Blakesley Hall (Northamptonshire)

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Blakesley Hall was a manor house situated near the village of Blakesley in Northamptonshire, England. Dating from the reign of King Henry III in the 13th century, it was demolished in 1957.

The hall was owned by C. W. Bartholomew from 1876 to 1919. In 1903, Bartholemew constructed a 15-inch-gauge ridable miniature railway Built in 1903, the 15 inch narrow gauge line ran the three quarters of a mile from the SMJ station to the nearby 'Blakesley Hall'. The line carried coal, farm supplies and the occasional passenger and when the Hall became a military hospital during the first world war, the line was used to rehabilitate patients. The track was lifted in 1940, the Hall being demolished in 1957.

Blakesley Station on the East and West Junction Railway (later known as the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway) between Stratford-upon-Avon and Blisworth Junction. Visit (http://www.andythompson.net/blakesley.htm) for more details. One of the engines run on the miniature railway was a 4-4-4T internal combustion locomotive (with a steam outline) named Blacolvesley and built by Bassett-Lowke of Northampton in 1909. [1]

More recently, local architectural designers, the Roger Coy Partnership, have been granted planning permission to undertake work on their proposed recreation of the hall. [2] The current owner discovered a stream by landscape gardeners, James Pulham and Son (a firm which specialised in the production of simulated rock, known as Pulham Rock, for garden features in the 19th century), while clearing the grounds in readiness for the redevelopment. The stream, which had become overgrown, included cascades and other water features.