Alkington is a hamlet in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England, near Whitchurch and south of that town. The village is on

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and is

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

Alkington Hall

Alkington Hall was a late 16th-century country house, now a Grade II* listed farmhouse. It was constructed in two storeys of red brick with grey brick diapering and grey sandstone ashlar dressings and a plain tile and slate roofs to an L-shaped floor plan. The manor was held by the Cotton family from the 16th century, of the line of the Cottons of Alkington was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

in 1625; Sir

Allan Cotton Sir Allan Cotton or Allen (c. 1568 ― December, 1628) was an English merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1625. He was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire to Ralph Cotton of Alkington and Jane Cotton. Allan came from a Shropshire branch of the ...

. It was built in 1592, probably for the London merchant, William Cotton. The Cotton family rose in prominence due to proximity to Sir Rowland Hill, (publisher of the

Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years. It was ...

and hero of Shakespeare’s ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...

'') whose lands they managed in Shropshire. Architectural association with Hill’s house at

Soulton Hall Soulton Hall is a Tudor architecture, Tudor country house near Wem, England. It was a 16th century architectural project of Rowland Hill (MP), Sir Rowland Hill, publisher of the Geneva Bible. Hill was a statesman, polymath and philanthropist, ...

is observable: the out put of a relationship between the families potentially operational into the seventeenth century and seen in the evacuation of the Old Sir Rowland's library from Soulton around the time of the 1643 Battle of Wem, with the forwarding on of his papers into what us now called the

Cotton Library The Cotton or Cottonian library is a collection of manuscripts that came into the hands of the antiquarian and bibliophile Sir Robert Bruce Cotton MP (1571–1631). The collection of books and materials Sir Robert held was one of the three "foun ...

. Rowland Cotton of this family was a favourite of

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, Queen Anne. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; and Fr ...

and was an MP for

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...

for many years and

High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The high sheriff, sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of t ...

for 1616. His monument in nearby Norton-in-Hales was designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

. The Cotton family are important in holding what is known today as the

, which saved multiple important documents (including

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

and Magna Carter) for the English nation. Some alterations and improvements were made in the late 19th century. It was saved from a fire in 2010 when in the ownership of John and Elaine Fearnall.

References

External links

* * Villages in Shropshire {{Shropshire-geo-stub