Abberley Hall - History

History

Throughout the medieval period the estate on which Abberly Hall stands was a possession of the de Toeni family of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire. A 'chief messuage' was mentioned in 1309, and Habington says that “Abberley seemethe to have byn of owld the principall seat of the Lord Thony in this shyre”. In the 1530s, Leland referred to a castle at Abberley, but there is no other evidence the house was more than a manor house. King Henry VIII gave the estate to his page of the privy chamber, Sir William Walshe, in 1531, and the house descended in that family to William Walsh, the poet and critic (died 1708), from whom it passed by marriage to the Bromleys. Nothing is known of the house prior to the publication of a drawing in Dr. Treadway Russell Nash’s History of Worcestershire which shows a three-storey house with a five-bay centre, single-bay projecting wings, a prominent cupola, and a door with a broken segmental pediment. This may date from William Walsh’s ownership (1682-1708) or that of his successor, Francis Bromley (1708-c1740). An irregular wing suggests that the early 18th century appearance was due to the remodelling of the previous house rather than a new build. When Colonel Bromley died in the 1830s, leaving seven daughters and no son, his executors decided to sell the estate, which comprised less than 800 acres (3.2 km2) and was heavily encumbered by debts.

The old house was in very poor repair, and the purchaser in 1836, John Lewis Moilliet pulled it down and employed Samuel Daukes to build an Italianate replacement; this was Dawkes’ first major country house commission. Moilliet died in 1845 and that Christmas his new house burned down. Moilliet’s widow and son promptly employed Daukes to rebuild the house in 1846-49 on the old foundations and apparently to the original design. The house was extended and redecorated internally by J.P. St. Aubyn for a later owner, John Joseph Jones, an Oldham cotton magnate, in about 1883. The house has good neo-Classical interiors, somewhat altered by St. Aubyn, who introduced a series of black chimneypieces. The top of the belvedere on the house was removed in 1962, and a house for the headmaster was attached to garden front, c.1970-75, which in its Brutalist style makes no concessions to the older building.

A park was referred to as early as 1280, and Habington in the 17th century mentions “a park on a mighty hill”. In 1836 it contained 192 acres (0.78 km2). St Aubyn also built a clock tower in the grounds in 1883-85, and the main entrance lodge. The North Lodge and estate buildings are by John Douglas, c.1888, although an earlier lodge is referred to in 1753.

As a school, Abberley Hall has won much acclaim, with the Good Schools Guide calling it "A delight."