Himley Hall

Himley Hall and Park
Himley Hall and Park
	Location in Staffordshire
General information
Status	Open to public
Type	English country house
Architectural style	Georgian
Location	Himley, Staffordshire
Coordinates	52°31′19″N2°09′58″W / 52.5219°N 2.1662°W
Completed	18th century
Renovated	1824-27
Owner	Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Renovating team
Architect(s)	William Atkinson
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated	16 June 1953
Reference no.	1230781

Last updated September 01, 2024

Himley Hall is an early 17th-century country house situated in Staffordshire, England. It is situated in the south of the county in the small village of Himley, near to the town of Dudley and the city of Wolverhampton. Himley Hall is a Grade II* listed building.^[1] Its park and garden, which were extended in the 1770s by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, are Grade II listed with the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.^[2]

History

In early days, it was a moated manor house, standing beside the medieval church. For over four centuries it served as a secondary home to the Lords of Dudley and their knights. Its occupants included Dud Dudley, whose 17th-century experiments in smelting iron ore with coal were carried out nearby. In 1645, King Charles I encamped in the grounds on his way to defeat at the Battle of Naseby during the English Civil War.

In 1628, the Ward family inherited the title Lords of Dudley through the marriage of Humble Ward to the heiress to the Dudley estates, Frances Sutton. Humble Ward was the son of the jeweller and goldsmith to the court of King Charles I. Following damage to Dudley Castle during the Civil War, Himley Hall became the principal family home.

The current hall dates from the 18th century when John Ward demolished the medieval manor to make way for a great Palladian mansion. The village of Himley was relocated at this time, and its parish church rebuilt on its present site in 1764. Most recent Earls of Dudley are interred in a private burial ground at the rear of this church.

In 1774 John Ward died and was succeeded by his son John Ward, Junior, who commissioned Capability Brown to redesign the 180 acres (730,000 m²) of parkland. Changes in Brown's 1779 plans included the addition of a lake, fed by a series of waterfalls from a higher chain of smaller pools.^[1]

The family left Himley in the 1830s, because it was too close to the Black Country. They instead lived in great grandeur on their mineral wealth at Witley Court at Great Witley in Worcestershire.

In 1934, the Duke and Duchess of Kent honeymooned at Himley Hall.^[3] King Edward VIII spent his last weekend there before his abdication in 1936.

After the Second World War, the property was sold to the National Coal Board for £45,000 in January 1947, only two hours before it was set to go on the auction block. The board planned to use as office space for 250 of its West Midlands staff.^[4] Three months later, during its conversion for this new purpose, a fire broke out and gutted the South wing. The house was unoccupied when fire broke out, and all of Lord Dudley's art and furnishings had been removed three days prior.^[5] This part of the house was rebuilt, but not according to its former appearance. The decline in the coal mining industry in the area led to the Hall being once more put on the market.

In 1966, it was purchased jointly by Dudley and Wolverhampton County Borough Councils − despite existing within the Seisdon Urban District (and then South Staffordshire from 1974). The park was opened as a public leisure area. In 1988, Dudley bought Wolverhampton's share, gaining outright ownership.^[6]

Himley Park

Set in the grounds of Himley Hall, Himley Park was created in the 1970s and is now visited by over 200,000 visitors each year. It features a large lake and hill with many woodland walks along with open parkland. It is well known for its thriving population of ducks. There is a small log cabin café which is open for hot food and drinks.

There is also a nine-hole public golf course which was designed by A & K Baker in 1980 and a family pitch and putt within the park, along with public fishing on the lake. Himley Hall sailing club have sailed on the Great Lake since 1970 and are a RYA-registered training centre.

Related Research Articles

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Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford, is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family.

Sedgley is a town in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.

Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands, situated 5 miles (8.0 km) west-southwest of central Dudley. In 2011 the area had a population of 25,191, down from 25,808 at the 2001 Census.

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. It adjoins Cheshire to the north west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south east, West Midlands and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The historic county of Staffordshire includes Wolverhampton, Walsall, and West Bromwich, these three being removed for administrative purposes in 1974 to the new West Midlands authority. The resulting administrative area of Staffordshire has a narrow southwards protrusion that runs west of West Midlands to the border of Worcestershire. The city of Stoke-on-Trent was removed from the admin area in the 1990s to form a unitary authority, but is still part of Staffordshire for ceremonial and traditional purposes.

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Himley is a small village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Dudley and 5 mi (8.0 km) southwest of Wolverhampton. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 802. Himley Hall was the home of the Lords of Dudley.

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The Earl of Dudley’s Railway or Pensnett Railway, was a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge railway that developed from a single 3-mile (4.8 km) line opened in 1829 to, at its maximum extent, a 40-mile (64 km) long network around the Earl of Dudley’s Iron Works at Round Oak near Brierley Hill.

Himley is a civil parish in the district of South Staffordshire, Staffordshire, England. It contains twelve listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is at Grade II*, the middle of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The most important building in the parish is Himley Hall, a country house, which is listed together with associated structures and items in the grounds, Himley Park. The other listed buildings include a former rectory and associated structures, houses, a church, a hotel, a public house, and an ice house.

References

1 2 Historic England. "Himley Hall (Grade II*) (1230781)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 August 2023.
↑ Historic England. "Himley Hall (Grade II) (1001270)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
↑ "Honeymoon At Himley Hall". The Times . 29 November 1934. p. 31.
↑ "Himley Hall Sold To Coal Board". The Times . 15 January 1947. p. 4.
↑ "Fire At Himley Hall". The Times . 7 April 1947. p. 2.
↑ "Himley Hall: Past, Present, & Future". Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.

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[park-1] 1 2 Historic England. "Himley Hall (Grade II*) (1230781)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 August 2023.

[2] Historic England. "Himley Hall (Grade II) (1001270)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 August 2023.

[3] "Honeymoon At Himley Hall". The Times . 29 November 1934. p. 31.

[4] "Himley Hall Sold To Coal Board". The Times . 15 January 1947. p. 4.

[5] "Fire At Himley Hall". The Times . 7 April 1947. p. 2.

[dudley-6] "Himley Hall: Past, Present, & Future". Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.

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