Patshull Hall is a substantial

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

mansion house situated near

Pattingham Pattingham is a village in the civil parish of Pattingham and Patshull, South Staffordshire, near the county boundary with Shropshire. Pattingham is seven miles west of Wolverhampton and seven and a half miles east of Bridgnorth. Description ...

in Staffordshire,

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. It 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 by repute is one of the largest listed buildings in the county.

History

The Hall was built to designs by architect

James Gibbs James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...

for Sir John Astley in about 1730. The main façade is of three storeys with seven bays, three of which are pedimented, and tower wings. The west wing, of monolithic proportions, has four storeys. The house was set in a park of some created by Capability Brown and including a large serpentine lake. The estate was acquired for £100,000 in 1765 by Sir George Pigot, ( Baron Pigot from 1766), on his retirement as

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized b ...

. The Pigot family sold the property to

William Legge, 5th Earl of Dartmouth William Walter Legge, 5th Earl of Dartmouth (12 August 1823 – 4 August 1891), styled Viscount Lewisham until 1853, was a British peer and Conservative politician. Political career Legge was elected in 1849 as Member of Parliament (MP) fo ...

in 1848, whose son and heir

Viscount Lewisham A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

took residence. Substantial extensions and improvements were carried out for him by architect

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred ...

in the 1880s. The Legges later moved their seat to Plas Newydd on

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

. During the 20th century the house served as a rehabilitation centre in the 1940s and then until the 1980s as an orthopaedic hospital. In 1990 the estate was broken up and many acres were sold for the creation of a golf course; a classical temple created by Capability Brown was converted to become the clubhouse. patshull hall estate

During the 1990s the house fell into disrepair and was briefly used as a school. In 1996 the house had suffered extensive decay and had deteriorated so badly that it appeared on the

English heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

list of Buildings at Risk. Patshull Hall was bought in 1997 by Neil Avery, a renovation specialist and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, as a restoration project and the house was subsequently removed from the Buildings at Risk register. The renovated Hall was later purchased in 2015. The house is being further renovated and is now used as a private family home.

References

*https://www.neilaverygroup.com/ Classical Ruin Rescue]
English Heritage; Images of England, photograph and architectural description of listed building

Patshull Hall entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses

English Heritage; Images of England, photograph

English Heritage; Images of England, photograph South front

Staffordshire Past TrackEvolution History : Patshull Hall
{{Civil Parishes of South Staffordshire Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire James Gibbs buildings Houses completed in 1730 Country houses in Staffordshire

History

See also

References