Somerford Hall is an 18th century Palladian style mansion house at Brewood, Staffordshire which now serves as a conference and function centre. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Somerford is a name of Anglo-Saxon origin and the interpretation is obvious: "summer river-crossing".[1] This probably means that the River Penk near this point was only fordable in the summer.[2] The manor of Somerford was held from the 1120s, when Henry I granted land there to Richard de Somerford, until 1705 by the Somerford family, named after their place of residence. The old house and estate was briefly owned by Sir Walter Wrottesley until he sold it in 1734 to lawyer Robert Barbor for £5400.[3]
Barbor replaced the old manor with the present mansion. The central seven-bayed three-storey block is flanked by single-storey pavilions with pedimented gables and ball finials. The estate was purchased in 1779 by Hon Edward Monckton, (a younger son of Viscount Galway and half brother of General Robert Monckton) who had made his fortune in India. Monckton, who was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1835, carried out alterations to the house including the provision of an entrance porch. The grounds were laid out by Humphrey Repton.
In about 1858 the then head of the Monckton family Francis Monckton moved to live at Stretton Hall and the Somerford house was let out to tenants.
In about 1945 the property was converted to residential flats but more recently has been renovated and refurbished and opened as a conference centre.
During the 1970s and 1980s the house was converted back to a single residence with the ground floor housing a sports therapy and physiotherapy clinic. This was due to a number of apartment fires, often attributed to the ghost of a murdered kitchen maid. The fire service insisted that to remain as apartments, an exterior fire escape be built. This was refused due to its listed building status. During the late 1980s the owners of the clinic relocated to smaller premises and the house was converted to a conference and wedding venue.
It has many fine architectural attributes with a dining room designed and built by Robert Adam, complete with its original fireplace.