Exhibition to showcase lost photos of poet and painters' visit to hall
Lost photos revealing a post-war poet laureate and famous English artist's visit to a Shropshire mansion will go on display.
William Cash, owner of Upton Cressett Hall, near Bridgnorth, has launched an exhibition focusing on pictures taken by 20th century artist John Piper and poet Sir John Betjeman in 1938.
The recovered photos include pictures seen in the official 1951 publication of Shropshire: A Shell Guide, snaps of their historic visit and others taken around Shropshire.
The pictures were unearthed by the Tate Gallery in London and will form part of the exhibition called Summer Before the Storm: John Piper and John Betjeman in Shropshire, 1938.
The exhibition over the August Bank Holiday weekend will include three photos of Upton Cressett, which forms part of the 250 pictures of Shropshire that have been digitalised by Tate Britain.
All 250 photos can be viewed through Tate's website and form part of a larger collection of 5,000 restored country-wide images.
Mr Cash said: "We are putting on a pop-up exhibition to show these previously unknown photographs of the neglected Upton Cressett Hall and Gatehouse from 1938, along with a number of other photographs taken by John Piper.
"This remarkable discovery shows a unique side to Shropshire just before the clouds of war. The online selection is typically eclectic with an emphasis on historic houses, churches, hamlets, hills and dales."
Five images of Upton Cressett Hall have been posted online by Tate from the new John Piper archive, following a major Heritage Lottery Fund grant.
Shropshire: A Shell Guide was the first of the famous travel guides to be published after the war, in 1951.
The exhibition will run at Upton Cressett Hall from noon to 4.30pm over the entire August Bank Holiday weekend.
Tickets into the hall to include a tour, with tea and cake, costing £12.50.
