Astley Hall (Stourport-on-Severn)

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Astley Hall garden facade

Astley Hall is a country house in Astley in Stourport-on-Severn in the English county Worcestershire . The house gained importance as the home of the former British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin , who died here in 1947. Today the house serves as a nursing home operated by Heritage Manor Ltd and called the Astley Hall Care Home .

description

Astley Hall is a small, three-story country house set in 5 acres of parkland about 2 miles from Stourport-on-Severn. The house consists of a main block connected by L-shaped stables. There is a separate lodge in the park, Baldwin Lodge , a formal garden and a kitchen garden. The current building dates from the middle of the 19th century with additions from the beginning of the 20th century.

Astley Hall entrance facade with the entrance door with a semicircular skylight
View of the garden facade with the two-story vestibule with ornamental gable on the right

To the right of the main house is an arched, stone garden entrance in Tudor style , to the left of the main house is a somewhat later, gabled extension with a clock and brick stables with stone cladding.

The main house is a stone construction with a slate roof. On the roof there are groups of chimneys with decorative pipes. The Jacobean facade has a three-storey central block with three bays and two-tier wings , one bay wide, with cornices, parapets and shaped gables. The outer bays of the central block have two-story, angular bay windows with open parapets.

The entrance to the main building is mediated by a door with a semicircular skylight, a rusticated arch and an Ionic motif above the keystone. Above the entrance hall there is the inscription "SLB 1912", which indicates the final purchase of the house and the additions commissioned by Stanley Baldwin and his wife. The entrance hall is flanked by windows with skylights and Ionic pilasters. Inside, the entrance lobby has a Jacobean fittings ceiling .

On the garden facade, the house is a bit simpler with a two-story porch with an ornamental gable and a coat of arms. The extension on the right has an Ionic loggia on the upper floor over three bays with an arch in the middle bay; Another extension on the right ends in a recessed pavilion, which may have concealed a water tower.

history

Astley Hall's main house was built between 1830 and 1850 for the 'Lea' family. '' Thomas Simcox Lea '' was '' High Sheriff of Worcestershire '' in 1845. At the beginning of the 20th century the mansion was sold to Stanley Baldwin, who lived in Astley Hall from 1902 until his death in 1947. In 1912 he managed to buy the whole house with its extensions. Baldwin's wife Lucy died of a heart attack in Astley Hall in June 1945 . Stanley Baldwin, then 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, lived in the house until his death on December 14, 1947.

After Lord Baldwin's death, Astley Hall was sold and used first as a school and later as a nursing home. The building was listed on November 27, 1984 as a historical building of the 2nd degree. Its current owners acquired the country house in May 2012. Today it still serves as a nursing home and is not open to the public.

Surroundings

Baldwin's memorial near his home at Astley Hall

In Worcestershire, in the Stourport-on-Severn area, there are a number of large mansions and country houses, e.g. B. Witley Court , Pool House , Areley Hall , Hartlebury Castle and Abberley Hall with their clock tower.

Directly at Astley Hall is a memorial to Stanley Baldwin on the road from Stourport-on-Severn to Worcester . After his death, a national appeal for donations for this memorial failed. Winston Churchill personally donated the missing money and attended the unveiling of the monument. The monument originally consisted of a base with an inscription and a statue. The statue disappeared at some point.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Astley Hall, Worcestershire, Stourport, England . Parks & Gardens UK. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Astley Hall, Astley and Dunley . British Listed Buildings. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  3. ^ The London Gazette, Tuesday February 4, 1845 . Pp. 315-316. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  4. ^ Astley Hall Care Home . CareHome.co.uk. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ Astley and Dunley Parish Council website. Retrieved May 13, 2016.

Web links

Commons : Astley Hall (Stourport-on-Severn)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 18 ′ 21.2 "  N , 2 ° 18 ′ 49.9"  W.