Ferney Hall is a mid-

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...

mansion house situated at

Onibury Onibury is a village and civil parish on the River Onny in southern Shropshire, about northwest of the market town of Ludlow. The parish includes the hamlets of Walton and Wootton and was extended in 1967 to include parts from Clungunford and ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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 Ir ...

. The hall is listed Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

and its gardens are also Grade II listed on the

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...

. The estate has had several owners, including, in the 16th century, the Norton family, and in the 17th century the Ffolliott family, followed by Walker in the 19th century. Designs for new gardens at the old hall appeared in the 'Red Book' of

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

in 1789. The present mansion was built on the site of the old hall in 1856 by William Willoughby George Hurt Sitwell, great nephew of Sir Sitwell Sitwell. Following a fire which severely damaged the structure, architect

Samuel Pountney Smith Samuel Pountney Smith JP (2 November 1812Obituary. Date stated to be his birthday. – 5 November 1883) was an English architect who practised in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Smith was a native of Munslow, where he was baptised on 17 De ...

supervised the rebuilding in 1875. The property was occupied during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

years by the R.A.S.C. and later as Italian P.O.W. camp and then German P.O.W. camp. Owner, Mrs Cushney occupied some rooms throughout the war and until her death in about 1955 or'56. The restoration of Ferney Hall was due for completion early 2009, when its new owners were Mr and Mrs Wem. The restoration was being done by Mr William Wem and his son Dean Wem. The house was sold later the same year for £1.55 million to Hugh Fitzwilliam-Lay. The hall is not yet completed and is an ongoing project.

References

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Ferney Hall
Grade II listed buildings in Shropshire Country houses in Shropshire Grade II listed parks and gardens in Shropshire

See also

References