Barlaston Hall

Barlaston Hall is an English Palladian country house in the village of Barlaston in Staffordshire, overlooking the valley of the River Trent 5 miles south of Stoke-on-Trent. It was built by architect Sir Robert Taylor for Thomas Mills in 1756-8, to replace the existing manor house that he had acquired through marriage. The hall has a red-brick exterior. It is one of a few of Taylor's buildings which retain his trademark octagonal and diamond glazing in the sash windows.

The Adderley family acquired the property in 1816 when Rosamund Mills co-heiress of the Barlaston estate married Ralph Adderley of Coton Hall, Hanbury, Staffordshire. Their son Ralph Thomas Adderley was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1866. Following his death in 1931 the 380-acre estate was put up for sale and was bought by the Wedgwood pottery company in 1937, as a site to replace its operation in Etruria a few miles away in an industrial part of Stoke-on-Trent. A new electric pottery and model village for its employees were built in the grounds, and the company completed its move in 1950. The hall housed the Wedgwood Memorial College, but it suffered major subsidence due to coal mining, and the college moved to another building nearby.

The house had been built across a geological fault, and 4-inch wide cracks had opened in its walls. Wedgwood made two applications to have the Grade 1 listed building demolished. On the morning of 29 September 1981 Barlaston Hall was offered to the architectural conservation charity SAVE Britain's Heritage for £1. Though this might sound like a bargain, Barlaston was in a state of decay, having been left to rot for over twenty years. No repairs or maintenance had been carried out for a considerable period of time and the building had suffered water ingress. What was of even more concern however, was the danger of subsidence - Barlaston is located in one of the riches coalfields in Europe and it was estimated that the entire village was to sink forty feet over the next twenty years. To add to the list of problems Barlaston was sat astride a geological fault. SAVE decided to buy the house.

The deal took place at a public inquiry when Wedgwood, (Barlaston’s owner), was applying for a second time for consent to demolish. SAVE, in conjunction with Kit Martin, the architect Bob Weighton and engineering firm Peter Dann & Partners, managed to draw up a scheme in Barlaston's defence that showed how the house could be both protected from the effects of coal mining subsidence and restored. The terms were simple - SAVE had to complete the restoration within five years. If they didn't meet this deadline, Wedgwood would have the option to buy the building back for a pound.

When SAVE first visited Barlaston on 9 October all the floorboards had been removed and the ceilings and plasterwork had crashed down into the basement due to the weight of water pouring through the roof. The main staircase had collapsed long ago with only the upper flight hanging precariously. The back staircase collapsed a few weeks later. In spite of the decrepit state of the building it remained an important (or 'outstanding' in the words of Michael Heseltine ) archaeological document.

The first step in restoring Barlaston was to set up an independent trust to repair the building and secure the roof so that it could begin to dry out over the spring. Over the next four years, with the help of Historic Building Council grants and the support of the Manifold Trust , the whole of the exterior was successfully restored. The remarkable octagonal windows (a hallmark of the architect’s Sir Robert Taylor's work in the 1750s) were also repaired making Barlaston one of the few remaining examples of Taylor's work to keep its octagonal sashes.

At the public inquiry the National Coal Board’s original position was that if the Secretary of State decided the house should be preserved, they would pay not only for past subsidence damage but also for other preventative works. Now, however, the Coal Board took the view that as the secretary of State had never formally ruled on the consent to demolish after the inquiry, they were not obliged to honour their undertaking. Instead, SAVE was directed to a clause in the Coal Act which enabled the Coal Board to offer minimal compensation for a building in a derelict state.

According to the Act, various conditions had to be satisfied for the Coal Board to pay for the repair and stabilisation of the building, including for the Government to rule that that restoration was both practicable and in the public interest. Unfortunately, where Michael Heseltine (as Secretary of State for the Environment) had been decisive, his successors procrastinated and failed to provide the necessary assurances. SAVE was warned that the Act was so poorly drafted that there was little chance of success in court. Sensing the dilemma, the Coal Board then refused to carry out the preventative works and offered only £25,000 towards past damage, which had been estimated at £100,000. SAVE sought leave for Judicial Review.

The claim form named the Secretary of State for the Environment as the first party for failing to provide the necessary certificates, with the Coal Board conjoined as second party. Finding itself as a Defendant to legal proceedings did not sit well with the Department of the Environment and the necessary documentation arrived the next day. As the only part to the legal proceedings the Coal Board finally agreed to pay some £120,000 in compensation as well as funding preventative works and legal costs. To add to the good news, the time limit originally set by Wedgwood of five years was extended by three years in recognition of the work SAVE had already done. With the help of grants from English Heritage, the Historic Buildings Council, the Manifold Trust and a loan from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, work recommenced.

Barlaston Hall is one of the biggest success stories in English heritage. After eight years of struggle, Barlaston is now occupied as a family residence. The building was bought by James and Carol Hall, who have restored the interior of the building in Rococo style.

References

* [http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/barlaston.htm Barlaston Hall] at Save Britain's Heritage
* [http://www.simonjones.co.uk/meanwhile/extras/pictures/images/barlastonhall.html Barlaston Hall]
* [http://www.barlaston.org.uk/history/index.htm Barlaston yesterday]
* [http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/Exhibitions/AtTheVictoriaAndAlbertMuseum/Room128a/2006/SAVE/BarlastanHallStaffordshire Barlaston Hall, Staffordshire]
* [http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/42/columns_dir/columns_s.htm 'Supporting columns' - The impossible made possible]
*"Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, Volume 1" (1847) pp 6-7 (Google Books)