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Historical Landmarks

Great Barr Hall - The 'Lost' Stately Home

Great Barr Hall, once the grandest building in the Walsall area, was originally much smaller than the stately edifice it was to become. First known as 'the Netherhouse' dating from at least the early 17th century when Richard Scott (1612 - 1675) moved there, it was added to over many years, and by 1760 was much more than a simple farmhouse, including stables, a coach house and a walled garden.

The house was substantially and lavishly rebuilt and extended by Joseph Scott in 1777. The Scott family had been associated with Great Barr since at least the 14th century, but it was not until 1791 that Joseph Scott inherited the Manor from the Hoo family. In 1806 he was created a baronet. One-time MP for Worcester, Sir Joseph Scott, due to his own extravagance, was in due course forced to lease Great Barr Hall to Mr. Galton, the famous Birmingham banker and industrialist.

During Galton's tenancy, the Hall became one of the meeting venues of the famous 'Lunar Society', an informal group of scientists, engineers, doctors, intellectuals and businessmen to which he belonged. Their most famous members included Matthew Boulton, James Watt, Joseph Priestly and Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles Darwin), and the Society met occasionally at the Hall as well as other great houses such as Soho House, home of Boulton at Handsworth.

The south-west corner of the house was extended between 1800 - 1830, and a clock tower was added between 1830 - 1848, when many other changes were also made.

Great Barr Hall, late 1890s

In 1863, a chapel, thought to be designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, was also added to the south-west corner, although it was in fact used as a billiards room.

After the death of Lady Bateman-Scott in 1909, the estate was purchased in 1911 by the Walsall and West Bromwich Joint Board for use as a hospital. From 1918, St. Margaret's Hospital, as it was known, was used for the care of the mentally ill. Parts of the Hall were demolished in 1955, and in the 1960's various unattractive modifications were made. The hall was vacated by the hospital authorities in 1978, though the separate and extensive hospital buildings remained in use until some years later when they too were closed.

The hall, together with other buildings and the estate, owned by the National Health Service, has been in the hands of Official Receivers for the past decade, coming under various highly controversial but so far unsuccessful planning proposals.

Now sadly derelict and dilapidated, Great Barr Hall is on the English Heritage 'Buildings at Risk' register and only a shell of its former self. It is still surrounded by the vestiges of the beautifully landscaped park which added to its charm in earlier days. In a contemporary account of 1800 in Cooke's Warwickshire, the estate was described as follows:

'… the hospitable mansion of Sir Joseph Scott Bart. is surrounded by a park of considerable extent wherein there is the greatest variety of undulating hills and dales, woods and water, together with such extensive views as can only be found in this part of the kingdom. To this park there are three entrances, and at every avenue the worthy proprietor has erected an elegant lodge, from which there are capacious carriageways to the mansion… On entering the park a circular coach drive leads to the holly wood, through which you proceed by a serpentine road nearly half a mile when a beautiful sheet of water presents itself to view, along whose banks you pass near a mile before you arrive at the mansion.

The situation of the building is low in front of the water, but being screened by rising ground and lofty trees, it must be very warm in winter. On the left of the house, a walk leads you to the flower garden which is laid out with great taste, containing flowers and small shrubs of the choicest and rarest kinds, together with a fountain in the centre. From here there are delightful views and among others over the adjacent country, Birmingham is distinctly seen. At a distance of about two miles further towards Walsall, there is another lodge which is the entrance from Walsall, and leads you by a spacious serpentine road through Marrion Wood which is composed of various shrubs and evergreens and conducts you to a most elegant chapel…

There is another lodge at a place called the Queslet… where a spacious road conducts you for a considerable distance by a plantation of oaks and so through the park wherein there are fixed numerous seats which command delightful and comprehensive prospects.'