Stretton Hall is an early 18th-century mansion house at
Stretton, South Staffordshire. It is the home of a branch of the Monckton family descended from John Monckton 1st
Viscount Galway
Viscount Galway () is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation came in 1628 in favour of Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde. He was made Earl of St Albans in the Peerage of England at the same ti ...
. It is a privately owned
Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, not open to the public.
The house built by John Congreve in about 1700 was originally two-storeyed with dormers above, a three-bay pedimented central block and two-bayed wings with a central pedimented entrance door.
General Henry Monckton (1780–1854), a son of
Edward Monckton and Sophia Pigot of
Somerford Hall, purchased the estate in about 1845. He died in 1854, passing the estate on to his son,
Francis Monckton
Francis Monckton (7 March 1844 – 30 September 1926) was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1871 to 1885.
Monckton was the eldest son of Gen. Henry Monckton of Stretton Hall, Staffordshire and his wife Ann ...
. Four years later, Francis inherited Somerford, which had passed through the hands of two childless uncles, Edward and George.
Victoria County History, volume 5, chapter 8, s.3.
/ref> The Somerford inheritance included Coven
A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...
and Engleton, two large neighbouring estates. Francis already resided at Stretton and moved the family seat there permanently, renting out Somerford Hall. In the 1860s he carried out extensive alterations at Stretton including a third storey and a new entrance front.
Several members of the family have served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire
This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire.
The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. The sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities as ...
, the latest being Mrs Joanna Bird Monckton in 1995.
References
English Heritage: Heritage Gateway, listed building description
Staffordshire Past-Track:Stretton Hall
Carehome.co.uk data on Stretton Hall
{{coord, 52.7030, -2.1685, type:landmark_region:GB-STS, display=title
Country houses in Staffordshire
Grade II* listed houses in Staffordshire