Meaford Hall, Stone, Staffordshire, 1944

Meaford Hall in Staffordshire, England is a 17th-century country house at Meaford, near

Stone, Staffordshire Stone is a canal town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, north of Stafford, south of Stoke-on-Trent and north of Rugeley. It was an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the Borough of Staffor ...

. The

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

runs through the estate's meadow. On the river was one round and one three-sided half-turret. 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 ...

that reached as much as 156 feet long by 45 feet wide with a basement, ground floor and second floor. The hall consisted of two buildings with a chamber, work room and bedroom. The basement included a deeds room,

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system ...

, two beer cellars and dispense cellar. The estate was founded in the 8th century and acquired by William Jervis of Chatcull in the late 17th century and remained the seat of the Jervis family for almost 250 years. It played a role in

The 'Forty-Five' The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took p ...

rebellion by the

Young Pretender Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

Prince Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

. Swinfen Jervis received 70 soldiers and awaited an engagement that never occurred. It was the birthplace of Admiral John Jervis, later 1st Earl St Vincent, hero of the defeat of the Spanish at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. Meaford Hall from window, 1944

The Hall was much extended and modernised by Lady Forester, daughter of

Edward Jervis Jervis, 2nd Viscount St Vincent Edward Jervis Jervis, 2nd Viscount St Vincent (1 April 1767 – 25 September 1859) was a Viscount in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Early life Jervis was born Edward Jervis Ricketts, the second son of William Henry Ricketts and Mary Jervis. ...

in the late 19th century but was sold in 1943. Thereafter it was variously occupied by the United States Forces, and by a school and latterly it served as the headquarters of the building company Percy Bilton Ltd. Following a period of unoccupation and neglect the Hall – much reduced in size – was restored by a new owner and was reopened on 14 February 1997, the bicentenary of the Battle of Cape St Vincent. At some point it was acquired by Craig Johnson, who undertook a number of developments, including addition of a leisure suite. In April 2008 Johnson was one of 21 people to be jailed in connection with a £138m

VAT A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...

carousel fraud Missing trader fraud (also called missing trader intra-community fraud or MTIC fraud) involves the theft of Value Added Tax (VAT) from a government by fraudsters who exploit VAT rules, most commonly the European Union VAT rules which provide th ...

, with the defendants sentenced to a total of 133 years – one of the largest thefts from public funds that has been brought to court after a Customs investigation. In November 2008, Johnson was ordered to repay

HMRC , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = HM Revenue & Customs.svg , logocaption = , badge = , badgecaption = , flag = , flagcaption = , image_size = , co ...

£26m, with £8m due within 12 months from the sale of Meaford Hall.

References

Heritage Gateway: architectural description of listed building. Original 18th century building

Heritage Gateway: architectural description of listed building. 19th century Hall

External links

{{coord, 52.9179, -2.1668, type:landmark_region:GB-STS, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Staffordshire

See also

References

External links