Stokesay Court is a magnificent late-Victorian mansion set within extensive grounds in the rolling South Shropshire countryside, with panoramic views across to Ludlow and the Clee Hills.
Visitors can see the house and grounds on pre-booked tours on selected dates, when they will be able to view the magnificent architecture, intricate crafted detailing and behind-the-scenes insight to the filming of ‘Atonement’. Additional displays tell the story of Stokesay’s role as a WW1 Hospital. Tickets for Guided House Tours include tea and home baked refreshments and access to the gardens after the tour.
The house also provides a distinctive venue for both corporate and private events.
Stokesay Court was built for John Derby Allcroft, a wealthy manufacturer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, who had made his fortune in the glove making business. Designed by Thomas Harris, the house was at the cutting edge of technology when it was completed in 1892, just six months before John Derby Allcroft’s death. Equipped with a large boiler and under-floor heating, the house was one of the first private homes in England to have integral electric light, powered by large lead batteries.
Aesthetically, however, the house looks to the grandeur of the Victorian era. Behind the imposing Jacobean style façade with its Arts and Crafts detailing, lies a superb interior, notable for its English Oak woodwork that is at its most stunning in the central Great Hall. It is the grandeur of the architecture and attention to period detail that capture the eyes and imagination of Stokesay Court’s visitors.
The landscaped gardens and grounds contain a fountain, grotto, woodland walks and a series of pools connected by cascades, rills and steps where wildlife abounds. Heron, kingfishers, newts, dippers and even otters have been spotted in and around the pools.
During the First World War, Stokesay Court was used as an Auxiliary Military Hospital for convalescent solders, and in World War II it served as a boarding house for evacuated Sussex-based Lancing College and then as a Western Command Junior Leaders’ School. Yet throughout all of this, the family continued to live there and the house has survived largely untouched to this day. Additional rooms and displays are now open which tell the story of the role Stokesay Court played as a military hospital with touching personal narratives of some of the wounded soldiers that were nursed by the Commandant and home owner, Mrs Rotten.
Still a lived-in, private home, Stokesay is now probably best known for the 2007 award-winning film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s best selling novel, “Atonement”, and its success has contributed considerably to the revival of the house. Many of the film’s artifacts remain on view in and around the house and a visit to Stokesay Court will draw you in to a world of both fictional drama and real history.
Please visit our website www.stokesaycourt.com for details of available Tour Dates and further information.
Please contact us direct for information on disabled access to Stokesay Court.
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Stokesay Court is situated near Onibury Village, 5 miles North West of Ludlow or 3 miles South West of Craven Arms on the main A49.