|
|
SOLIHULL LOCAL HISTORY CIRCLEWelcome to www.solh.org.uk |
 |
|---|
|
|
SOLIHULL LOCAL HISTORY CIRCLEWelcome to www.solh.org.uk |
|
|---|
Meetings
Our evening meetings are usually held on the third
Monday of the month at the WI Hall, Warwick Road, Solihull. (Vehicle entrance
in Union Road)
Lectures start at 7.45p.m., but members meet from 7.15p.m. for tea, coffee
and a chat beforehand. Visitors Welcome: Donation £3 at the door.
Parking: Free car parking in Morrison’s car park is no longer available
Morrisons are charging £5 to enter their carpark and require the spending of £15 for free parking.
|
September 19, 2011 Andrew Hamilton MEET AT DAWN UNARMED Using the diary of Cpt Robert Hamilton the story of trench warfare and the Christmas truce of 1914 will be told. The truce involved the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the 134 Saxons at St Yvon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ October 17, 2011 Ian Dillamore MIDDLETON HALL A photographic journey through three centuries telling the storey of this interesting house and its restoration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ November21, 2011 Joy Woodall SOLIHULL, MARKET TOWN, COUNTRY TOWN The story of the town from a quiet backwater to a centre for retail therapy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 20 December 19, 2011 CHRISTMAS MEMBERS' EVENING A time for members to share the results of their recent researches into local history and for us to enjoy a social evening with coffee and mince pie before Christmas. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy New Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ January 16, 2012 Michael Byrne YARDLEY WOOD THROUGH THE CAMERA A tale of religious riots, industrial innovation and deliberate destruction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr David Symons THE STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD The story of this important find and the latest research. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ March 19, 2012 John Yates ANOTHER FUNNY THING HAPPENED AT THE REGISTER OFFICE Another enjoyable evening continuing the story of registration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 16, 2012 Dr Sylvia Pinches COMPTON VERNEY The story of a great house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday, May 11, 2012 Annual General Meeting followed by the Annual Dinner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ June 19, 2012 Joint meeting with SAG John Palmer Hall, Union Road at 7.30pm Joy Woodall Joy will talk on a local history subject in Solihull or the surrounding area.
|
Report on our Last Meeting You Missed
MIDDLETON HALL
Talk given by Ian Dillamore on 17 October 2011 to Solihull LHC
Middleton Hall is older and more fascinating than many historic houses in the West Midlands. The original stone house was built for Philip de Marmion in 1285. It was added to in four phases over the centuries: the Jettied Building and the Great Hall, with a gallery along the front linking the east and west wings, was built c 1530. John Leyland in 1542 described it as Sir John Willoughby’s fine house, and in 1575 Queen Elizabeth stayed two nights in rooms above a Gatehouse to the courtyard. In 1650 there was substantial modification with a new kitchen with lodgings over. There the great English naturalist, John Ray (1627-1705), who travelled across Europe with Francis Willoughby in the 1660s, wrote the first scientific book on ornithology and compiled a comprehensive listing of plants. Finally there were two Georgian phases: the main part of the West Wing with eight bays in 1720, and its south extension of three bays in 1824 by the first of a sequence of tenants, Sir Francis Lawley.
The 1st Lord Middleton, son of Francis Willoughby, demolished the gallery in order to construct the grand staircase. His main residence was Wollaston Hall, Nottingham (built by his father), but when he was ennobled in 1711 he chose his birthplace for his title as there was already a Lord Willoughby. He also unfortunately encased the 16th century structures in concrete, and converted the windows to sash frames to produce a Georgian appearance. Middleton house was let for long periods. One tenant, John Peel, filled in the moat and another, De Hamil, wrote a somewhat fanciful history of the house for the Victoria County History. His visitors included Gertrude Jekyll and Baden Baden-Powell. The latter, brother of the famous Robert, had constructed a man lifter contraption and this was used to photograph the Hall from the air (and later in the Boer War).
The Middleton family sold the house and its 3,600 acres (including the village)
to pay death duties in 1925. It was bought by John Averill who demolished the Gatehouse to allow his lorries into the yard, created a garage in the south wing, and allowed the house to deteriorate. The gardener and housekeeper remember him stripping the panelling from the Jettied Building where they lived, revealing draughty gaps in the lath and plaster. His son, Dick, inherited but lived elsewhere. He sold the estate to Amey Roadstone who extracted gravel and by the 1970s the house was in a very bad state.
The Langley Brook had been dammed with a brick wall in the 16th century to create a pool to service the blast iron furnace on the estate (the second in the country after Cannock, and long before Coalbrookdale). The drive to the Hall ran along the top of the dam. Water lilies were used commercially in London and Manchester, but no longer grow as the pool has silted up. To avoid the expense of repairing the dam wall, Amey banked it up with large stones removed from the finer gravel and made the present grass verge. The Tudor stables were topped out in 1604 and were then unique in having accommodation over the houses and carts. These were used to transport the cast iron six miles to Hints Mill for further processing.
In 1977 local conservationists from Tamworth became concerned about the building, despite Atherstone District Council stating that it was too far gone to save. They persuaded Amey to support the foundation of the Middleton House Trust in 1980; the day after the announcement the fine staircase was badly vandalised. The Trust were granted a lease on the property until 2025 at a peppercorn rent. Amey sold the estate to Consolidated Goldfields who promised to donate the Hall to the Trust, but sadly there is no record of this. Hanson took over that company, and the current owners are property developers who want to break the lease.
The Great Hall has been restored, as has the Jettied Building (in 2000). For the latter only, English Heritage agreed that the concrete covering could be removed, revealing the timber framing in all its glory.
Back to Homepage
