Himley Hall
Himley Hall is a 17th century country house in the English county of Staffordshire . It is in the small village of Himley in the south of the county, near the towns of Dudley and Wolverhampton . English Heritage has Himley Hall as Historic Building II *. Grade listed. His park and garden, which were expanded by Capability Brown in the 1770s , are listed as Grade II on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens .
history
In the early days Himley Hall was a ditch provided mansion , which stood next to the medieval church. For over four centuries it served as the secondary residence of the Lords of Dudley and their knights. One of its residents was Dud Dudley , whose experiments on smelting iron ore with coal were carried out nearby in the 17th century. In 1645, King Charles I camped on the property on his way to his defeat at the Battle of Naseby in the English Civil War .
In 1628 the Ward family inherited the title of Lords of Dudley through Humble Ward's marriage to the heiress of the Dudley lands, Frances Sutton . Humble Ward was the son of the jeweler and goldsmith at the court of King Charles I. After the damage to Dudley Castle in the Civil War, Himley Hall became the headquarters of the family.
The current mansion dates from the 18th century when John Ward had the medieval mansion demolished to make way for a grand Palladianist mansion. Himley village was relocated at this time and in 1764 the church was rebuilt in its current location. In 1774 John Ward died and his son, also John Ward , succeeded him. He commissioned Capability Brown to redesign the 73 acre park. The changes proposed by Brown in 1779 included a new lake to be fed by a series of waterfalls from a series of small ponds located higher up.
The family left Himley Hall in the 1830s because the country house was too close to the Black Country . Instead, they lived in great luxury, financed by their ore mining wealth, at Witley Court in Great Witley , Worcestershire .
In 1934 the Duke and Duchess of Kent spent their honeymoon at Himley Hall. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII ) stayed there for the last weekend before his abdication.
After World War II , the property was sold to the National Coal Board for £ 45,000 in January 1947 , just two hours before it was due for auction. The Coal Board planned to use the house as an office for 250 of its employees in the West Midlands. Three months later, while the country house was being converted for its new purpose, a fire broke out and destroyed the south wing. The house was uninhabited when the fire broke out and all of Lord Dudley's works of art and fixtures had been removed three days earlier. This part of the house has been rebuilt, but not according to its earlier appearance. The decline of the coal industry in the area resulted in the country house being put up for sale again.
In 1966 it was jointly acquired by the city councils of Dudley and Wolverhampton, although it was in the Seisdon Urban District (from 1974: South Staffordshire ). The park became a public recreation area. In 1988 the City of Dudley bought Wolverhampton City's shares in the property and became the sole owner.
Himley Park
Himley Park on the Himley Hall estate was created in the 1970s and is now used by 200,000 visitors a year. There is a large lake and a hill, as well as many forest paths and open parkland. The park is well known for its large population of ducks . There is a small log cabin café where you can get hot food and drinks.
There is also a 9-hole golf course, which was opened in 1980 by A. & K. Baker '', and a pitch and putt (golf course with a shortened game length) for families in the park, as well as the opportunity to fish. The Himley Hall Sailing Club has been based on the great lake since 1970 and also serves as a training center that is registered by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Himley Hall . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
- ^ Honeymoon At Himley Hall . The Times, November 29, 1934.
- ^ Himley Hall Sold To Coal Board . The Times, January 15, 1947.
- ^ Fire At Himley Hall . The Times, April 7, 1947.
- ^ Himley Hall: Past, Present, & Future . Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
Web links
- Himley Hall and Park . Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.
- Himley Hall . Images of England. Historic England. English Heritage.
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '18.8 " N , 2 ° 9' 58.3" W.