Wilderhope Manor is a 16th-century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. It is located on

Wenlock Edge Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England and a site of special scientific interest because of its geology. It is over long, running southwest to northeast between Craven Arms and Much Wenlock, and is roughl ...

south west of Much Wenlock in

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 ...

. The manor is a Grade I

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 ...

and since 1937 has been used as a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

History and amenities

Wilderhope Manor is an Elizabethan-period

, built of local

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and dating from 1585. The house was built for Francis Smallman and his initials can be seen on the ceilings. The manor remained in the family until 1734 when the estate including the neighbouring Wilderhope farm was sold to

Thomas Lutwyche Thomas Lutwyche (baptised 1675 – 1734) of the Inner Temple and Lutwyche Hall, Shropshire, was an English lawyer and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons almost continuously from 1710 to 1734. Life Lutwyche was the son of Sir Edwar ...

. It is believed that the manor house was not used as a main residence after the sale in 1734 and by 1936 was in a poor state and unoccupied. In 1936 the property was purchased by the W. A. Cadbury Trust who donated it to the National Trust on condition that it was used as a youth hostel. Opening as a youth hostel in 1937, it has remained in use by the Youth Hostels Association since. A £500,000 refurbishment was completed in 2012 and the youth hostel offers 72 beds including a bridal suite with a

four-poster bed __NOTOC__ A four-poster bed is a bed with four vertical columns, one in each corner, that support a tester, or upper (usually rectangular) panel. This tester or panel will often have rails to allow curtains to be pulled around the bed. There ar ...

. Despite years of disuse many of the original features such as the oaken stairways, oak spiral stairs and ornate plaster ceilings survived. The adjoining stable block is itself 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 manor house is in limestone with dressings in gritstone,

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...

s, copings and finials on the front, and a stone-slate roof. There are two storeys and attics, and an approximately H-shaped plan. The entrance front has six bays and four unequal

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s, three of them over projecting bays. In the left projecting gable is a porch, the windows are

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed and transomed, and at the rear is a semicircular stair turret with a conical roof. The stables, now used for other purposes, are in brick with a storey band, and have tile roofs with

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

ed gables. They have a single storey and lofts, and a U-shaped plan with a main range of three bays. The windows are casements with segmental arches, and there are doorways and loft openings. The surrounding manor of Wilderhope is also managed by the National Trust and comprises wooded valleys, pasture, flower-rich meadows and ancient hedgerows dating back centuries along unchanged field boundaries. Evidence of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

ridge and furrow Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open-field system. It is also known as rig (or rigg) and f ...

ploughing can still be seen in fields below Wilderhope Coppice.

Major's Leap

The Manor's owner during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

was Major Thomas Smallman. He was a Royalist who was forced to flee from Cromwell’s approaching troops. After managing to escape on horseback, Major Smallman took a do-or-die plunge down a steep slope at

. His horse was killed but Smallman survived thanks to an apple tree breaking his fall. Since then the ghosts of Smallman and his horse are said to appear in an area now known as Major’s Leap and have been said to have been seen at the manor.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * *

External links

National Trust website on WilderhopeYHA website on Wilderhope
{{Hostels National Trust properties in Shropshire Grade I listed buildings in Shropshire Country houses in Shropshire Youth hostels in England and Wales

History and amenities

Major's Leap

See also

References

External links