New Berry Hall

Last updated

New Berry Hall main entrance circa 1900 NewBerryHall2.jpg
New Berry Hall main entrance circa 1900
New Berry Hall from rear garden circa 1900 NewBerryHall1.jpg
New Berry Hall from rear garden circa 1900
New Berry Hall main entrance gates from Marsh Lane circa 1904 New Berry Hall 3.JPG
New Berry Hall main entrance gates from Marsh Lane circa 1904
New Berry Hall rear elevation New Berry Hall 4.JPG
New Berry Hall rear elevation
New Berry Hall having fallen derelict circa 1980 New Berry Hall 5.JPG
New Berry Hall having fallen derelict circa 1980
New Berry Hall shortly before demolition early 1990s New Berry Hall 6.jpg
New Berry Hall shortly before demolition early 1990s

New Berry Hall ( 52°24′52″N1°45′16″W / 52.4145°N 1.7544°W / 52.4145; -1.7544 ), on the outskirts of Solihull, England, was built on the estate of the existing Berry Hall Farm (picture), by the son of the successful Birmingham businessman Joseph Gillott in the late 19th century.

Contents

Berry Hall Farm, in whose grounds the new hall was built, is a 15th-century half timbered structure which is still in existence today. Joseph Gillott (Jnr.) renamed the original Berry Hall to 'Berry Hall Farm' in order that he could then call his new palatial residence 'Berry Hall'. However, the newer 1870 Hall was always unofficially known as 'New' Berry Hall.

History

The Hall was designed by J. A. Chatwin and built as a gothic style Victorian mansion on the outskirts of Solihull, Warwickshire. Work commenced in 1870 and was completed in 1880, with South and North Lodges added in 1884 and 1905 respectively. The main entrance was via the South Lodge, from Marsh Lane, through vast iron gates designed by Gillott himself; the lock design incorporated pen nib shapes, alluding to the family business that had made them their fortune. The half-mile driveway still exists, though it is now severed by the main A41 Solihull by-pass.

Features

One of the most imposing features of the new Hall was its tower, based on Tom Tower at Christ Church in Oxford. The house had several grand reception rooms including a dining room, drawing room, library and morning room, seven palatial bedrooms, three dressing rooms, two nurseries and one bathroom in addition to a boudoir and gentlemen's W.C. There were servants quarters including four servants bedrooms, a back staircase, a lumber room and butlers pantry as well as extensive kitchens and cellarage. The large entrance hall was adorned by a vast oak staircase and contained an ancient chimney piece, allegedly from Kenilworth Castle. All of the interior decoration was carried out by Lamb & Co who were renowned for their work on Royal properties. Stained glass windows were supplied by Hardman & Co. of Birmingham.

The grounds were landscaped at vast expense and included the digging, by hand, of a lake. A few hundred feet from the main hall was built an enormous walled rose and vegetable garden, a significant part of which is still present. Along one side of the enclosure was a huge glass house measuring over 80 feet (24 m) in length, incorporating a vinery and peach and nectarine houses. Outside the walled garden was stabling for seven horses, plus coaches.

At the time of construction, the Hall incorporated the latest in technology and conveniences including a gas generating plant to provide for the cooking and lighting needs of the main Hall. The main hall also had running water allowed for by a large cast iron cistern mounted in the loft space which was filled by a hydraulic ram.

The Owners

Gillott and his family lived in this opulent luxury until his death in 1904 whereupon the estate, which comprised Berry Hall Farm, 'New' Berry Hall, Henshaw Hall and Grimshaw Hall in nearby Knowle, as well as several hundred acres, was sold at auction. Gillott's own son bought 'New' Berry Hall and Berry Hall Farm from the sale for £15,000 but barely outlived his father – dying in 1907. Both halls were again sold, this time to a businessman called William Upton who later that same year shot himself in the porch of New Berry Hall. His wife, who remarried, continued to live at the hall until her own death in 1938. The halls were then sold to a Mr. Harold Tippetts from Sutton Coldfield who planned to renovate and refurbish the Hall including the installation of electric lighting. He was the last owner to enjoy living in the hall. He and his family lived at the property until 1957 when the main hall and both lodges were sold at auction to an undisclosed company purchaser.

Modern Times

After being sold at auction in 1957, 'New' Berry Hall sat empty while its new owners tried to get planning permission to convert the Hall into a hotel. The wrangling over planning permissions was still ongoing in 1959 when a reporter from the Solihull News visited the grounds after reports received from concerned locals. The reporter found that the once immaculately manicured grounds were now very overgrown; but the owners assured him that the interior of the hall was being maintained. Over the next 20 years the once magnificent Hall fell into disrepair and ultimately dereliction, with several planning applications being refused pursuant to restrictions on the development of green belt land and to the listing of the property on Solihull's local list of historic buildings. In many ways the council's attempts at protecting the site ultimately did the most damage to the future of the Hall. It was demolished on safety grounds in the early 1990s, having been severely vandalised and stripped out.

Both lodges also survive today. The South Lodge on Marsh Lane is Grade II listed. The North Lodge, on Hampton Lane, which had stood boarded up and vandalised for many years, sold at auction in June 2006 for £550,000 in derelict condition and has been fully renovated and extended.

The Gillott family was commemorated in the naming of Gillott Close on an estate of new properties adjacent to the South Lodge on Marsh Lane.

In 2017 the company that have owned the site since purchasing it in 1957 had an application approved to cut down trees within 8 metres of the original footprint of the hall and 2 metres around the remains of the walled gardens. The application states that the reason is to open up the woodland and 'possibly rebuild the Hall'.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire</span> Building in West Bretton, England

Bretton Hall is a country house in West Bretton near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It housed Bretton Hall College from 1949 until 2001 and was a campus of the University of Leeds (2001–2007). It is a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston Lacy</span> Country house near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England

Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. It was for many years the family seat of the Bankes family who lived nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War after its incumbent owners, Sir John Bankes and Dame Mary, had remained loyal to Charles I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Gillott</span> English pen-manufacturer and patron of the arts (1799–1872)

Joseph Gillott was an English pen-manufacturer and patron of the arts based in Birmingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tudor Grange Academy, Solihull</span> Academy in Solihull, West Midlands, England

Tudor Grange Academy is a co-educational Academy and technology college located in Solihull, West Midlands, England. Formerly known as Tudor Grange Grammar School and Tudor Grange Secondary School. It was originally a boys' grammar school for around 650 boys. A girls grammar school was built later and both original schools now form part of the current academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaudesert, Cannock Chase</span> Estate and stately home on the southern edge of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire

Beaudesert was an estate and stately home on the southern edge of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. It was one of the family seats of the Paget family, the Marquesses of Anglesey. The estate was obtained by William Paget, 1st Baron Paget in 1546; the family's other main seat is at Plas Newydd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitson</span> Village in Wales

Whitson is a village on the outskirts of the city of Newport, South Wales. It is located about 7 miles (11 km) south east of Newport city centre on the Caldicot Levels, a large area of coastal land reclaimed from the sea. Administratively, Whitson is part of the community of Goldcliff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banks, Lancashire</span> Village in Lancashire, England

Banks is a coastal village in the civil parish of North Meols, in the West Lancashire district, in Lancashire, England, south of the Ribble estuary four miles (6 km) north-east of Southport town centre. In 2021 it had a population of 4430. It is in the Southport parliamentary constituency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solihull</span> Town in West Midlands, England

Solihull is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Forest of Arden area. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census, and its wider borough had a population of 216,240. The town is located 8 miles (12 km) southeast of Birmingham and 14 miles (21 km) west of Coventry.

Berry Hall Farm is a moated, fifteenth century half-timbered property located on Ravenshaw Lane in central Solihull. Originally named 'Berry Hall' and also known as 'Old' Berry Hall, it was renamed Berry Hall 'Farm' by Joseph Gillott, owner of the Berry Hall estate when he built himself an opulent new home on the estate of the original Hall in the 1870s. Gillott wanted to call his new property 'Berry Hall' and this was his reason for renaming the original 15th-century building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynnewood Hall</span> Mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

Lynnewood Hall is a 110-room Neoclassical Revival mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. It was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer for industrialist Peter A. B. Widener and built between 1897 and 1899. Lynnewood Hall is the second largest surviving Gilded Age mansion in the United States and once housed the most significant and diverse collection of art in American history, additionally recognized as one of the most important collections of Western European Art in world history. The collection had been assembled by Widener and his younger son, Joseph E. Widener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witley Park</span> Estate and former mansion in Surrey, England

Witley Park, formerly known as Lea Park, is an estate dating from the late 19th century between Godalming and Haslemere in Surrey, England. Its landscaped grounds include three artificial lakes, one of which conceals an underwater conservatory and smoking room. The mansion house, rebuilt for the swindler Whitaker Wright, was gutted by fire in October 1952 and the ruins were demolished in January 1954. In the early 21st century, a new house was built on the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashton Gifford House</span> Country house in Wiltshire, England

Ashton Gifford House is a Grade II listed country house in the hamlet of Ashton Gifford, part of the civil parish of Codford in the English county of Wiltshire. Ashton Gifford House is mentioned in the Wiltshire edition of the Pevsner Architectural Guides. The house was built during the early 19th century, following the precepts of Georgian architecture, and its estate eventually included all of the hamlet or tithing of Ashton Gifford. The house sits in the Wylye valley, part of the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Stoneham House</span> Former manor house and hall of residence in Southampton

South Stoneham House is a Grade II* listed former manor house in Swaythling, Southampton; the former seat of the Barons Swaythling before the family moved to the nearby Townhill Park House. The building is owned by the University of Southampton, and was used as a hall of residence, part of the Wessex Lane Halls complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunsany Castle and Demesne</span> Castle begun 12th century, in continuous ownership, County Meath, Ireland

Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, County Meath, Ireland, is a modernised Anglo-Norman castle, started c. 1180 / 1181 by Hugh de Lacy, who also commissioned the original Killeen Castle, nearby, and the famous Trim Castle. It is one of Ireland's oldest homes in continuous occupation, possibly the longest occupied by a single family, having been held by the Cusack family and their descendants by marriage, the Plunketts, from foundation to the present day. The castle is surrounded by its demesne, the inner part of the formerly extensive Dunsany estate. The demesne holds a historic church, a walled garden, a stone farm complex, and an ice house, among other features, and is home to a wide range of fauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldfields</span> Historic estate in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

Oldfields, also known as Lilly House and Gardens, is a 26-acre (11 ha) historic estate and house museum at Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The estate, an example of the American country house movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belair Park</span>

Belair Park is a park located in the West Dulwich part of the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England. The park grounds once belonged to Belair House, a country villa built in Adam style that is now a Grade II listed building. There are also two other Grade II listed structures within the park: the lodge and entrance gate, and an old stable building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinmel Hall</span> Mansion in Conwy County Borough, Wales

Kinmel Hall is a large country mansion within Kinmel Park near the village of St. George, close to the coastal town of Abergele, in Conwy county borough, Wales. The hall, the third building on the site, was completed in the mid 19th century for the family of a Welsh mining magnate. In 1929, the property ceased being a private residence; it has since been used as a boys' school, health spa, girls' school, wartime hospital, conference centre and hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank Hall</span> Historic site in Lancashire, England

Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is at the centre of a private estate, surrounded by parkland. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres who were lords of the manor. The hall was extended during the 18th and 19th centuries. Extensions were built for George Anthony Legh Keck in 1832–1833, to the design of the architect George Webster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windlestone Hall</span> Building in England, UK

Windlestone Hall is a mid-16th century Elizabethan country house, heavily rebuilt in 1821 to form a Greek revival stately home, situated near Rushyford, County Durham, England. The Hall sits within 400 acres of designed parkland. It is a Grade II* Listed building. As of 2022 it is back in private family ownership, with the surrounding estate maintained and conserved by a dedicated heritage charitable trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caythorpe Court</span> Country house in Lincolnshire, England

Caythorpe Court is a Grade II* listed former hunting lodge situated about one mile to the east of Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, England. It was originally built in 1901 for Edgar Lubbock, a brewer and banker, to the designs of Sir Reginald Blomfield. In 1946 it became the Kesteven Agricultural College, which was renamed the Lincolnshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture from September 1980. The college became the De Montfort School of Agriculture, but the site was closed in 2002. After being sold to property developers, who proposed to use it to house asylum seekers, it was acquired by PGL who now operate it as a centre for adventure based holidays for adults and children.

References