| Keele Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Keele, Staffordshire |
| Coordinates | 52°59′59″N2°16′13″W / 52.9998°N 2.2704°W |
| Built | c.1851 |
| Built for | Ralph Sneyd |
| Architect | Anthony Salvin |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Designated | 2 December 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1377615 |
  Location in Staffordshire | |
Keele Hall is a 19th-century mansion house at Keele, Staffordshire, England, now standing on the campus of Keele University and serving as the university conference centre. It is a Grade II* listed building. [1]
The manor of Keele was purchased by the Sneyd family in 1544, [2] a Staffordshire gentry family who held the mayoralty of the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme several times as well as lands in nearby Audley and Bradwell. [3] In about 1580 Ralph Sneyd built a large gabled Tudor style house there. [4] The family prospered as coal (in nearby Silverdale, Staffordshire) and iron owners and also brick and tile manufacturers. During the English Civil War, Keele Hall was, allegedly, briefly instrumental is providing an asylum for King Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. [5] As royalist supporters, following the final Parliamentarian victory, the Sneyd family were heavily fined. [3]
The hall was inherited by Ralph Sneyd in 1829, following the death of his father. By the mid-19th century the hall was in a derelict state. In 1851 the old house was demolished and replaced with the current Jacobethan design by architect Anthony Salvin, possibly to emulate the neighbouring estate at Crewe Hall. [4] [2] English architect William Eden Nesfield described Keele Hall as:
One of the best planned houses of its time and drew attention to the way it was adapted to the slope on which it stood
— Jill Allibone, Anthony Salvin: Pioneer of Gothic Revival Architecture
The park was landscaped around 1768–70 by William Emes, who added to or enlarged existing ponds and planted trees to conceal what remained working farms in the park. [6] Its main natural feature is the wooded valley with ponds running south-east from Keele Hall to Springpool Wood at the park's southern extremity, abutting the M6 motorway. The pool in that wood was originally a hammer pond serving a forge.
With the fortunes of the Sneyd family in decline, the hall was let to Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia, a son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, and his wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg, between 1900 and 1909. [7] They had contracted a morganatic marriage that meant they would spend the rest of their lives living in exile in England, France and Germany. [8] The couple entertained frequently at Keele Hall, and guests included Sophie's father Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau, Prince Francis of Teck, Prince Pyotr Sviatopolk-Mirsky and Russian ambassador Count Alexander von Benckendorff. [8] In 1901, Edward, Prince of Wales visited whilst visiting the Duke of Sutherland, whose residence was the nearby Trentham Hall. [9]
During the ten years the Grand Duke lived at Keele Hall, he took up the life of an English country gentleman. The couple were popular with the local population, regularly visiting the local school in Keele village. The town council of Newcastle-under-Lyme conferred on Michael the distinction of Lord High Steward of the borough in 1902. [8]
The Hall was requisitioned by the army during World War II. In 1948, with the aid of grant funding, the Keele estate was sold by the Sneyd family for the establishment of the University College of North Staffordshire, which in 1962 became Keele University. [2] Today, Keele Hall is used to host conferences, events and weddings. [10]
The house is constructed from red and yellow sandstone ashlar with rusticated quoins. [1] Designed to a roughly L-shape plan, the style is Jacobean Revival. [11] [1] Built around a courtyard, it consists of three stories with cellars. To one side of the courtyard is a more simply built service wing. [1]
The interiors of the state rooms are decorated in a mixture of styles, including Louis XVI style and Renaissance Revival. Some rooms are influenced by the works of English architect William Kent. [12] The Tudor Revival dining room features tapestries from the Aubusson Manufactory and carvings in the style of Grinling Gibbons. [1] The dining room is now used by Keele University as the university common room. [13]
Harlaxton Manor is a Victorian country house in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, England. It was built for Gregory Gregory, a local squire and businessman. Gregory employed two of the leading architects of Victorian England, Anthony Salvin and William Burn and consulted a third, Edward Blore, during its construction. Its architecture, which combines elements of Jacobean and Elizabethan styles with Baroque decoration, makes it unique among England's Jacobethan houses. Harlaxton is a Grade I listed building on the National Heritage List for England, and many other structures on the estate are also listed. The surrounding park and gardens are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is now the British campus of the University of Evansville.
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. In 2021 the population was 75,082.
Keele University is a public research university in Keele, approximately three miles from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted university status by Royal Charter as the University of Keele in 1962.
The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England.
Anthony Salvin was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country houses, and built a number of new houses and churches.
William Burn was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival, often referred to as the golden age of Scottish architecture.
William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) was an English soldier, landscape architect and artist. After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing some of the foremost gardens of the mid-Victorian era. These included Witley Court in Worcestershire, Castle Howard in Yorkshire, Treberfydd in Powys and Kew Gardens. He also established a professional dynasty; with his sons Arthur Markham and William Eden Nesfield, he developed over 250 landscapes across the United Kingdom.
Keele is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale. Keele lies on the A53 road from Newcastle to Market Drayton and Shrewsbury. The village is the location of Keele University and Keele Services, a motorway service area on the M6.
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a constituency in northern Staffordshire created in 1354 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Adam Jogee of the Labour Party. It was the last to be co-represented by a member of the Conservative Party when it was dual-member, before the 1885 general election which followed the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 coupled with the Reform Act 1884. In 1919 the local MP, Josiah Wedgwood, shifted his allegiance from the Liberal Party — the Lloyd George Coalition Liberals allying with the Conservatives — to the Labour Party and the seat elected the Labour candidate who has stood at each election for the next hundred years, a total of 29 elections in succession. Labour came close to losing the seat in 1969, 1986, 2015 and 2017, and eventually lost the seat in 2019.
Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in reality it usually took the style of English vernacular architecture of the Middle Ages that had survived into the Tudor period.
Betley is a village and civil parish in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England, about halfway between the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Nantwich. Betley forms a continual linear settlement with Wrinehill.
Sneyd Green is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in the north-east of the city, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Hanley. Sneyd Green borders Smallthorne in the north, Milton in the east, Birches Head in the south, and Cobridge in the west.
Bradwell is a suburb and council ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. According to the 2001 Census, it had a population of 6,365, increasing to 6,403 at the 2011 Census. The motto of Bradwell is "We care, we share", and it is highlighted by a structure situated on the East side of the Bursley Way roundabout.
Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Sneyd, of Keele Hall was an English politician who served in the Parliament of Great Britain and as High Sheriff of Staffordshire.
The Boathouse on Boathouse Pond, Belton House, Belton, Lincolnshire was designed by Anthony Salvin in 1838–1839. It is a Grade II listed building.
Mamhead House, Mamhead, Devon, is a country house dating from 1827. Its origins are older but the present building was constructed for Robert William Newman, an Exeter merchant, in 1827–1833 by Anthony Salvin. The house is Grade I listed as Dawlish College, its function at the time of listing. The parkland is listed at Grade II*.
Ryston Hall, Ryston, Norfolk, England is a 17th-century country house built by Sir Roger Pratt for himself. The house was constructed between 1669 and 1672 in the Carolean style. In the late 18th century, John Soane made alterations to the house, and further work on the building was carried out by Anthony Salvin in the mid-19th century. Ryston Hall is a Grade II* listed building.
Robert Mowbray Howard Esquire JP DL was a British official and editor.
Holy Trinity Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. It was built between 1833 and 1834, and designed by its priest, Fr James Egan in the Gothic Revival style. While it was described as "the finest modern specimen of ornamental brickwork in the kingdom" when it was built, Nikolaus Pevsner described it as "a crazy effort in blue brick." It is a Grade II* listed building, located on London Road close to the Grosvenor Roundabout.
Ralph Sneyd (1793–1870) was an English landowner in Staffordshire, now best known for the rebuilding of Keele Hall. He was also an ironmaster, coalowner and railway developer, and was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1844.
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