Introduction
Today Park Hall Farm incorporates a variety of areas, spread over 40,000 square feet. Key features include restored Victorian farm buildings, museums dedicated to life in the 19th century, and woodland walks. In early 2009 the reconstruction of an Iron Age roundhouse was begun on site.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
Access contact details
Directions
Other Websites
- History
The park occupies an important part of the Shropshire landscape, close to the medieval Whittington Castle, as well as an Iron Age hillfort at Oswestry.
We know that in the early-14th centuy, when the park was one of the Earl of Arundel's three such properties, horses were kept at Oswestry.
The large, half-timbered house known as Park Hall was built in around 1571, in the already extant grounds of Whittington Castle park, and close to the site of its moated lodge (see record for Whittington Castle park). It was built for Thomas Powell.
The grounds were developed over the following centuries, and by 1726 the gardens included a raised terrace, a summerhouse, and an inscribed sundial. The summerhouse still stood in 1761, when an inventory demonstrated that it contained two chairs and a table. The same inventory also recorded rollers (presumably for paths and lawns) and glasses for hot beds.
Greenwood's Shropshire map shows that in 1827 Park Hall was surrounded by a small park, bisected by a straight, tree-lined drive to the house. These seem to have still been extant in 1889, when the Ordnance Survey undertook the production of the 6-inch map for the area.
Park Hall burnt down in 1918, but today the park itself is a popular local attraction, with woodland walks, reconstructed farm buildings (dating back to the 19th century), museums, and a range of outdoor activities. In 2009 work commenced on the reconstruction of an Iron-Age roundhouse.
Period
- Post Medieval (1540 to 1901)
- Tudor (1485-1603)
- Features & Designations
Features
- Manor House (featured building)
- Description: Half-timbered. Lost to fire in 1918.
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- Walk
- Terrace
- Description: Raised terrace.
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- Summerhouse
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- Drive
- Description: Tree-lined drive.
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- Key Information
Type
Estate
Purpose
Recreational/sport
Principal Building
Domestic / Residential
Period
Post Medieval (1540 to 1901)
Survival
Extant
Hectares
52
Open to the public
Yes
Civil Parish
Whittington
- References
References
- Anon. 1889. {Ordnance Survey County Series Six Inch Map of Shropshire 12. SE}. Ordnance Survey County Series Six Inch
- Stamper, P. {Historic Parks and Gardens of Shropshire} Shrewsbury: Shropshire Books (1996, p. 7). Historic Parks and Gardens of Shropshire
- {Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society}, 2nd Series, Volume 7, 93, 101-2, 113 Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society
- Greenwood, C. and Greenwood, J. 1827. {Map of Shropshire}. Greenwood's Map of Shropshire, 1827