Moreton Hall

This article is about a listed building in Moreton Morell, Warwickshire. For the listed building in Bury St Edmunds, see Moreton Hall (Suffolk).

Moreton Hall is a Grade Two listed Georgian styled Edwardian house, built in the early 1900s and located in Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire, England. It is the location of Moreton Morrel Centre, the agricultural campus of Warwickshire College.

History

In the early 1900s, Eton-educated American Charles Tuller Garland,[1] son of the co-founder of the New York based National City Bank, decided to build a house in South Warwickshire countryside, with views over the River Avon valley. Designed by the fashionable society architect and decorator W. H. Romaine-Walker, it was inspired by Wilton House near Salisbury, and given a Palladian style. Built in 1906/7, designed for lavish entertaining, the Hall has sumptuous plasterwork, particularly in the barrel-vault-ed great hall, library and dining room.[2] Romaine-Walker also landscaped the grounds, with a Wellingtonia-lined drive leading to the hall, its manicured blue garden, polo school and other equestrian facilities.[3] In 1913 Moreton Hall and the associated Morton Farm were purchased by Gilbert Player.[4]

On 19 March 2008 a fire broke out at 16:30 in the roof of Moreton Hall, after students at the agricultural college occupying the house had left for the weekend. Eighty firefighters tackled the blaze with 15 appliances from Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service sent to help to extinguish the flames, which could be seen three miles away as they leapt into the sky.[5] The damage was estimated to about £6 million.[6] On 9 January 2009 Sky News reported Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service as having discovered that the fire was caused by a cigarette discarded by a plumber who was carrying out maintenance work in the roof space.[7]

Restoration work was expected to begin in 2009 and to be completed the following year.[8]

Moreton Morrell Centre

Main article: Warwickshire College

After the Second World War, the grounds of Moreton Morrell were used to accommodate a farm-training institute by the Warwickshire Agricultural Committee, later absorbed as part of Warwickshire College as its Moreton Morrell Centre, which is one of the country's premier centres for agricultural, horticultural and equine training. The campus includes stabling for more than 100 horses and an equine demonstration area, and there is a 345-hectare farm with a dairy herd, pedigree sheep flock and pedigree beef herd.

References

  1. ↑ "Charles Tuller Garland". The Peerage. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  2. ↑ Marcus Binney, Architecture Correspondent (22 March 2008). "Moreton Hall devastated by fire". The Times. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  3. ↑ "Morton Hall website - History". MortonHall.com. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  4. ↑ "A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3". british-history.ac.uk. 1913. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  5. ↑ "Warwickshire College gutted by huge fire". Coventry Telegraph. 22 March 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  6. ↑ "Major fire causes £6m damage to Georgian-style mansion as 80 firefighters battle in vain to quench blaze". Daily Mail. 22 March 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  7. ↑ Ciggie Started £6m Mansion Blaze, Sky News, 9 January 2009, retrieved 10 June 2011
  8. ↑ "Restoration experts move in at Hall", Coventry Telegraph, 11 December 2008, retrieved 10 June 2011

External links

Coordinates: 52°11′50″N 1°33′19″W / 52.1971°N 1.5554°W / 52.1971; -1.5554


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