Pell Wall Hall is a neo-classical country house on the outskirts of

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "D ...

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 ...

. Faced in

Grinshill Grinshill is a small village, and civil parish in Shropshire, England, United Kingdom. The parish is one of the smallest in the district. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 274. Grinshill Hill rises above the village to a ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, Pell Wall is the last completed domestic house designed by

Sir John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professo ...

and was constructed 1822–1828 for local iron merchant Purney Sillitoe at a total cost of £20,976. After Sillitoe's death, Pell Wall was inherited by Marten Harcourt Griffin who between 1872 and 1875 added the south wing and had all the interiors remodelled. Financial problems caused Pell Wall to be let from 1891 until 1901 when it was purchased by a brewer from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

named James Munroe Walker who occupied the house until 1917. It was used for its original purpose until 1928 when it was acquired by the

Brothers of Christian Instruction The Brothers of Christian Instruction ( la, Institutum Fratrum Instructionis Christianae de Ploërmel, F.I.C.P.''Ann. Pont. 2007'', p. 1499.), commonly known as the La Mennais Brothers, is a Catholic educational organization founded in 1819 by G ...

, initially as a

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and latterly as a boys' boarding school. The building was abandoned in 1962 and left to deteriorate until May 1986 when it was gutted by a fire which burnt for three days. Ownership of Pell Wall passed to the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

in 1988 under a

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

; it was subsequently sold to the Pell Wall Preservation Trust for £1. Over the next ten years later Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

additions were completely removed and the shell of the John Soane original was restored using a one million pound grant from

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 ...

and a loan from the Architectural Heritage Fund. The house is still in a shell state comprising five ground-floor rooms, six first-floor rooms, six second-floor rooms and a large cellar. In November 2009 Pell Wall Hall and its four-acre grounds was put up for sale and was subsequently purchased for £580,000 by a private buyer who has stated his intention to "reinstate this country residence in empathy with Sir John Soane’s original drawings.”

References

External links

A personal recollection of school days at St. Joseph's College
a Catholic Boarding and Day School for boys at Pell Wall Hall. Includes many photos.
BBC in pictures: St Joseph's School at Pell Wall Hall

taken in 1996 and 1997 for an

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

project on the Built Environment * Country houses in Shropshire John Soane buildings Market Drayton Grade II* listed buildings in Shropshire {{Shropshire-struct-stub

See also

References

External links