View Wall Hall Mansion Panel
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View Wall Hall Mansion Panel
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. ta d S 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 represents frame