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Wall Hall Estate
Wall Hall Mansion
A Gothic delight
Wall Hall is a grand mansion, built in the neo-Gothic style to resemble a
castle. There has been a manor house on this site since medieval times but
the present hall was built in 1780 and enlarged in the early nineteenth century
for George Woodford-Thellusson, a prosperous banker in the City of London.
In 1910, after a long line of owners, American banker John Pierpont-Morgan
Junior bought the mansion. Here he entertained guests including the late
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. During World War II, Wall Hall became
the residence of the United States Ambassador, Joseph Kennedy, who
stayed here with his family, including his son John F Kennedy, the future
US president. It was later used as a hospital for recovering soldiers.
In 1942, on Morgan’s death, the mansion and the surrounding estate was
gifted to Hertfordshire County Council, to ensure the estate remained
forever an area of open countryside to prevent the outward sprawl of
north-west London. After the war the mansion was used as a nationally
renowned teacher training college and later became part of the
University of Hertfordshire. Today the mansion forms a number of
privately owned apartments.
Wall Hall mansion is private property today. However, it may be glimpsed
from various points on the public paths that criss-cross the estate.
Humphry Repton, a well known 18th century landscape gardener, designed
the surrounding grounds, which includes a Gothic arch folly and an Italianate
garden. These grounds are now privately owned and are being restored.
New housing has been built in a late Victorian ‘Arts and Crafts’ style
on the college site to create a new village community.
Other buildings of historical interest around Wall Hall
include the early 19th century granary. The granary
is a tall, three-storey timber framed barn with
a slate roof. It is prominent, sitting on several
mushroom-like staddle stones, adjacent to the
road leading through Wall Hall. The granary was
used for storing corn. The staddle stones lift it
off the ground, protecting the grain from water
damage or vermin. This building is one of the
largest of its kind surviving in the country.
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The 405 hectare (1,000 acre) estate is still owned
by Hertfordshire County Council. You can explore
the countryside surrounding Wall Hall on foot,
bicycle or horseback using the waymarked trails.
To download a leaflet guide to the
countryside around Wall Hall, visit
www.hertslink.org/cms/getactive/placestovisit
dle
Sto
ne
Gra
nary
Manor Stroll, 2km
(1.3mile)
Morgan Trail, 6.8km
(4.2miles)
Abbot Trail 10.3km
(6.4miles)
This is a short, flat route that
follows part of the Old Carriage
Drive through Wall Hall village.
Suitable for walkers.
A circular route through
Aldenham village, golf course
and farmland. Suitable for
walkers, cyclists and
horse riders.
A circular route passing through
Aldenham village, Berrygrove
Woods, the Colne valley and
wider countryside. Suitable
for walkers, cyclists and
horse riders.
For further information on Hertfordshire County Council’s
Rural Estate, visit www.hertsdirect.org/ruralestates
or call 01992 556238. For a map of the public rights of way
visit www.hertsdirect.org/rowmap
The Countryside Management
Service works with communities
across Hertfordshire to help them
care for and enjoy the environment.
For more information contact us at
www.hertslink.org/cms
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