House & Family History: Stanley Hall is a two-story, irregular L-shaped timber-framed stone and brick house with a tiled roof and brick chimneystacks that sits close to the River Severn, near Bridgnorth. Embosomed in a hilly, wooded park traversed by a small wooded valley and a chain of pools, the timber-framed and brick house of the 17th century is, in fact, a 1920s remodeling of an earlier house, which, in turn, had been outrageously over-enlarged circa 1816-20 by John Smalman in a mad Tudor-Gothic style with eccentric detailing. The 19th century client was Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt-Jones, ancestor of the famous Lord Berners, who sold the property and moved to Faringdon House in Oxfordshire. Thomas Cundy drew-up plans for the remodeling, but Tyrwhitt-Jones went to the local builder-cum-architect Smalman instead, who gave him the basic house we see today. (We are grateful to Gareth Williams for this history of Stanley Hall.)

John Preston (J.P.) Neale, published under the title of Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. III, 1820.

House Listed: Grade II

Park Listed: Not Listed

Current Seat / Home of: Michael and Clare Thompson

Past Seat / Home of: Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt-Jones, 19th century; Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners, 20th century.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home

House Open to Public: Limited Access to Grounds Only

Historic Houses Member: No