Abberley Hall
Abberley Hall is a country house in the north-west of the county of Worcestershire, England. The present Italianate house is the work of Samuel Daukes and dates from 1846–49. Since 1916 it has been occupied by Abberley Hall School. It is a Grade II* listed building. The gardens are listed as Grade II on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. In the area close to Stourport-on-Severn there are several large manor and country houses, among which Witley Court, Astley Hall, Pool House, Areley Hall, Hartlebury and Abberley Hall (with its clock tower) are particularly significant.
Throughout the medieval period the estate on which Abberly Hall stands was a possession of the de Toeni family of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire. A 'chief messuage' was mentioned in 1309, and Habington says that "Abberley seemethe to have byn of owld the principall seat of the Lord Thony in this shyre". In the 1530s, Leland referred to a castle at Abberley, but there is no other evidence the house was more than a manor house. King Henry VIII gave the estate to his page of the privy chamber, Sir William Walshe, in 1531, and the house descended in that family to William Walsh, the poet and critic (died 1708), from whom it passed by marriage to the Bromleys. Nothing is known of the house prior to the publication of a drawing in Dr.Treadway Russell Nash's History of Worcestershire which shows a three-storey house with a five-bay centre, single-bay projecting wings, a prominent cupola, and a door with a broken segmental pediment. This may date from William Walsh's ownership (1682–1708) or that of his successor, Francis Bromley (1708-c1740). An irregular wing suggests that the early 18th century appearance was due to the remodelling of the previous house rather than a new build. When Colonel Bromley died in the 1830s, leaving seven daughters and no son, his executors decided to sell the estate, which comprised less than 800 acres (3.2 km2) and was heavily encumbered by debts.
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