Coleorton Hall is a 19th-century country mansion, formerly the seat of the

Beaumont baronets There have been four baronetcies created for members of the ancient House of Beaumont, all in the Baronetage of England. All four creations are extinct or dormant. The Beaumont Baronetcy, of Coleorton in the County of Leicester, was created ...

of Stoughton Grange. Situated at

Coleorton Coleorton ( ) is a village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the A512 road approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Ashby de la Zouch. Nearby villages include Newbold, to the north, Thringstone to the ...

, Leicestershire, it is a

Grade II* listed building 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 ...

now converted into residential apartments. The manor of Coleorton was acquired by the Beaumont family by marriage in the 15th century. Sir Henry Beaumont,

High Sheriff of Leicestershire This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The 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 ...

was knighted in 1603. His son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1619 and was raised to the Peerage as

Viscount Beaumont of Swords Viscount Beaumont of Swords, in the County of Dublin, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 20 May 1622 for Sir Thomas Beaumont, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Leicestershire from 1604 to 1611 and High Sheriff of Leiceste ...

, Dublin in 1622. On the death of the third Viscount in 1702 the estate passed to a distant cousin

Sir George Beaumont, 4th Baronet Sir George Beaumont, 4th Baronet (c. 1664 – 9 April 1737) of Stoughton Grange, Leicestershire was a Great Britain, British Tory politician who sat in the English House of Commons, English and British House of Commons for 35 years from 1702 to 173 ...

of Stoughton Grange who was Member of Parliament for

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

1702-37. Following his death in 1737 and that of his brother in 1738, the estate and baronetcy passed to a cousin George Beaumont, of Great Dunmow, Essex. His son Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet rebuilt the old manor house in about 1804 to a design by architect

George Dance the Younger George Dance the Younger RA (1 April 1741 – 14 January 1825) was an English architect and surveyor as well as a portraitist. The fifth and youngest son of the architect George Dance the Elder, he came from a family of architects, artists a ...

. The grounds were laid out by Uvedale Price. Under the 7th Baronet, a patron of the arts whose collection formed the foundation of the National Gallery, Coleorton Hall's regular guests included William Wordsworth (who designed the Winter Garden in 1806), Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott and John Constable. In 1848, two extensions, the Picture Gallery and Beaumont Room, with its ornate ceiling panels, were added. The ninth baronet, High Sheriff in 1852, substantially remodelled the house in about 1862, with the assistance of architect FP Cockerell, adding another storey. The main entrance front has three storeys and five bays, with an off-centre porte-cochere leading to a vaulted porch within a canted full-height bay. In 1948 the Beaumonts sold the house to the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

for use as offices. In the early 1990s, the hall was rented to Fison's Pharmaceuticals. Both the Uk Operation and EMEA Sales management moved into the hall after relocating from other Fison's offices mainly based in Loughborough. The Hall was redecorated and refurbished after it was seen to be a little run down. In 1997 it was sold for redevelopment and converted into residential apartments. HS2 and the Coleorton Hall Estate The realignment of HS2 means that it will run several hundred metres away from any of the Coleorton Hall Estate grounds, the route is published on the HS2 website. HS2, if and when built will have to be in a deep cutting in this area due to the geographical elevation being higher than any of the surrounding areas.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629068/C321-MMD-RT-DPP-110-590604.pdf As of October 2020, the eastern leg of Phase 2b that is due to run past the Coleorton Hall Estate has been postponed indefinitely and the consensus is that it will likely never happen with the government more likely to focus on the Northern Power House routes.

References

{{Commons category, Coleorton Hall
Images of England; Photograph Coleorton Hall

Heritage Gateway: architectural description of listed building

Historic England entry for Coleorton Hall

Coleorton Hall Conservation Appraisal

William Wordsworth's Plan For Coleorton Hall Winter Garden
Grade II* listed buildings in Leicestershire Country houses in Leicestershire History of Leicestershire North West Leicestershire District