Himley Hall and Park
Himley Hall
Location
Village Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New... :	Himley Himley Himley is a village located in Staffordshire, England. It is most notable for being the location of Himley Hall and the location of the death or capture of a group of conspirators following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.- The area :...
County County A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain... :	Staffordshire Staffordshire Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... :	England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... , U.K.
Himley Hall
Type:	Hall Hall In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers...
Built:	18th century
Himley Park
Area:	180 acres
Status:	Country Park Country park A country park is an area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment.-History:In the United Kingdom the term 'Country Park' has a special meaning. There are over 400 Country Parks in England alone . Most Country Parks were designated in the 1970s, under the...
Established:	1970s 1970s File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
Administration
Administrative authority:	Dudley Council

Himley Hall is a country house situated in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is situated in the south of the county

South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south...

 near the villages of Wombourne

Wombourne

Wombourne is a very large village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, 4 miles south-west of Wolverhampton. Local affairs are run by a parish council. At the 2001 census it had a population of 13,691...

 and Kingswinford

Kingswinford

Kingswinford is a suburban area in the West Midlands.Historically within Staffordshire, the area is mentioned in the Domesday Book its name relates to a ford for the King's swine - Latin Swinford Regis. The current significance is probably in tourism, education and housing...

, and the town of Sedgley

Sedgley

Sedgley is an urban village within the West Midlands county of England. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Sedgley was formerly an ancient manor composed of several smaller villages, including Gornal, Gospel End, Woodsetton, Ettingshall, Coseley and Brierley...

 (West Midlands). It is also several miles from the town of Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

 and the city of Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

.

History

Himley Hall is a Grade II* listed building.

In early days, it was a moated manor house, standing beside the medieval church. For over four centuries it served as a secondary home to the Lords of Dudley and their knights. Its occupants included Dud Dudley, whose seventeenth-century experiments in smelting iron ore with coal were carried out nearby. In 1645, King Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 encamped in the grounds on his way to defeat at the Battle of Naseby

Battle of Naseby

The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On 14 June 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.-The Campaign:...

 during the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

In 1628, the Ward family inherited the title Lords of Dudley through the marriage of Humble Ward

Humble Ward, 1st Baron Ward

Sir Humble Ward, 1st Baron Ward, of Birmingham was the son and heir of William Ward, a London goldsmith. He married Frances Sutton otherwise Dudley, 6th Baroness Dudley, granddaughter and sole heiress of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley, whose estates including Dudley Castle and Himley Hall were...

 to the heiress to the Dudley estates, Frances Sutton. Humble Ward was the son of the jeweller and goldsmith to the court of King Charles I. Following damage to Dudley Castle

Dudley Castle

Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...

 during the Civil War, Himley Hall became the principal family home.

Today's hall dates from the 18th century when John Ward demolished the medieval manor to make way for a great Palladian mansion. The village of Himley

Himley

Himley is a village located in Staffordshire, England. It is most notable for being the location of Himley Hall and the location of the death or capture of a group of conspirators following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.- The area :...

 was relocated at this time, and its church rebuilt on its present site in 1764. In 1774 John Ward died and was succeeded by his son John junior. He brought in Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to re-design the parkland.

The 180 acres (728,000 m²) of grounds were designed by Capability Brown

Capability Brown

Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...

 to include a great lake, fed by a series of waterfalls from a higher chain of smaller pools.

The family left Himley in the 1830s, because it was too close to the Black Country

Black Country

The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...

. They instead lived in great grandeur on their mineral wealth at Witley Court

Witley Court

Witley Court in Worcestershire, England is a Grade 1 listed building and was once one of the great houses of the Midlands, but today it is a spectacular ruin after being devastated by fire in 1937. It was built by Thomas Foley in 1655 on the site of a former manor house near Great Witley...

 at Great Witley

Great Witley

Great Witley is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District in the northwest of the county of Worcestershire, England...

 in Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

.

In 1934 the Duke and Duchess of Kent honeymooned at Himley. The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...

) spent his last weekend there before his abdication.

After the Second World War, the property was sold to the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

 for £45,000. During its conversion for this new purpose, a fire broke out in, and gutted, the South wing. This part of the house was rebuilt, but not according to its former appearance. The decline in the coal mining industry in the area led to the Hall being once more put on the market. In 1966, it was purchased jointly by Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

 and Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

 County Borough Councils - despite existing within the South Staffordshire council area. The park was opened as a public leisure area. In 1988, Dudley bought Wolverhampton's share, gaining outright ownership.

Himley Park

Set in the grounds of Himley Hall, Himley Park was created in the 1970s and is now visited by over 200,000 visitors each year. It features a large lake and hill with many woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 walks along with open parkland. There is a small log cabin cafe which is open for hot food and drinks for 364 days a year.

There is also a nine hole public golf course which was designed by A & K Baker in 1980 and a family pitch and put within the park along with a fishing and a sailing club on the lake.

Events

Himley Park is now a premier events venue playing host to a variety of outdoor events from garden plant fairs and classic vehicle shows to the Himley fireworks display.

Himley Hall supposedly hosts the United Kingdom's second largest firework display (second to Alton Towers

Alton Towers

Alton Towers is a theme park and resort located in Staffordshire, England. It attracts around 2.7 million visitors per year making it the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom. Alton Towers is also the 9th most visited theme park in Europe...

) on Guy Fawkes Night

Guy Fawkes Night

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding...

. On 4 November 2006, tens of thousands of spectators gathered to see the display, which is believed to have cost in excess of £100,000.

On 3 November 2007, Himley Hall hosted another fireworks display. It had a 'film' theme, with pyrotechnic displays navigating around well known theme songs. The event also provided a free bus service to and from the site to attract and encourage more spectators to come.