Hardwick Grange (also known as Hardwicke Grange)

Hardwick Grange was built before 1808 by Thomas Harrison for Sir Rowland Hill (made 1st Viscount of Almarez in 1842). Harrison was also responsible for Lord Hill's column at Shrewsbury.

The house lay in a park, around and outside of which ran a perimeter road. By the 1880s, the park contained a large number of subsidiary buildings. These included, in the southern part of the grounds, the Waterloo Windmill. This was built by Viscount Hill in memory of his military exploits. On the south, west, and east, belts of trees screened the park, which was also planted up with a number of clumps.

It has been suggested that these trees were intended to represent the position of the armies at the start of Battle of Waterloo (arguably Viscount Hill's defining moment). However, at least some of those plantings (together with a new lodge on the east side of the park) were commissioned by the 2nd Viscount General Lord Hill (d. 1875), who in 1851 was said to have greatly improved the Hall and its pleasure grounds. The house was demolished before 1958.

Hardwick Lodge, on the modern A49, was probably also by Harrison.

Type

Estate

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Survival

Part: standing remains