Chillington Hall is a Georgian

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

near Brewood,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England, four miles northwest of Wolverhampton. It is the residence of the

Giffard Giffard is an Anglo-Norman surname, carried by a number of families of the Peerage of the United Kingdom and the landed gentry. They included the Earl of Halsbury, Earls of Halsbury and the Giffards of Chillington Hall, Staffordshire. Notable peop ...

family. The

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

house was designed by

Francis Smith Francis Smith may refer to: Government and politics *Francis Smith (by 1516-1605), member of parliament (MP) for Truro and Stafford *Francis Smith, 2nd Viscount Carrington (c. 1621 – 1701), English peer *Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith (1806–1 ...

in 1724 and John Soane in 1785. The park and lake were landscaped by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

. In the Domesday Book, Chillington (Cillintone) is entered under Warwickshire as forming part of the estates of William FitzCorbucion. His grandson Peter Corbesun of Studley granted Chillington to Peter Giffard, his wife's nephew, for a sum of 25 marks and a charger of metal. The present house is the third on the site. In the 12th century there was a stone castle on the site, a small corner of which can be seen in the cellars of the present house, and beside it the original house. This house was replaced in the 16th century by Sir John Giffard, who was High Sheriff of Staffordshire on five occasions. Peter Giffard began the third building by demolishing and replacing part of Sir John's Tudor house in 1724. This rebuilding replaced the existing south front of three storeys in red facing bricks with stone dressing. In about 1725, Peter Giffard planted the long avenue of oak trees which formed the original approach to the house, but he probably incorporated many existing trees. During the 1770s, Capability Brown designed the landscape park and lake to the south of the house for Thomas Giffard the elder. There are a number of Grade II and Grade II* listed structures on the estate. The Grade II* listed dovecote and stable block were on the Buildings at Risk Register but were removed in 2009 following repair work. Restoration work had commenced in 2008 under

John Giffard John Giffard may refer to: *John Giffard, 1st Baron Giffard (1232–1299), English nobleman *John Giffard (died 1556) (c. 1465–1556), Tudor courtier, soldier, MP and landowner, of Chillington Hall, Staffordshire *John Giffard (died 1613) (1534–1 ...

, former chief constable of Staffordshire Police.

External links

Chillington Hall
Official Website
Chillington Hall entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
*
Parks and Gardens UK
- Chillington record

References

{{coord, 52.6585, N, 2.2029, W, type:landmark, display=title Structures formerly on the Heritage at Risk register Country houses in Staffordshire Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire Grade I listed houses John Soane buildings Historic house museums in Staffordshire History of Staffordshire Gardens by Capability Brown

See also

External links

References