies. He was captured first by the Earl of Warwick, whom he was seen to have offended, and handed over to two Welshmen. They took him to Blacklow Hilland murdered him; one ran him through the heart with his sword and the other beheaded him.

In 1821 Bertie Greatheed erected a stone cross to mark the execution of Piers Gaveston, "Gaveston's Cross" and later commented in his diary that he could read the inscription on the cross with his telescope from the house.

The house was used as a hospital during World War Iand in World War IIbecame a school for evacuated children.
Guy's Cliffe estate was broken up and sold in 1947. In 1952 the mill became a puband restaurant and was named The Saxon Mill, the stables became a riding school, the kitchen garden became a nursery, all of which still exist today. A toll house also stood by the road to the north of the Saxon Mill, but this was demolished in the mid 20th century.

The new owner of the house intended to convert it into a hotel, but these plans came to nothing and the house fell into disrepair.

In 1955 the house was purchased by Aldwyn Porter and the chapel leased to the Freemasons, establishing a connection with the Masons that remains today. The roof had fallen in by 1966. In 1992 during the filming of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (The Last Vampyre) a fire scene got out of control and seriously damaged the building, leading to an insurance claim. English Heritage has given the building grade II listed status.

One new house was built within the grounds, Guy's Cliffe House (note: the ruined house and by the 1980s, when the parishes merged, the population of the Parish of Guy's Cliffe was no more than 4 people. The new boundary split the original estate: the stables and nursery are not within the current Parish of Leek Wootton & Guy's Cliffe, but the house, mill and modern homes are.

 

[Pedrocut]

Lovely painting of Guy’s Cliffe by the Artist Alexander Francis Lyndon.

 

[Dennis Williams]

BYNGAS HALL .....Bingley Hall to us youngsters...

I think Broad Street wasn’t even named until between 1795 and 1808, and it must have been the arrival of the canals in 1771 that sparked an interest in this outlying reach of the city. As suggested prior to then it might have been known as Pig Lane, but I can find no record of it.

The two maps show the first one dated 1795 show it having no name for the greater part of it, and the second dated 1808 bearing the name Broad Street from Paradise Street to Islington.

Just a couple of interesting Maps of the area from Joseph Hill's Map dated 1553 showing the area later to become Broad Street. Note within the ringed area is BYNGAS HALL, later to become BINGLEY HALL.

And another from 1778 showing the same areas. In the latter there is now a roadway, still apprently not named, and a large House (presumably Byngas Hall) with tree lined entance, bordering an equally impressive house and grounds on the corner of Easy Row. I presume the latter was the home of John Baskerville and later John Ryland before it was severely damaged in the Priestley Riots…

Now Norman Bartlam in his book on Broad Street shows us this drawing of Byngas Hall, and of which he states

“Byngas Hall, built in about 1760 and later to become Bingley Hall, was the home of James Farmer. It stood where the ICC now stands. Mr Farmer’s daughter married Charles Lloyd, son of banker Sampson Lloyd, and they subsequently lived at the house. In 1883 the local press described it as having lawns on which were kept rabbits ‘who seemed to enjoy their freedom’. The house was said to be an old fashioned house of the ‘Grange, or superior country clergyman style’. The grounds of Bingley Hall were used for a temporary exhibition of Birmingham wares in 1849 and Prince Albert, one of the visitors, was so impressed that he went away to concieve the idea of the Great Exhibition of 1851, an early example of London following in Birmingham’s footsteps. A fund was established to raise money for a permananet hall. By 1850 enough money had been raised to build what was to become Birmingham’s first purpose built exhibition centre, pre-dating the ICC by 140 years.”
So who is right? Clearly there was a Byngas Hall in 1553, so perhaps John Farmer’s version was a rebuild?

I did pose the question on the original post--Can anybody shed any light on this?

And duly received this reply….Joseph Hill would have consulted the 1553 (Queen Mary I) Survey of the Borough of Birminchamwhen preparing his map. Lucky for us Archivehas a copy of an English translation (from the original "Chancery Latin") of this precious document. Here are a few relevant extracts:

Mention of "Byngys-hall" and "Byngas"
Survey of the Borough of Birmincham and of the Manor or Lordship of the Foreign of Birmyncham and of the Manor of Barkeswell in the County of Warwick (20 August 1553) - translated into English by R W Gillespie (Walsall)
from Transactions, Excursions, and Reports For the Year 1887(Archaeological Section, Birmingham and Midland Institute) Birmingham: The Subscribers, 1889.

The Governors of the possessions of the Free Chapel or School of Edward the Sixth founded in Birmyncham aforesaid hold freely One Messuage called Byngys-hall and divers other lands and tenements in the Forren aforesaid with their appurtenances. To have to them and their successors for ever. To hold as above. And they pay yearly 25 shillings 9½ pence at the feast aforesaid only suit of Court and relief etc.

John Shilton holds freely by charter not yet produced One Croft called Byngas with its appurtenances lying in the Forren aforesaid, To have to him his heirs and assigns of the aforesaid Governors for ever. To hold as above. And he pays yearly 1½ pence and six barbed Catapults at the feast aforesaid only suit of Court and relief when it happens. [Translator's note: Here Catapult appears to be the thing shot; though the books define it as an Engine for shooting with.]

William Colmer Jnr holds in like manner Two Closes lying near Byngas and three Closes lying near Conyngres with their appurtenances there. To have to him his heirs and assigns for ever. To hold as above and he pays yearly 9 shillings at the feast aforesaid only suit of Court and relief when it happens.

William Bothe Knight holds in like manner one croft at Byngas with its appurtenances there. To have to him his heirs and assigns for ever. To hold as above and he pays yearly 1 penny at the feast aforesaid only suit of Court and relief when it happens.

So it appears that there was indeed a Byngys-hall and a vicinity called Byngas in 1553. The hall belonged to your old school Dennis!

 

[Pedrocut]

Thanks for the time taken to place the informative maps and pictures in one post.

 

[Dennis Williams]

WROXHALL ABBEY
The history of Wroxall Abbey Hotel is a rich and varied one beginning in the 12th Century and continuing to evolve to the present day. It was founded c.1135 by Hugh, Lord of Hatton and Wroxall in thanks for his release from seven years' imprisonment in Jerusalem during the Crusades.

After reputedly having a vision of St. Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners, he so appreciated the intervention of the saint that he gave 3,000 acres of land to the church in Wroxall to form a monastery for nuns after the Order of St. Benedict which was named the Priory of St. Leonard at Wroxall. It housed ‘black’ nuns and prioresses from the 12th to the 16th Centuries and this was the founding of Wroxall Abbey Estate.

In 1544 the King granted the estate to Robert Burgoyne of Sutton, Bedfordshire (d 1545) who had been one of the King's Commissioners for the Dissolution. His son Robert (d 1613), High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1597, built a manor house in Elizabethan style adjacent to the Priory ruins.The Burgoyne family (later Burgoyne baronets) occupied the manor until 1713 when they sold it together with 1,850 acres to Sir Christopher Wren.

Wren used the house as his country retreat, and it was occupied from time to time by members of his family, including his great-great-grandson Christopher Roberts Wren, High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1820.

Later descendants sold the estate in 1861 to James Dugdale, High Sheriff of Warwickshire 1868, who demolished the old manor house and replaced it with an imposing mansion, thereafter to be known as Wroxall Abbey, in the Victorian Gothic style.

The Lady Chapel adjacent to the Hall, now a church dedicated to St Leonard, and popularly known as Wren's Cathedral, is a Grade I listed building. It is a cathedral of the Free Methodist Church and is used for regular services and weddings. The nearby ruins of the 12th century abbey are Grade II* listed.The house was let and was occupied as a girl's school from 1936 to 1995. In 1995 the estate was purchased by the Quinn family, who leased it to a commercial company in 2001. The present lessees have converted the estate into a hotel.

Wren's Cathedral, properly the Church of St Leonard and now a cathedral of the Free Methodist Church, was originally the Lady Chapel of Wroxall Priory.Wroxall Priory was founded in 1141 as the Priory of St. Leonard for nuns at Wroxall, Warwickshire by Sir Hugh-Hatton, eldest son of the Earl of Warwick. He fought in the Crusades and was released after being held prisoner for seven years in Jerusalem and having a vision of St. Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners. He so appreciated the intervention of the saint that he gave 3,000 acres of land to the church in Wroxall to form a monastery for nuns after the Order of St. Benedict which was named the Priory of St. Leonard at Wroxall.

A list of the Prioresses up to 1535 and further list of ministers from 1538 circa to the present can be found on the official website. A Charter issued by Pope Alexander III to the Priory of St. Leonard will also be found on the same web site.

With the separation of the Church from Rome in 1535, Henry VIII allowed Robert Burgoyne to purchase the estate for just under £600 after he had demolished the Monastery and Church adjacent to the present Wren's Cathedral. With the rubble he built an Elizabethan house.

The Lady Chapel was kept and designated St. Leonard Parish Church of Wroxall (Church of England). Some of the ruins of the larger Church and traces of the Priory can be seen across the present driveway. Chaplains (ministers) were appointed by the owner of the Estate from about 1538c. The estate at this time also took the title of Abbey i.e. Wroxall Abbey. The red brick tower and three bells in the church date from 1663–1664.

Richard Shakespeare, the grandfather of William Shakespeare, was bailiff for the church in 1534, according to Michael Woods in his documentary In Search of Shakespeare (2003). One of the Prioresses, Isabella (1501), was William Shakespeare’s great-aunt. Joan Shakespeare (1524) was his aunt.In 1713, Sir Christopher Wren purchased the estate as his country residence. While he is buried at St Paul's Cathedral, his wife and family are buried at Wroxall. His coat of arms is displayed on the south side of the present cathedral.

In 1861 the Dugdale family purchased the estate and had the present Mansion House built after demolishing the previous house. The church was also internally renovated by the architect who designed the house. His name was Ryland. He later wrote a History of Wroxall Abbey (1903).

 

[Dennis Williams]

CANWELL HALL
Canwell lies in the south of the county, about nine miles south of Lichfield, with houses and farms scattered in a haphazard way over rolling hills, fields and woods. The only semblance of a village is where the school, some houses, a farm, and a Social Hall cluster near a crossroads, only about half a mile from the boundary with what is now the West Midlands. No village street, no village green! Very dispersed and strewn around is Canwell, which consequently rather lacks a sense of unity and a feeling of togetherness.

Canwell goes back to the Middle Ages, when there was a priory, but no village. The priory was founded in 1142 and had strong links with the manor of Drayton.

Eventually Sir Francis Lawley bought the estate and Canwell remained in the Lawley's possession from 1700 to 1872. The family built a Hall, and stables were built from the ruins of the priory. An elementary school was established in 1851. In 1872 the Hall and estate was sold to A B Foster, when there were 193 people living in Canwell, and 38 houses. Most, if not all the people worked at the Hall or on the estate. A B Foster's son, Philip, enlarged and supported the school and it was called the Philip Foster school. Sadly the school was closed in the early 1980s, as was the post office and the only shop. But happily, at the end of 1987 a flourishing nursery school was opened in part of the old school.

Canwell church, built in 1911 as a private chapel to the Hall by the Fosters, is a small, quite delightful Early English style building, beautifully built and maintained, although the congregation is scattered over many miles.

Then in 1920, something happened which completely changed this quiet, peaceful part of South Staffordshire. Birmingham City Council bought the Hall and 25 surrounding acres, sold off 250 acres of unsuitable land and divided the remaining land into small-holdings for ex-service men, part of a Goverment Land Settlement Scheme. Today, many houses have been sold, land redistributed so that farms are larger and while there are still tenants, many have bought their own farms.

The Hall with its 25 surrounding acres was used as a convalescent home for soldiers, but principally as a childrens hospital. This hospital goes down in history as the first one in England to use penicillin. The hospital was closed the day before the Coronation in 1953, when Little Bromwich Hospital had been opened. Canwell Hall was pulled down in 1958.

Canwell holds an annual Agricultural Show, which from modest beginnings in 1925, is now one of the largest one day shows, with entries from far and wide.

To end on rather a gruesome note. There is a steep hill where now runs the main road to Tamworth and beyond. This road is wooded, but not densely as in earlier times, when even on a sunny day it was dark. This is called Carroway Head, but legend has it that it was once called Gallows Way Head, where stood a gibbet, which travellers on their journey had to pass. Imagine on a dark night, the sound of creakings, and sinister shapes swinging in the wind!

NB
The village information above is taken from The Staffordshire Village Book, written by members of the Staffordshire Federation of Women's Institutes and published by Countryside Books. Click on the link Countryside Books to view Countryside's range of other local titles.

 

[Dennis Williams]

A place I happen to notice on an old map I glimpsed when looking at the History of the Moat House in Hampton in Arden….saw the name WALFORD HALL, and I thought that’s my pal from Tasmania, Peter Walford, late of Erdington, Sutton and Yardley..used to lurk on here under the name Thylacine......! …so I zoomed in and researched it…..

Unfortunately, there is not much recorded….built 15th century, and altered somewhat a hundred years after….now a derelict farmhouse off the beaten track in Solihull, a mile to the West of Hampton Village….off the Solihull Road, but remarkably still in it’s original form, and we do have old photos!! However, there are now building cones and keep out signs at the farmhouse entrance, that suggest something is going on there……and it would seem it’s near to, or adjacent to the new proposed Services scheduled for the M42….see map….I really hope they don’t destroy what looks like a lovely historic building in the process..?

 

[Dennis Williams]

And, whilst we are hereabouts, this is another neighbouring Manor House....

The Manor of Hampton-in-Arden
Before the tenth century homesteads were self governing, but in later years, local communities were being established, and with them, organised meetings or 'Courts' held at 'Moot Mounds', or just an open space or tree that had some past religious connection. These meetings were the very beginning of the 'Court Leets' and eventually our present local Councils. They were formed from a hundred families, or ten Tithings, which was a group of ten householders, and so named 'Hundreds'. Eventually representatives of these Courts were called upon to attend 'Shire Moots', the forerunner of the County Councils and Law Courts.

The Domesday Book records ten 'Hundreds' in Warwickshire later reducing to just four. Hampton-in-Arden was situated in the 'Hemlingford Hundred'. This was roughly diamond shaped with Tamworth at the top point, Birmingham at the left, Nuneaton at the right and Kenilworth at the bottom. Watling Street formed the top right hand edge running between Tamworth and Nuneaton.

The original parish, much larger than the area today, was made up of several villages and hamlets - the more notable being, Hampton, Knowle, Balsall, Chadwick (now Chadwick End), Diddington, and two which no longer appear on any modern map, Kinwalsey which lay between Meriden and Fillongley, and Nuthurst: between Hockley Heath and Lapworth. Before the Norman invasion, this 'parish' and others in the area, was owned and ruled by a Saxon lord named Leuvinus.

After the conquest this entire area was 'disposed', by King William to Geffrey de Wirce who became the first Norman Lord.Hantone, a misspelling, possibly by a Norman French scribe, was recorded as being ten hides, with land for twenty-two ploughs, a mill worth forty pence and ten acres of meadow. A woodland area, three leagues long (approximately nine miles), by three leagues wide. In all it was worth one hundred shillings.

Excerpts from The Forest of Arden by John Hannet 1894….
West of the church, and adjoining the church-yard, is the site of the "Old Manor House" of the Ardens, An 'Inquisition', or census, taken in the fourth year of the reign of Edward I, around 1276, lists the Manor House and Park, situated in the north west of the parish, in the possession of William de Arderne.

A portion of a half-timbered dwelling remains, incorporated with a farm house, which partly occupies the site. It is still called "The Old Hall." A considerable extent of the moat, once surrounding it, is discoverable, forming a fence to the garden.

As this house presents nothing to distinguish it from other such dwellings, we will proceed to the newly-erected mansion, which has taken the place of its predecessor, and which is known as HAMPTON HALL built by, and the residence of, the Right Honourable Frederick Peel the present lord of the manor. The edifice, standing on a commanding enuuence, west of the old manor-place, is built in the castellated style, from designs by W.Giles, Esq., of Derby, and the engraving will give a notion of its general appearance, which, when the trees and shrubs which fill the gardens and surrounding plantations have attained a larger growth, will materially contribute to the interest and beauty of the locality.

 

[mikejee]

Here is the tithe map of the village. The alignment has been turned to be north-south, from the original. The date is 1841. The landowner of the several properties to the west of the church is given as is given as Isaac William Lillingstone, and the occupier as Edward Lowe.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Barrells Hall is a large house in the Warwickshire countryside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons, one of the families who formerly owned Barrells. An adjacent house named Barrells Park was built in about 1950 on part of the Barrells estate.

The earliest mention of Barrels (as it was spelled at that time) was a reference to a Richard Barel in 1405. In 1554 the estate was purchased by Robert Knight of Beoley and remained in the Knight family until 1856. An inventory taken in 1652 shows that it was an ordinary farmhouse, though a Knight appeared in the 1682 visitation of Warwick. When Henrietta St John was banished to Barrells in 1736 (see below) it was still much the same and in very bad condition. On Henrietta’s death her husband, then Lord Catherlough, rebuilt large parts of it.

When Catherlough’s son married in 1791 he commissioned the noted Italian architect Joseph Bonomi the Elder to build an imposing extension, which became the main house at this time.

The Newtons, a local family bought the Barrells Park estate in 1856, and soon after enlarged the property again, adding another wing, a Winter garden and various other features.

The house was the victim of a serious fire in March 1935. It slowly fell into ruin over the next 65 years, before being extensively restored in 2006.

The Knights

As mentioned above, the Knight family first established themselves at Barrells in 1554.

Robert Knight (1675–1744) became notorious as the cashier of the South Sea Company responsible for the “South Sea Bubble” and absconded to France with a fortune. He built Luxborough House in Chigwell, Essex and never lived at Barrells. His son, also named Robert Knight (1702–1772), became successively Baron Luxborough, Viscount Barrells and Earl of Catherlough. He purchased Barrells from a cousin in 1730. He banished his wife Henrietta St John to Barrells in 1736 as punishment for an indiscretion.

As Henrietta, Lady Luxborough, she was one of the first to establish a ferme ornée and is credited with the invention of the word “shrubbery”. Her friends, a group of poets, became known as the Warwickshire Coterie.

After his wife Henrietta’s death in 1756, Catherlough began to live at Barrells and had several children by Jane Davies, the daughter of one of his tenants. He was unable to marry her because Lady Le Quesne, whom he married in 1756, refused to release him. But he arranged by Act of Parliament for his son by Jane Davies to take the name of Robert Knight and inherit his fortune, but not his titles.

When this next Robert Knight (1768–1855) died the Reverend Henry Charles Knight, who claimed to be his son by the Hon Frances Dormer but was disowned by Robert, attempted to obtain the Barrells estate, but the resulting legal dispute was settled by the sale of Barrells and splitting the proceeds.


The Newtons

The house was bought in 1856 by William Newton II, who lived there with his wife Mary Whincopp and children Goodwin Newton (1832–1907), William Newton III, Canon Horace Newton, and Mary Rosa (who later married Henry Cheetham, Bishop of Sierra Leone, having moved from the Whateley Hall Estate near Castle Bromwich (which they still owned up til the 1880s).

Upon William Newton II's death in 1862 Goodwin Newton inheritedthe Barrells estate and lived there until his death in 1907. His son, Hugh Goodwin Newton, lived there until his death in 1921.

Large areas of the village of Ullenhall were owned by the estate, including the pub, coffee house, school, church, post office etc., and several houses.

The three Newton brothers (Goodwin Newton, Canon Horace Newton and William Newton III) built St Mary's church in Ullenhall as a dedication to their parents William II and Mary Newton, who originally bought Barrells.

The family owned whole streets of commercial property in Birmingham, including part of New Street, as well as welsh slate quarries and mines in Llanberis, including Bryn Bras Castle. Hugh Goodwin Newton's widow sold the Warwickshire, Scottish and Welsh estates in 1924.

 

[Dennis Williams]

GRIMSHAW HALL
This elaborately timbered yeoman farmhouse dates from the middle of the 16th century. The Grimshaw family, after whom the house is named, lived there from around 1635 until 1765. The house is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of Fanny Grimshaw, murdered in her bedroom by a jealous lover.
By 1841. the house was owned and farmed by the Willcox family, who also rented Elvers Green Farm and Poplar Farm from the Knowle Hall Estate. The land extended to the canal on the Knowle side of Hampton road and to the River Blythe on the Solihull side. In all there were 134 acres of meadow, pasture and arable. Although the family owned the farm until 1885, it appears to have been let from about 1870 onwards, first to a Mr. William Draper and then (by 1831) to the Mayou family. In early records the house is called Old House Farm: the present name first appears in 1874, but the farm is still referred to by its old name in the 1885 sale brochure.
In 1885 the estate was shared between seven children, none of whom could retain it. One share was used to build Yew Tree Farm in Kixley Lane owned by the family until 1978. Another share build Grimshaw House on the corner of St. John's Close and Station Road,k with the cottages next to it. Miss Rosie and Miss Gertie Hinks, who are descended from the Willcox's, still live there today.
The new owner was Mr. Joseph Gillott, who let the property to various tenants. By this time the house had become covered with creeper, eventually being divided into a number of separate dwellings. About 1913 it was bought and lovingly restored by Mr. J.W. Murray, a Birmingham stockbroker, who had previously lived at Blair Atholl (now demolished and replaced by Stripes Hill House). Queen Mary paid a brief visit in 1937, on the day she also visited Packwood House.
Grimshaw Hall can be seen through the trees from Hampton Road. The present road is a diversion, the original passing much nearer the front of the house.

 

[Pedrocut]

CANWELL HALL
Canwell lies in the south of the county, about nine miles south of Lichfield, with houses and farms scattered in a haphazard way over rolling hills, fields and woods. The only semblance of a village is where the school, some houses, a farm, and a Social Hall cluster near a crossroads, only about half a mile from the boundary with what is now the West Midlands. No village street, no village green! Very dispersed and strewn around is Canwell, which consequently rather lacks a sense of unity and a feeling of togetherness.

Canwell goes back to the Middle Ages, when there was a priory, but no village. The priory was founded in 1142 and had strong links with the manor of Drayton.

Eventually Sir Francis Lawley bought the estate and Canwell remained in the Lawley's possession from 1700 to 1872. The family built a Hall, and stables were built from the ruins of the priory. An elementary school was established in 1851. In 1872 the Hall and estate was sold to A B Foster, when there were 193 people living in Canwell, and 38 houses. Most, if not all the people worked at the Hall or on the estate. A B Foster's son, Philip, enlarged and supported the school and it was called the Philip Foster school. Sadly the school was closed in the early 1980s, as was the post office and the only shop. But happily, at the end of 1987 a flourishing nursery school was opened in part of the old school.

Canwell church, built in 1911 as a private chapel to the Hall by the Fosters, is a small, quite delightful Early English style building, beautifully built and maintained, although the congregation is scattered over many miles.

Then in 1920, something happened which completely changed this quiet, peaceful part of South Staffordshire. Birmingham City Council bought the Hall and 25 surrounding acres, sold off 250 acres of unsuitable land and divided the remaining land into small-holdings for ex-service men, part of a Goverment Land Settlement Scheme. Today, many houses have been sold, land redistributed so that farms are larger and while there are still tenants, many have bought their own farms.

The Hall with its 25 surrounding acres was used as a convalescent home for soldiers, but principally as a childrens hospital. This hospital goes down in history as the first one in England to use penicillin. The hospital was closed the day before the Coronation in 1953, when Little Bromwich Hospital had been opened. Canwell Hall was pulled down in 1958.

Canwell holds an annual Agricultural Show, which from modest beginnings in 1925, is now one of the largest one day shows, with entries from far and wide.

To end on rather a gruesome note. There is a steep hill where now runs the main road to Tamworth and beyond. This road is wooded, but not densely as in earlier times, when even on a sunny day it was dark. This is called Carroway Head, but legend has it that it was once called Gallows Way Head, where stood a gibbet, which travellers on their journey had to pass. Imagine on a dark night, the sound of creakings, and sinister shapes swinging in the wind!

NB
The village information above is taken from The Staffordshire Village Book, written by members of the Staffordshire Federation of Women's Institutes and published by Countryside Books. Click on the link Countryside Books to view Countryside's range of other local titles.

View attachment 134487View attachment 134486View attachment 134488View attachment 134489View attachment 134494View attachment 134490

Mansions and Country Seats of Stafforshire and Warwickshire (1899) published by the Lichfield Mercury gives more Interesting info about Canwell Hall...

 

[Karen Warwickshire]

Wood End House

View attachment 126529


In June 1939 the Evening Despatch carried an article "Why not a Society for the preservation of Ancient Birmingham." It was against the wanton destruction of the ancient buildings that the city still possess.

There had been the demolition of Perry Hall, and although Blakesley Hall had been saved, no finger had been raised to save WOOD END HOUSE, Erdington, an older, finer, and equally historic building.

Bill Dargue says... “Moated living fell out of fashion and Pype Hall, the house within the moat, was rebuilt north of the moat in 1543. This building was enlarged in 1622 as Wood End Hall and was known as Wood House by the 19th century. The 1891 Ordnance Survey map shows a large boating lake south of the moated site. The house was demolished in 1932. The site is now within the playing fields of Kingsbury School. Neither the name Pype nor Wood End is any longer in use.”

1819 up to 1830 There is a John Harrison mentioned at Wood End House, and also Wood End Farm.

1826 The Misses Innes place an advert to say that their school for the receipt of young ladies will reopen.

1848 The Wood-End House is to be Let. Spacious drawing and dining rooms, entrance hall, breakfast room, Library, twelve chambers, servants hall, kitchens, china closets, stabling, saddle room, coach houses, Garden, Orchard, fish pools, pleasure grounds and two pews in the Parish Church.

Situated three miles from Birmingham on the Tamworth turnpike road, surrounded by park-like grounds and ornamental timber. If wished a farm with complete set of farm buildings, and Labourer's House.

1857 There is a Thomas Aurelius Atwood at Wood-End House.

1866 and William Fowler is at Wood-End House. (Author of The History of Erdington)

1901 there is an Eliza Rollason (45) at Woodend House, she is a widow living by her own means, and with daughter and two sons, a companion, and servants. She wrote several letters to the paper concerning such things as emancipation of women, and the choice of magistrates..

1918 the Birmingham Archeological Society heard an alledged proposal to demolish Wood End House, Erdington, an old half-timbered structure of interest. The House passed to a private buyer who would maintain it.

The grounds, which contain some fine trees and are well shrubbed, consists of tennis and other lawns, kitchen gardens and fruit trees, and a Paddock. Residence stands well back from Kingsbury Road and is approached by a Carriage Drive The principle reception rooms, Lounge Hall and one bedroom are panneled. A great deal of the woodwork and floors in the House are oak.

1931 Ancient Erdington Mansion sold for £2,100.

16C manorial house sold to Mr. Walter E. Heppel of Brighton. The successor of a much earlier
mansion built at the end of the 6C. As it stands today it was erected by John Butler.... the Great Hall, originally the Court Leet of the manor is panelled in dark oak. Other features include secret passages, a granary, and an ancient square brick-built dovecote containing a thousand nests.

1932 according to Bill Dargue the House was demolished. So Walter E Heppel may have been a property developer?

 

[Karen Warwickshire]

Hi

I have a lot more information about Pype Hall/ Wood End House, photos too! My family lived there for about 30 years from 1884 to 1918 when my Great, Great Grandfather died and his widow moved out. They were living in the house definitely in 1901 so Eliza Rollason did not, unless she was staying there as a visitor? But that is not a family name, maybe she was a governess?

The name was Daniel Causer and his wife was Sara, he was the director of the Birmingham based business Hopkins Causer and Hopkins. The house I am told was sold to an American who took it down brick by brick and moved it to the USA in 1932. Sadly very difficult to trace it as they would have changed the name of the property no doubt.

I attach a photo of the beautiful Wood End House as it was known at this time, but previously it was known as Pype Hall as already stated

.

 

[ShahLangleyHampshire]

Hi

I have a lot more information about Pype Hall/ Wood End House, photos too! My family lived there for about 30 years from 1884 to 1918 when my Great, Great Grandfather died and his widow moved out. They were living in the house definitely in 1901 so Eliza Rollason did not, unless she was staying there as a visitor? But that is not a family name, maybe she was a governess?

The name was Daniel Causer and his wife was Sara, he was the director of the Birmingham based business Hopkins Causer and Hopkins. The house I am told was sold to an American who took it down brick by brick and moved it to the USA in 1932. Sadly very difficult to trace it as they would have changed the name of the property no doubt.

I attach a photo of the beautiful Wood End House as it was known at this time, but previously it was known as Pype Hall as already stated

.View attachment 141012

Would love to hear more

 

[Dennis Williams]

This is a nice old one....and it's grounds remain....

Bournbrook Hall
If you go exploring around the Bournville area, one of the old remnants of George Cadbury's original village design is an ornamental pool situated at the far end of the old Girls' Recreation Ground off Bournville Lane.

It was originally a quite retreat for female employees at Cadbury's, framed by the rural landscape of the early 1900s.
Near to the pool was also a walled-garden, which is still there today, and gives the sense that the area was once the grounds of an eighteenth-century villa. This villa was sometimes called Bournbrook Hall, at other times Bournbrook House, and occasionally Barnbrook, but the park around the pool was once its grounds, and the pool itself was its cellar.

The house was still standing when the Cadbury's arrived, where it was situated on Bournville Lane, facing the men's sports grounds. The Cadbury's bought the Bournbrook Hall estate in 1895, which included lands which later became both the 'mens'' and 'girls'' grounds. The walled-garden which survives was the kitchen garden, and the premises also had stables, which are still standing, and Grade II listed, although getting little care and attention at present. The map shows the area in the 1880s, just as Cadbury's was moving in.

Bounbrook Hall was a gentleman's residence, and would have been a fine building in its day.

 

[sospiri]

Nice piece of research, Dennis. Thank you for posting.

Maurice

 

[Dennis Williams]

Peddimore Hall...

The name Pedimor was first recorded 1298. This settlement on which it sits, was on 'Pede's marshland', a named derived from Old English Peoda's (a personal name pronounced Pedder) mor.

The old Peddimore Hall, according to Sir William Dugdale in his Antiquities of Warwickshire published in 1656, was then nothing but a deserted ruin surrounded by a moat. It had been built as a prestigious house half-way between Wigginshill and Walmley for a branch of the powerful Arden family in the twelfth century. The hall was built within the moat on a raised platform – this platform was made from the material excavated to make the double moat, or moat and fishponds. This raised the level of the ground inside the moat to give dry foundations for the hall, and the digging of the moat helped to drain the surrounding waterlogged land so that it could be brought into cultivation.

Peddimore was part of the Castle Bromwich Hall estate which was purchased by Sir Orlando Bridgeman in 1657. It was sold to William Wood, a relative of George Pudsey of Langley Hall, who built a new Peddimore Hall on the site of the old one in 1659. The design of the building has been attributed to the nineteen-year-old William Wilson, a stone-mason from Leicester where the family had connections. The new Hall has some features in common with Wilson’s splendid Moat House in Lichfield Road, and incorporates some of the Palladian rules of proportion popularised in England by Inigo Jones thirty years earlier.

The present hall is a double-range brick building with stone quoins, and is the result of a very extensive re-building in 1810, when the original house was about to fall down. An eighteenth century illustration of Peddimore Hall in the Aylesford Collection at Birmingham Reference Library shows a building of quite different appearance from today’s house, so much so that its identity has been questioned. Some of the details in the old illustration, such as the rather crude mullion and transom windows and the pediment above the doorway with its inscription “Deus noster refugium” show that it almost certainly is Peddimore Hall. The work of 1810 has removed the fancy gables and given the hall a plain roof, but traces of the huge crack in the frontage of the old building can still be seen today.

This private house, a Grade II Listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, may be seen from a public footpath off Peddimore Lane which passes nearby.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Longdon Hall...Copt Heath, Solihull/Knowle....

According to Joy Woodall and Mollie Varley, in their book Solihull Place Names (1979), the first record of Longdon was as Langedone, meaning 'long hill' in 1086. The long hill in question was what is now Solihull's Marsh Lane and Yew Tree Lane, leading from the River Blythe up onto Elmdon Heath. However, the Manor's seat was at its fringe on Copt Heath. This was the moated Longdon Hall set where it stands today in the heart of the Golf Course.

In the 1800s ownership of Longdon Hall and with it lands stretching from Malvern Park to Copt Heath, passed to Ann Millbank Noel, wife of Lord Byron, her family having owned the estate since the 1600s. Although Lord Byron died in 1824, she lived until 1860 and regularly visited her estate. However, as tenants were resident in Longdon Hall, she frequently stayed at The Mermaid, built as a coaching inn on the turnpike to Warwick and now known as The Greswolde Arms Hotel.

When, much later, a country lane within that estate leading from the Warwick Road to Tilehouse Green was developed with housing, it was named Lady Byron Lane. Then, in the 1980s, a small but prestigious new housing development was planned off Jacobean Lane. The new road was named Queen Eleanors Drive.

Meanwhile, ownership of Longdon Hall passed to the adjacent Golf Club, who let it for a prolonged period, during which a lack of investment took its toll. In 2011 it was sold to new owners, who are committed to its restoration.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Ravenshaw Hall...Solihull..

The name Ravenshaw means “the wood of the ravens” and was first recorded in 1591. It was part of the Manor of Longdon that, together with the Manor of Ulverlei, formed Solihull in the 12th century.

The ford across the River Blythe at Ravenshaw has been a favourite local beauty spot for many years and the rustic pedestrian bridge featured on many local postcards, particularly from the Edwardian era. Local people have fond memories of the area:

“Long walks around Solihull were popular, especially to Ravenshaw, where picnics could be held, and paddling in the River Blythe and fishing for tiddlers with a net or minnows with a line or for an occasional roach.”

The actress Stephanie Cole was born in Solihull in 1941 and lived here until the age of about three or four. Photographs from about 1943 show her at Ravenshaw with her mother, grandmother and other family members and she has vivid memories of the woods and the ford. During a visit to Solihull in May 2008 to open the newly-refurbished Knowle Library she revisited Ravenshaw with the Mayor and Mayoress of Solihull.

Ravenshaw is still popular with walkers, cyclists and horse riders, and improvement work was carried out in 2007 by Solihull Council and volunteers from the Birmingham and Solihull Midweek Conservation Group.

The earliest photograph of the bridge at Ravenshaw that we have in the collection at Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service is dated 1891. This bridge had been replaced by 1905 by a new bridge that, with some repairs, seems to have lasted for at least 60 years. A newspaper article from 1946 states that Birmingham Civic Society had given Solihull Council £50 for the maintenance of the bridge, as they were keen to see it preserved for as long as possible. There had been rumours (unfounded according to the newspaper) that the bridge was to be replaced. It looks as if the same bridge (presumably having been repaired over the years) was still there in 1979.

The present bridge was installed in March 1987, at a time when work was carried out landscaping the area. Gates were added, as were parking areas and turning points, and the ford was closed to traffic.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Touchwood Hall

Touchwood Hall was situated at the north end of Drury Lane (near to the site of Beatties today) and was built in 1712. The source of the name is unknown but may have replaced an earlier moated house on the site. A 17th century garden wall and belvedere indicated an earlier dwelling on the site. Touchwood Hall was the home of the Holbeche, Madeley and Martineau families in turn.

Touchwood Hall stood in Drury Lane for over 250 years until its demolition in 1963 to make way for the Mell Square development. By the time of its demolition, the house was derelict, although it was argued by some that the walls, floors and ceilings were mostly sound. There were hopes that the hall could be restored in the same way as the Manor House had been almost 20 years before. However, suggestions that it could be retained as a museum or meeting place came to nothing and a compulsory purchase order was taken out on the building prior to its demolition.

The name lives on in Touchwood Hall Close, off Lode Lane, and also in the new shopping centre, which opened in September 2001.

The painting of the Hall door is by Arthur Capon....dated 1950...

 

[Pedrocut]

1962...Georgian House fittings preserved. Including corner cupboard, Dutch tiles from fireplaces, shutters, Doors.

Certain relics preserved at the Manor House in High Street.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Knowle Hall
The name Knowle is derived from the Saxon 'Cnolle' which means a small hill. It appears in documents as 'Gnolle' 'Knolle', 'Knole' and 'Knoll' before the present spelling became standard from about the mid-19th century.

At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, Knowle was a hamlet within the parish of Hampton-in-Arden and is not separately recorded. It became a separate parish in 1859.

The first record of Knowle is a document from about 1200 in which William de Arden conveys the 'whole town of Gnoll' to his wife Amice de Traci. Knowle became a Royal Manor in 1285 when the de Arden family sold it to King Edward I and Queen Eleanor. After the queen's death in 1290, King Edward gave the Manor of Knoll to the Abbot and Priors of Westminster and instructed that masses be said for the soul of Queen Eleanor.

Knowle is a delightful village in which to reside retaining much of its High Street charm with old dwellings, yet conveniently placed for access to Solihull (two miles), Birmingham (ten miles) and Stratford upon Avon (fifteen miles).

The first Knowle Hall was built to the design of Inigo Jones (1573-1652), the work being commissioned by Sir Fulke Greville, the first Lord Brook. It had two magnificent Oak staircases richly carved and decorated and an elaborately ornamented Oak wainscot in the hall. The rich plaster work of the ceilings was like that in Warwick Castle. In 1597 it was known as Knolle Haul.

Knowle Hall, would have been part of Knowle Manor Estates and the hall was passed down to various families over the decades. In 1829 the families of Wilson and Wigley obtained an Act Of Parliament authorising the estate to be divided and the Knowle portion then passed to the Wilsons. The best known of the Wilsons was William Henry Bowen Jordan Wilson, who inherited the manor after his Fathers accidental death whilst out shooting. William Wilson became Lord of the Manor of Knowle and the owner of large estates in Gumley, Northamptonshire and was known as Squire 'Gumley' Wilson, the black sheep of the family! He was also master of the North Warwickshire and Aberston Fox Hounds and kept his horses at Knowle Hall where there was good stabling. In 1831 Squire Gunmley decided the Hall was to dilapidated to repair and the greater part was pulled down, He seemed to make and lose fortunes at will, but the present Knowle Hall was built in 1841 along with a row of cottages in Wilsons Road. The Wilsons Arms (formerly The Rising Sun Inn) also bears his name. The hall at that time was built as a new classical house set amidst terraced gardens designed to an Italianate mood.

Particular note at this time was the galleried hall complete with painted decorated and white marble statuary.
Squire Gumley Wilson was wildly extravagant and sold the Knowle Hall Estate in 1849 to Robert Emilius Wilson (no relation of Gumley) before bolting to America and for a time the estate became separated from the manorial rights. The estate was subsequently sold by the Wilsons and purchased by Mr George Alan Everitt in 1865. He was descended from a North Yeoman family and subsequently Knowle Hall was inherited by his Son, Major sg Everitt and grandson Horace, only being sold after the latter's death in 1982. Interestingly, Mr Horace George Everitt wrote the words to the Solihull School song.

In 1994 a fragment of the Greville Crest was found during a dig carried out by the Solihull Archaeological Society at Knowle Hall and finds also included coins and pottery.

(Extracts taken from 'Eva Wootton', 'A History of Knowle', 'CountryHouses of Warwickshire 1800-1939' by Geoffrey Tyack and 'Around Knowle & Dorridge' by Charles Lines)

Knowle Hall, as can be seen above, has a fascinating and chequered history and occupies a wonderful setting down a long driveway from the Kenilworth Road with magnificent southerly views to the rear over adjoining pastureland. The advent of Knowle Hall on the open market, presents a wonderful opportunity for the restoration enthusiast to create an outstanding home with classical proportions and having some original wall paintings and intricately carved ceilings.

 

[Pedrocut]

Aris’s Birmingham Gazette...The advert for the sale in 1849 gives a great snapshot of Knowle at that time...

 

[DanielCauser]

Hi

I have a lot more information about Pype Hall/ Wood End House, photos too! My family lived there for about 30 years from 1884 to 1918 when my Great, Great Grandfather died and his widow moved out. They were living in the house definitely in 1901 so Eliza Rollason did not, unless she was staying there as a visitor? But that is not a family name, maybe she was a governess?

The name was Daniel Causer and his wife was Sara, he was the director of the Birmingham based business Hopkins Causer and Hopkins. The house I am told was sold to an American who took it down brick by brick and moved it to the USA in 1932. Sadly very difficult to trace it as they would have changed the name of the property no doubt.

I attach a photo of the beautiful Wood End House as it was known at this time, but previously it was known as Pype Hall as already stated

.View attachment 141012

Hi Karen,I believe we might be related.
My Great, Great, Great, great grandfather was born in wood end.
MY Great Great grandfather, also Daniel Causer, was the founder of the Brazilian branch of the Hopkins, causer and Hopkins company, which imported goods from England to Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
Was father of Charles Causer, Father of Malcolm Causer(world war II hero) and father of Harold Causer, my father.

I was born in the Causer Brazilian home city, Niterói in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and I currently live in Toronto, Canada. I would love to chat, and know if you know any other living relatives!

cheers.

 

[superdad3]

Wake Green House, Moseley:
Not really a manor house but important in the history of Moseley and Wake Green.
This was a large country house on Wake Green Rd, Moseley between what is now Billesley Lane & St Agnes Rd. It dated back to at least the 18th Century but was demolished in 1903.
It was the “big house” at the centre of the Greethurst Estate [later the Wake Green Estate] and was originally in the ancient parish of Yardley. Greethurst was bounded by what is now Wake Green Rd, Yardley Wood Rd, Moseley Golf Course and Billesley Lane. It was originally owned by Maxstoke Priory [near Coleshill] as was quite a chunk of Yardley. Later owners included the Holte family [of Aston Hall], the Grevis family of Moseley and the Taylors of Moseley Hall and banking fame. It was wrecked during the Birmingham riots.
About 1805 the house & estate was bought by Joseph Dyott, a comb maker with a factory in Bradford Street. Dyott Rd was named after him. Francis Willmot, a surveyor, inherited it through his wife and in the 1880s began to lay out what was then called the Wake Green Estate based around the newly built St Agnes Church [Francis donated the site for the church]. After his death his four sons slowly disposed of leasehold properties and building plots on the estate and Wake Green House which was demolished and large villas built on the site and grounds.


Estate about 1880 From sale catalogue 1903
The estate has a long and interesting history and I hope this brief account is of interest. Sadly I have been unable to find a photograph of the house.