Morville Hall facts for kids
Morville Hall is a grand old country house in Shropshire, England. It is looked after by the National Trust. This amazing building and its gardens are full of history. You can find Morville Hall near the market town of Bridgnorth. It sits where two main roads meet, the A458 and the B4368.
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A Glimpse into Morville Hall's Past
Morville Hall is a large house made of grey stone. It has parts that stick out, called wings. The house was first built in the 1500s, around 1546. This was during the Elizabethan era, when Queen Elizabeth I ruled England. Back then, it only had two floors.
A man named Roger Smyth bought the land and built the first version of the house. Later, around 1750, the house was made bigger and taller. A man named Arthur Weaver, who was a Member of Parliament for Bridgnorth, added a third floor. The land where Morville Hall stands has an even older history. It was once the site of an old priory, which is a type of monastery.
The Beautiful Gardens of Morville Hall
The gardens at Morville Hall are very special. They include the Dower House Gardens and other unique areas. You can find a Cloister garden and an Elizabethan knot garden. A knot garden is a formal garden with plants arranged in patterns that look like knots.
A gardener named Katherine Swift spent 15 years working on these gardens. Her goal was to show how gardens have changed and grown over many years. Each part of her garden tells a story about the people who lived in the Hall. For example, one section might reflect the style of the Elizabethan Smyths. Another part shows the designs popular with the 18th-century Weavers. There's even a section that remembers the seven Victorian-era Warren sisters. They lived in the house for a long time, with the last sister, Juliana, passing away in the 1920s.
Morville Hall Today
Morville Hall has been owned by the National Trust since 1965. The National Trust is a charity that protects historic places and natural beauty in England. Today, the Hall is rented out to a private tenant. This means it is not currently open for the public to visit. It has been closed to visitors since the global pandemic in 2019.
However, there are two old barns on the Morville estate that have been turned into places to stay. These are also managed by the National Trust and can be rented for holidays.
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Shropshire
- Listed buildings in Morville, Shropshire
