- Condover Hall
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North Elevation of Condover Hall
Condover Hall is an elegant Grade I listed three story Elizabethan sandstone building, described as the grandest manor house in Shropshire, standing in a conservation area on the outskirts of Condover village, Shropshire, England, four miles south of the county town of Shrewsbury.
A Royal manor 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 children, covering boy boarders and coeducational day pupils. The school and college both closed during 2009.
Contents
Construction
Condover hall from the front drivewayOwen died in 1598 before the new Hall was completed and its designer remains a matter of debate. Building accounts record that a John Richmond of Acton Reynold was the original master mason, but by 1591 Walter Hancock had taken over the position. Lawrence Shipway, the builder of the Shire Hall at Stafford 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 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 Cholmondeley (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 (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 "Hall Class 4900" 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 Office and pressed into service as the officers' mess for nearby RAF Condover.
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 Group, who opened a residential school for autistic children and a college for young people with Asperger syndrome. The facility opened in 2006, but in 2008 the closure of both sites was announced.[1] 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.
References
- Shropshire by John Newman and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1958) ISBN 0300120834
The college actually closed on 23 July 2009
External links
Categories:- Country houses in Shropshire
- Shrewsbury and Atcham
- Grade I listed buildings in the West Midlands
- Grade I listed buildings in Shropshire
- Boarding schools in Shropshire
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