Introduction
Pepperhill has a large 16th-century house of red brick on a sandstone plinth. It was damaged in 1698, and rebuilt in 1699. The late medieval/16th-century park is now lost, but a stone fountain is known to have been close by in the 17th century (now elsewhere).
- History
Leland, in the 1540s, noted that Sir John Talbot lived in a house (elsewhere called a 'goodly lodge') called Pepper Hill, on the hilltop in what was called Albrighton park. Interestingly, in the wake of the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot, conspirators Stephen Littleton and Thomas Wintour are reported to have fled to Pepperhill from nearby Holbeche House, but Sir John Talbot turned them away.
That house, sometimes called Upper Pepperhill, and its associated park, were apparently in existence by 1519, but the park at Pepper Hill is not noted after the early-17th century. The house, commanding wide views over the surrounding countryside, was damaged in 1698, and was rebuilt in 1699. It is of red brick on a sandstone plinth. In close proximity to the house was an elaborate, canopied, stone fountain-head, probably of the 17th century (photos of this are available in Shrewsbury Local Studies Library). However, this was removed to Pattishall (Staffs) some time before 1958.
The park at Pepperhill provides one of the most vivid descriptions of poaching (an armed raid on John Talbot's deer in the mid-16th century, as well as one of the county's earliest suggestions of an aesthetic concern with landscape (in 1615, evidence was presented in court, relating to the 'topping and cropping' of trees in the park).
- Features & Designations
Features
- Ornamental Fountain
- Description: This canopied, stone fountain-head, probably dates back to the 17th century. It was taken to Pattishall (Staffs) some time before 1958, but photos are available in Shrewsbury Local Studies Library.
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Key Information
Survival
Part: standing remains
Civil Parish
Albrighton
- References
References
- Newman, J. and Pevsner, N. {The Buildings of England: Shropshire}, (London: Yale University Press, 2006) The Buildings of England: Shropshire
- Leighton, S. 1901. {Shropshire Houses Past and Present}, p.33. Shropshire Houses Past and Present
- Stamper, P. {Historic Parks and Gardens of Shropshire} Shrewsbury: Shropshire Book (1996, p. 17-18). Historic Parks and Gardens of Shropshire
- Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society 2 Series 11, p.28, 113. Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society
- Speed, J. 1611. {Map of Shropshire}. Speed's Map of Shropshire (1611)