Summary
A house, thought to date primarily from the C16 and C17, with alterations in the C18 and restoration in the late-C20.
Reasons for Designation
Owlbury Hall, a house thought to date from the C16 with alterations in the C18 and restoration in the C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its timber-framed construction, which shows evidence of vernacular construction techniques and plan-form throughout numerous periods of history;
* for the quality of its surviving features, which show the building to have been a property of some status.
Historic interest:
* as an example of a residence of status in this part of Shropshire, which has evolved over time;
* for its traceable history and ownership by successive generations of different families of local and national interest.
History
The history of the Owlbury estate can be followed through the history of its successive owners. The earliest references to it are connected to its ownership by the Broughton family, with one Richard Broughton, who lived between 1542 and 1604 being described as of 'Owlbury, Salop'. Richard Broughton was Member of Parliament for both Stafford and Lichfield at different times. Hugh Broughton, scholar and theologian, was born at Owlbury in 1549. Perhaps the most notable owners of Owlbury were the Waring family of Lea, Wolverhampton, who acquired Owlbury through marriage with the heiress of the Broughton family at the beginning of the C17.
The Warings were a notable family in Shropshire. Edmund Waring (around 1638-1887) was county sheriff for some years and captain of the county militia, as well as being elected MP for Bishop's Castle in 1660. His son Walter Waring (around 1667-1724) succeeded to the Bishop's Castle seat in 1689. Upon his death in 1724, Owlbury passed to a cousin of the same name who was elected to the same seat in 1755. Local politics seem to have brought about the demise of the Waring family and their interests locally; in the 1760s Walter Waring sold the Owlbury estate to Lord Clive of Powis, in whose family ownership the estate remained until the mid-C19. Following this, the house has had a series of owners and remains (2022) in private ownership.
The evolution of the house itself is complex and difficult to establish with certainty. It seems to be of late medieval date, possibly around 1600, which may tie in with a change in ownership and potential rebuilding at the same time. This earliest part, which forms the central range of the present building, is characterised by its close-studded framing and may have been of the hall and crosswing type. The tithe plan of 1846 does appear to show an L-plan building, suggesting that the southern wing may have been truncated since. The present northern range of the house appears to be of mid-C17 date, and the southern range appears to have been remodelled, probably in the early-C18, with its external walls refaced in brick with sash windows.
Subsequent to this, the house does not appear to have undergone any substantial remodellings, other than the possible truncating of the crosswing. Photographs, plans and a description dated to 1978, now held in the Historic England Archive, show the building as it survived at that time, with much surviving historic fabric, albeit in poor condition at the time. Windows by this time were largely C19 style and many had been blocked, including to the rear with both gables mostly blocked, and pictures also show the jetty of the northern wing as it survived at that time. The pictures reveal the poor state of the interior, with some internal walls and floors missing entirely. The house was sold subsequent to this and underwent a thorough restoration throughout the 1980s which brought it to the form in which it largely survives today (2022).
Details
A house, thought to date primarily from the C16 and C17, with alterations in the C18 and restoration in the late-C20.
MATERIALS: the house is of timber frame and brick construction with a slate roof.
PLAN: the house as it stands today is orientated roughly north-south with a central axial range and cross ranges at each end.
EXTERIOR: the entrance front of the house faces west, with a timber framed section to the northern end and brick and render to the southern end. The framing is primarily of close studding. The present main entrance is through a modern door in a recessed bay, with a large reconstructed dormer window at roof level above with herringbone pattern timber. Adjacent, the northern wing has a large window at each floor with hipped slate roof above.
The southern section has an exposed truss in the gable end where it abuts the northern section. There are windows at each floor adjacent to the main entrance, and then what is likely the former main entrance in a projecting porch, now rendered with catslide roof. Adjacent to this is a substantial chimney stack with brick upper section. The southern elevation has a pair of windows at each floor with a hipped roof above; the window openings are tall where they would have had sashes, now with modern windows.
The rear elevation, facing east, has two large projecting gables with exposed timber framing. The southern gable has a rendered ground floor with close studded framing above and an external stack. The return of the rendered southern wing is adjacent. The right hand return of the gable is exposed brick with an historic three-light window at eaves level. The central section between the gables is square panel framing, as is the projecting northern gable. The gable has central windows at ground, first and attic storeys.
The northern elevation has exposed square panel framing and a large external chimney stack at its centre.
INTERIOR: the present main entrance opens into a hall with exposed timber framing, and there is much exposed timber throughout. Beams are mostly chamfered, many with stops of varying styles. There is a modern stair in the hall. At the southern end of the hall the former cross passage survives, with a screen of close-studded timbers and two openings into the hall. The eastern end of the passage has a door with a Tudor-arched opening. Beyond the passage is a large room in the C18 rebuilt wing, with a plaster ceiling divided into panels by exposed chamfered beams. This room has an exposed historic window, now blocked, with thick central mullion and two-lights to either side.
The northern room beyond the hall is a large space with square panelled ceiling of thick beems with deep chamfers. There are no stops to the ends of the ceiling beams, indicating the rebuilding of the external walls.
Exposed timber continues throughout the first floor, with similarly deep chamfered beams in the northern room. Behind the modern dormer over the main entrance, there is surviving evidence for a previous structure in this location with possible jettying. Between this bay and the southern block there is a level change with steps between, and an unusual brick arched doorway.
The attic level above is a large roofspace with much exposed timber and a large number of taper burn marks on the timbers. There is evidence at the southern end for the truncating of a former truss to form the existing hipped roof.
Beneath the northern end of the house is a cellar with stone, brick and cement rendered walls and a thick timber structure of chamfered and stopped beams supporting the floor above.
