The Red House

Within the park is The Red House, a country house built in the 1841 for the then Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Walsall

Walsall

Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...

, Robert Wellbeloved Scott

Robert Wellbeloved Scott

Robert Wellbeloved Scott, born Robert Wellbeloved was the Liberal Member of Parliament for Walsall, England from 1841 to 1847....

, and stood in his 27 acres (10.9 ha) estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

. Since 17 June 1996 it has been a Grade II listed building, statutory list reference: 5/110011 (179). It uses red bricks in Flemish Bond with stone dressings. It has a hipped roof with Welsh slates and brick chimneys.

Previously used as a convalescent home, the house is now owned by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Metropolitan borough

A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...

 and leased to the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, but is in a poor state of repair. The council proposes to sell it for development as private apartments, but this is opposed by nearby residents.

Obelisk

The park includes an obelisk

Obelisk

An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...

, in memory of Princess Charlotte

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales

Princess Charlotte of Wales was the only child of George, Prince of Wales and Caroline of Brunswick...

, which was restored in August 2009.

Cave

The Park is also home to two small tunnel like structures known locally, and referred to on maps as, Hermit's Cave.

External links

• Friends of Red House Park