HALLOW MANOR
HALLOW PARK
The Manor
of Hallow was one of the most valuable possessions of the Priory. In
1312 the Prior obtained from the Crown license to ‘impark’ 100 acres, of
which 40 acres were already woodland, as a Priory deer-park. A manor house
was recorded in1240 but this fell into decay.
After the
Reformation it was retained by the Bishopric of Worcester but ‘the Estate
and Demesne’ was leased to wealthy tenants for centuries. The first was
William Hett, followed by John Habington, Vice-Treasurer or ’Cofferer’ in
the royal household. There is no record of a manor house at this time, but
on her Royal Progress in the West Midlands in 1574, Queen Elizabeth 1
dined at his mansion in Hindlip during her visit to Worcester and hunted in
his estate in Hallow Park, killing two deer there. During her week in
Worcester with her vast retinue ‘Her Majesty’s horses and geldings, to
the number of 1500, were depastured on Pitchcroft’.
The
Habington family fell out of favour when sons Thomas and Edward were implicated
in a plot to murder Elizabeth and put Mary Queen of Scots on the
throne (for which Edward was executed) and in 1605 in the Gunpowder Plot.
Thomas went on, having been sentenced to be confined to Worcestershire, to
record information for a history of Worcestershire for the remaining 40
years of his life. It is probable that John Habington rebuilt the manor
house that is recorded by his historian son as ‘on a small hill, a short
distance from the Severn, so that it was noways annoyed with the contagious
vapousinge from the water’.
In the
latter part of the 16th Century, the lease passed to the Fleet (or Walgrove)
family, a leading Worcester family in the cloth industry. John Fleet
endowed a parochial charity in 1617 for the poor and the remuneration of a
minister to preach sermons. In 1646 Parliamentary leader Colonel Edward
Whalley, with 140 soldiers, were unwelcome guests in this Royalist
household before removing his headquarters to Rainbow Hill in Worcester.
By 1651 the Park was home to William Coombe. By 1680 the estate was the
home of Edward Bull from Warwickshire. His second wife Anne (nee Lygon of
the prominent Madresfield family) left £100 to buy land as an endowment
for teaching poor children of Hallow, Grimley and Madresfield. This legacy
formed the nucleus for the endowment of a village school in Hallow in 1712.
Through
much of the 18th century the lease for the Park was held by the Lygon
family from Madresfield, who paid an annual rent of £11- 16s-8d to the
Bishop of Worcester. Tenure was assured for the lifespan of three named
people on the lease, one name was always of a teenage boy for greater
security of tenure. The house was largely rebuilt in the 18th Century. On
Reginald Lygon’s death Hallow Park became the home of Joseph Berwick, a draper from
Stroud, who founded Worcester Old Bank, which was one of England’s top
5 great Stock Banks and was eventually absorbed into Lloyds. His only
daughter’s son-in-law, Colonel Samuel Wall, took over the estate in the early
19th century.
In 1842
the tenant was Mrs. Holland. A notable visitor to the estate at this time was
the Scottish surgeon and scientist Sir Charles Bell. He is remembered for
his pioneering discoveries on the nervous system. He was suffering from
angina and died during a visit to Hallow Park and is buried in the old
Churchyard in Hallow. In the latter part of the 19th Century Hallow Park
was home to Revd. Robert Burr Borne, described as a ‘clergyman of fortune’
then Captain J. P. Lord, whose widow collected funds for the building of
the church tower in 1879. He was followed by Francis Wood.
The estate
was bought by the clothing millionaire Joseph Banks, the benefactor
who gave Hallow both the playing field and £500 towards the Parish Hall
built in 1930. The present house in Hallow Park was built in 1914. As an
old man in 1941 Mr. Banks donated £5000 in the war effort for a Spitfire
named ‘Hallow’ in honour of the younger men of the village serving in the
forces. The neighbouring property Parkfield was built and owned in Victorian
times by Mr. Charles Wheeley Lea (head of Lea and Perrins Worcester
Sauce). After his death his widow became a generous benefactor to Hallow
and Worcester. She bought Hallow Park in 1912 but it was resold after her
death.
Parkfield
(aka Bohun House) was gifted to the Bishop but the beautiful chateau
style mansion was never used as she willed and was demolished in 1932, its
magnificent scale fittings sold off at auction. After World War II
there was also a decline in the fortunes of Hallow Park. Dr. Barnardo’s
opened a Home in the manor house in March 1947, which closed in 1959. In
1958 it was home to 62 children under the charge of Mrs. Marion Neal.
Three accommodation ‘cottages’ were built in the grounds and it reopened
in 1961 as a mixed Home. The children swelled the ranks of the village
Primary School. In line with the charity’s changing role, Dr. Barnardo’s
closed in January 1980.
The estate
was next rented by Fishmore Hall School’s Group as a sister school to
Nash School. Hallow Park was an independent Special School for girls, from
1981- 1988. Since 1991 the site has been owned by various property firms.
The three residential ‘cottages’ built by Barnardo’s have been demolished
and sold for private housing. The manor house, stables and outbuildings
have been developed as a Business Park. The once elegant house and grounds
however have not been restored to their former glory.
