page_title: Hagley Hall
section_title: House
hierarchical_section_title: Hagley Hall / House
caption_attribution_description: English: St John the Baptist Church, Hagley Worcestershire. The church's origins go back to medieval times or even further, since there has been a church on this site since late Saxon times. The de Hagley family was responsible for enlarging and rebuilding the church in the 14th century. Evidence of this period is to be seen in three arches of the south aisle, built in the Decorated style, c.1300. A wooden board near the present entrance door lists the Rectors of the parish from 1285. The north aisle was enlarged in the early 19th century, and the church was further enlarged and virtually rebuilt in 1856, when its interior assumed its present day shape. The imposing tower was added in 1865 and a peal of 8 bells was hung. http://www.openchurchestrust.org.uk/Churches/HagleyStJohn.htm
context_page_description: Hagley Hall is a Grade I listed 18th-century house in Hagley, Worcestershire, the home of the Lyttelton family. It was the creation of George, 1st Lord Lyttelton, secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before the death of his father in 1751, he began to landscape the grounds in the new Picturesque style, and between 1754 and 1760 it was he who was responsible for the building of the Neo-Palladian house that survives to this day.
  After a fire in 1925, most of the house was restored, but the uppermost floor of the servants' quarters was not, which means that the present roof line between the towers is lower than it was when first constructed.
  The estate fell into disrepair and incurred a mounting debt beginning in the 1970s. The 11th Viscount Cobham was forced to sell off large tracts of estate land to keep it afloat. His brother and successor Christopher Charles Lyttelton, 12th Viscount Cobham began restoration works in both the main house and the park. The park is open to the public and part of the house is available as a venue for hire.
context_section_description: The fashion for Neo-Palladian houses had started in London between 1715 and 1720. It spread out to the provinces and did not reach Worcestershire until the 1750s. The two finest examples of this style in Worcestershire were Croome Court built between 1751 and 1752 and Hagley Hall designed by Sanderson Miller (with the assistance of the London architect John Sanderson) between 1754 and 1760. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Hagley Hall include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire), and of Venetian windows. The house contains a fine example of Rococo plasterwork by Francesco Vassali and a unique collection of 18th-century Chippendale furniture and family portraits, including works by Van Dyck, Joshua Reynolds, Cornelius Johnson, and Peter Lely. A catalogue of the collection was published in 1900.
  On Christmas Eve 1925, a disastrous fire swept through the house destroying much of the Library and many of the pictures. Despite boiling lead pouring from the roof through the house, all those within managed to escape. At the height of the blaze when nothing more could be salvaged from inside, the 9th Viscount was heard to mutter "my life's work [is] destroyed". He and his wife painstakingly restored the house, except for the staff quarters on the top floor.
  To the north of the Hall, and separated from it only by the narrow Hall Drive, is the extensive stable block. The buildings are grouped around two courtyards. The stable block no longer serves its original purpose, but is now operated as a business park for small local businesses.
  A short walk to the west of the Hall, facing its rear facade, is the parish church of St John the Baptist, and its surrounding churchyard. With two earlier exceptions, members of the Lyttelton family, owners of Hagley Hall and their relatives, have only been buried in the churchyard since 1875; also there are the owners of other large houses and estates in the area, and their servants as well. Immediately adjacent to the church is the local cricket ground with its separate clubhouse. Hagley Cricket Club, first formed in 1834, was for long associated with the Lyttelton family.
caption: St John the Baptist Church, Hagley
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