15th Century Ludstone Hall In Shropshire On Sale For £7.8 Million
The Grade 1 listed Ludstone Hall in Shropshire, a stunning Jacobean style moated manor house built in 1607, is on sale for £7.5 million.
Photo: Peter James Property
The stunning 9-bedroom property is set in approximately 156 acres of rural parkland just outside picturesque Claverley.
The historic building is maintained to an extraordinarily high standard, offering four principal reception rooms, nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a luxurious indoor swimming pool complex.
The grounds include a range of modern agricultural outbuildings and a stunning 2-bedroom lodge, a coach house with museum, a squash court, and considerable traditional outbuildings with garaging.
The earliest records of Ludstone date back to 1086, when it was owned by Earl Roger Montgomery, the Earl of Shrewsbury.
Known then as Luddesden, it was part of the ancient royal manor of Claverley.
In 1098, Roger Montgomery transferred the Ludstone estate to the deans of Bridgnorth, who managed it as a farm under monastic rule until 1547.
By around 1400, Ludstone Hall consisted of several wooden buildings arranged to form a courtyard within a moat.
These buildings included a hall with a great chamber, a kitchen, a bakery, a stable, a cowshed, a barn with a porch, and a moat house made from stone and wood.
Records indicate that only one dean, Thomas of Tutbury, actually resided at Ludstone. He held the deanery from 1391 until 1403.
At his death, he had been preparing to rebuild the manor house, leaving behind 11,000 shingles, 17,000 tiles, 300 great boards, and £100 reserved for renovations.
These details were revealed in 1410 when a commission was appointed to survey the deanery's dilapidations.
After Tutbury's death, Henry IV appointed Columba of Dunbar, a Scotsman, as the new dean.
Columba embezzled the £100 and sold all the stone and boards intended for Ludstone's rebuilding.
Around 1548, Sir Robert Broke, a Speaker of the House of Commons and Chief Justice of Common Pleas, resided at Ludstone Hall.
His renaissance tomb, along with those of his two wives, is located in Claverley Church.
The existing house was built in 1607 by John Whitmore and remained in the Whitmore family for over 250 years.
In 1870, Mr. Joseph Round Cartwright, a brick manufacturer from Sedgley, purchased Ludstone Hall. He transformed the gardens into their present form, requiring considerable effort after years of farming use.
Cartwright also constructed most of the outbuildings and installed the lake at the front.
The moat, dating back to medieval times, surrounds the house on three sides and connects to the monastic fish pool at the rear.
Legend suggests there is a tunnel from Ludstone to Claverley Church, used by the monks.
Social media influencers Tristan Tate and Andrew have recently shown interest in the property via X (formerly Twitter).
Tristan tweeted: “Only if Nigel Farage wins, I’ll trust the government not to steal this from me. @Cobrate, we buying this?”
If you’d like to find out more about this property or make an offer, contact Peter James Property.
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