England

Shropshire

Stockton

52.58104

-2.42674

1811

Fully Extant

Grade II*

Not Listed

Vol. II, p. 77, 1853.

May 25, 1907.

2.S. Vol. III, 1826.

No

Flat Owners Company (aka Condo Association)

Flats

Thomas Whitmore. Foster and Goulburn families, since 19th century. Russell family, late 19th century. J.S. Edwards-Heathcote, 20th century. Neil Avery, 1999-2004.

An earlier Georgian house was incorporated into the current 1811 house.

Thomas Whitmore

Apley Park is one of the largest and most expensive country mansions ever built in Britain, and one of Shropshire’s most important country houses. The House was built in 1811 by Thomas Whitmore, whose family had held the Estate since 1572 (the family made their fortune as iron founders during the time when Shropshire was the birthplace of industry). The Grinshill stone House sits romantically above the River Severn, its Gothic exterior featuring battlemented parapets and mullioned windows. The interior contains grand staterooms with ornate plaster and fan vaulted ceilings and a central monumental staircase, the fittings of which were brought from the demolished houses of Shobdon Court and Wigmore Hall, both in Herefordshire. In 1867 Apley was sold (for a record amount at the time) to William Ormes Foster; it remained a family home until 1962, when it became Apley Park Boarding School. In 1987 cuts in the Shropshire County Council education budget resulted in the closure of the School and the abandonment of the House, which remained uninhabited for many years, during which time it suffered from vandalism and dry and wet rot. In an attempt to save the House, the Apley Hall Restoration Trust Ltd. was formed by Neil Avery and subsequently purchased the House, surrounding buildings, and 25 acres in 1999. The Trust began to restore the House and eventually obtained planning permission to convert Apley into luxury flats. In Feb 2004 the House went up for auction and was sold to developers Earlstone (owned by Martin Ebelis) under the company name Apley Hall Restoration Ltd. Earlstone developed the Estate into 17 houses, apartments, and mews houses, with the House itself divided into five grand mansion houses, completed and sold in 2006-07 with the Apley Hall House being the most expensive at £1.5 million (incorporating the main entrance), the others being the Library House, Georgian House, Garden House and Courtyard House. See also www.apleyhall.com. The surrounding 8,500-acre Apley Park estate is still owned, since 1868, by the Hamilton family's Apley Estate (www.apleyestate.com).

The Grade II-listed two-story Stable Block has been restored and divided into ten individual homes. The Stable Block is built around a courtyard and is dominated by a large central archway that supports the Clock Tower. Beside the Stable Block is the Blacksmith’s Cottage, which has also been converted into an individual home. In the 1930s the Orangery was converted to accommodate a swimming pool, believed to be the first private indoor swimming pool in Britain.