Built / Designed For: Richard Lutwyche

House & Family History: Set against a backdrop of mature trees, with an ancient dovecot and Georgian stables to one side and the venerable parish church of St. James to the other, Shipton Hall is in many ways the quintessential English manor house. Built by the Lutwyche family of the local Wenlock Edge limestone, the House presents a benevolent gabled frontage, enlivened by leaded windows which catch the light from the Shropshire skies. Externally all is mellow late 16th century, while inside time goes forward by two centuries, with a succession of interiors designed by the Georgian Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard for the then-owners, the Mytton family. Many details remain exactly as depicted in the series of drawings by Pritchard, which survive in his drawing book that is today in the collection of the American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC. Shipton has further transatlantic connection: the Church of St. James bears a plaque commemorating children of the More family, who originated within the parish and were among the youngest passengers on the "Mayflower." Samuel More, a dour Puritan, accused his wife, Katharine, of adultery with a local yeoman farmer. Claiming that all four of his children with Katherine were illegitimate, he banished the children to America, signing them up as servants on the “Mayflower.” Katharine was not told what had been done with the children until three of them had died during the arduous Atlantic crossing. The sole surviving child, Richard More (died 1692), became a successful merchant in New England, and, in an interesting twist of fate, was probably a bigamist, with wives and children in both America and England. Richard’s gravestone can be found in the Old Burying Point Cemetery, also known as the Charter Street Cemetery, in Salem, Massachusetts. Opened in 1637, Old Burying Point is among the oldest cemeteries in the United States. (We are grateful to Gareth Williams for much of this history of Shipton.)

Comments: Shipton Hall has been called "an exquisite specimen of Elizabethan architecture."

Chapel & Church: The Saxon parish Church of St. James is on the grounds of the House.

Country Life: XXVII, 414, 1910.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Not Listed

Current Seat / Home of: Ben Bishop

Past Seat / Home of: Richard Lutwyche, 16th century. Mytton family, here for 300 years. Nicholas and Jane Bishop, until 2018.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home

House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No