Pillaton Hall was an historic house located in Pillaton, Staffordshire, near Penkridge, England. For more than two centuries it was the seat of the Littleton family, a family of local landowners and politicians. The 15th century gatehouse is the main surviving structure of medieval Pillaton Hall. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade II* listed building. Attached to the Gatehouse to the east is the chapel formerly dedicated to Saint Modwen.
By the mid-15th century, the manor of Pillaton belonged to the Wynnesbury family. [1] There must have been a substantial building already on the site of the later Hall, presumably a fortified manor house, as the remains of the medieval moat are still very evident even from a satellite photograph. William Wynnesbury died in 1502, leaving the manor to his daughter Alice, who was married to Richard Littleton, formerly William's steward. When Alice died in 1529, Pillaton passed to their son, Edward Littleton. Later knighted, he died at Pillaton in 1558.
By this time the Littletons were set on a course for domination of the Penkridge area and it was around the mid-16th century that they built a substantial hall at Pillaton. The moated manor, built around a quadrilateral courtyard, comprising residential quarters and a Great Hall to the south, and a kitchen range to the west, was approached via the Gatehouse on the south. The Gatehouse, of two storeys rose to three in the centre, raised by four circular domed angle turrets. The chapel formerly dedicated to Saint Modwen lay next to the gatehouse on its eastern side.
In the 17th century the heads of the family became the Littleton Baronets and in the 19th the Barons Hatherton. However, the fourth and last of the Littleton baronets, who succeeded in 1742, moved the family seat north to Teddesley Hall, allegedly building it with hoards of cash discovered hidden at Pillaton.
Pillaton Hall was used for a time as a home for other members of the Littleton family. By 1786 it was inhabited by a farmer. Thereafter, the Hall fell into disuse and ultimately decay. Today the building is partly ruined and partly restored. The Littletons' family chapel, dedicated to St. Modwena, was restored by the Littleton family in the Victorian era and is used monthly for Anglican worship by the parish of Penkridge, using the Book of Common Prayer. [2]
The buildings are now marked on Ordnance Survey maps as "Pillaton Old Hall" and are located just to the south-west of Pillaton Hall Farm. The medieval moat, made up of round and rectangular elements is easily observed, both on the ground and on aerial photographs. The remaining old buildings are, however, all of the Tudor period, [1] and were probably begun by the first Sir Edward Littleton, who died in 1558, although some of the work probably dates from later in the century. They are approached from the north by a bridge over the moat.
The main surviving structure is a gatehouse range, mainly two storeys high. However, the central block has three storeys and four angle turrets. The upper storey was rebuilt in 1706. The restored chapel of St Modwenna is at its eastern end. Originally the rest of the Hall stretched out to the south, forming a rectangle around a courtyard. The western range has now been partially replaced by a modern brick building. Further south is the base of a fireplace, probably that of the great hall. East of the remains of the Hall there is a rectangular brick garden wall, and to the north an 18th-century barn.
Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle's design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam.
Baron Hatherton, of Hatherton in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1835 for the politician Edward Littleton, Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1833 to 1834. Born Edward Walhouse, he assumed in 1812 by Royal licence the surname of Littleton in lieu of his patronymic on succeeding to the estates of his great-uncle Sir Edward Littleton, 4th and last Baronet, of Teddesley Hall. He was also heir to the substantial Walhouse estates and interests, which included Hatherton Hall, near Cannock, then in an exclave of Wolverhampton. His wealth was based upon landed estates centred on Penkridge in southern Staffordshire, mines at Great Wyrley and Bloxwich, quarries and sandpits, brick yards and residential housing, mainly in Walsall.
Penkridge is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock and east of Telford. The nearby town of Brewood is also not far away.
Three baronetcies have been created in the Baronetage of England for members of the Littleton or Lyttelton family. All three lines are descended from Thomas de Littleton, a noted 15th-century jurist. Despite differences in spelling of the title, the names of all three lines were spelt in many varied ways in the early modern period, without distinction between the different branches of the family. This can be confusing, as the range of forenames in use was very limited.
Dunston is a small village in England lying on the west side of the A449 trunk road about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Stafford, close to Junction 13 of the M6 motorway. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 281. It lies at roughly 300 feet above sea level.
Sir Edward Littleton, 1st Baronet was a 17th-century English Baronet and politician from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family, the first of a line of four Littleton baronets with Pillaton Hall as their seat. He initially joined the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. Having tried unsuccessfully to find a third way, he switched his support to the Royalist cause – a decision that led to his financial ruin, as large debts made it impossible to redeem his estates from sequestration after the victory of Parliament.
Pillaton is a small village in Staffordshire, England, nearby to Penkridge and lying on the B5012 road between Cannock and Penkridge.
The Church of St Nicholas is a Grade I listed parish church in the village of Mavesyn Ridware, Staffordshire, England. The church is situated at the eastern end of the village approximately 370 m (1,210 ft) north of the River Trent and just to the north of the Gatehouse of the former ancient Manor House. Although medieval in origin the church was partly demolished in 1782 leaving only the north aisle and west tower remaining from the older structure. The church is one of only 12 Grade I listed buildings in Lichfield District. It is listed as such as it is a complete example of a late 18th-century church rebuilding including a very rare late 18th-century and early 19th-century conversion of a medieval aisle to the former church into a family chapel with neo-medieval fittings and monuments.
Teddesley Hall was a large Georgian English country house located close to Penkridge in Staffordshire, now demolished. It was the main seat firstly of the Littleton Baronets and then of the Barons Hatherton. The site today retains considerable traces of the hall, gardens and other buildings, while the former home farm remains a working farm.
Penkridge is a village and parish in Staffordshire with a history stretching back to the Anglo-Saxon period. A religious as well as a commercial centre, it was originally centred on the Collegiate Church of St. Michael and All Angels, a chapel royal and royal peculiar that maintained its independence until the Reformation. Mentioned in Domesday, Penkridge underwent a period of growth from the 13th century, as the Forest Law was loosened, and evolved into a patchwork of manors of greatly varying size and importance, heavily dependent on agriculture. From the 16th century it was increasingly dominated by a single landed gentry family, the Littletons, who ultimately attained the Peerage of the United Kingdom as the Barons Hatherton, and who helped modernise its agriculture and education system. The Industrial Revolution inaugurated a steady improvement in transport and communications that helped shape the modern village. In the second half of the 20th century, Penkridge grew rapidly, evolving into a mainly residential area, while retaining its commercial centre, its links with the countryside and its fine church.
Sir Edward Littleton of Pillaton Hall, 2nd Baronet, was a Staffordshire landowner and MP from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family, who represented Staffordshire in the Cavalier Parliament.
Sir Edward Littleton of Pillaton Hall, 4th Baronet, was a long-lived Staffordshire landowner and MP from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family, who represented Staffordshire in the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of the United Kingdom for a total of 28 years. The last of the Littleton Baronets of Pillaton Hall, he transferred the family seat from eponymous Pillaton to Teddesley Hall, and died childless, leaving the estates to his great-nephew, Edward Walhouse, who became Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton.
Edward Littleton or Edwarde Lyttelton was a Staffordshire landowner from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family. He also served as soldier and Member of Parliament for Staffordshire in the House of Commons of England, the lower house of the Parliament of England, five times.
Sir Edward Littleton was a Staffordshire landowner, politician and rebel from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family. A supporter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, he was the victim of a notorious electoral fraud in 1597 and a participant in the Essex Rebellion, although he escaped with his life. In the reign of James I he was elected a member of the parliament of England.
Sir Thomas Giffard was a Tudor courtier, Staffordshire landowner and Member of the English Parliament.
Humphrey Swynnerton was a Staffordshire landowner, a Member of the English Parliament and an Elizabethan recusant.
West Bromwich Manor House, Hall Green Road, West Bromwich, B71 2EA, is an important, Grade I listed, medieval domestic building built by the de Marnham family in the late thirteenth century as the centre of their agricultural estate in West Bromwich. Only the Great Hall survives of the original complex of living quarters, agricultural barns, sheds and ponds. Successive occupants modernised and extended the manor house until it was described in 1790 as "a large pile of irregular half-timbered buildings, black and white, and surrounded with numerous out-houses and lofty walls." The building was saved from demolition in the 1950s by West Bromwich Corporation which carried out an extensive and sympathetic restoration of this nationally important building.
Sir Edward Littleton was a politician from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family and an important Staffordshire landowner of the Jacobean era and the early Caroline era. Although loyal to the monarchy, he seems to have been of Puritan sympathies and was a close ally of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. He represented Staffordshire in the English parliament of 1624.
The Lyttelton family is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Lyttelton family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Lyttelton family include the viscountcies of Cobham and Chandos, as well as the Lyttelton barony and Lyttelton baronetcy. Several other members of the family have also risen to prominence, particularly in the field of cricket.
Penkridge is a civil parish in the district of South Staffordshire, Staffordshire, England. It contains 76 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, two are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains the town of Penkridge, smaller settlements including Bickford, Levedale, Pillaton, and Whiston, and the surrounding countryside. Most of the listed buildings are houses and associated structures, cottages, farmhouses, farm buildings, public houses, and shops, the earlier of which are timber framed or have a timber framed core. The other listed buildings include a church, monuments and other structures in the churchyard, bridges, stocks and a bench, a former lock-up, a railway viaduct, a public library, and a mill.