Many twists in history of county's "grandest hall"

Condover Hall has been described as one of the most complete country houses in England, and the grandest house in Shropshire.

The Elizabethan mansion, which remained in the Owen family for many centuries, comes under the microscope in a book written and researched by John Hodges, who has a particular interest in digging out the stories of historic houses.

Brought up at his father’s farm at Dryton, Wroxeter, he lives now in Worcester.

"It is considered one of the most iconic Elizabethan houses in Shropshire," said John, who was a teacher at Greenacres County Primary School in Shrewsbury before working as a teacher with special needs at Cruckton Hall.

His book lifts the lid on the twists and turns in the property's long history, as well as looking at some of the stories, legends, and myths associated with it.

"Local legend holds that no heir to Condover Hall will prosper since the hall was cursed from the gallows by a butler falsely accused of murder," he said.

After being stabbed, the victim, Knyvett, lord of the manor, is said to have stumbled down the basement stairs and reached out his bloodied hand leaving an imprint on the wall which defied all attempts to wash it away, and eventually had to be chipped clean.

"Unfortunately this story cannot be true, as a Knyvett never lived in the hall."

Among other bits of folklore is that the gardeners must always make sure that ivy never grows up and covers the fine lions over the entrance arch to the front drive of the hall.

"The legend states that if ivy ever covers these lions, the hall will fall."

Among distinguished visitors to Condover Hall, the then home of Reginald Cholmondeley, were the American writer and humorist Mark Twain, who stayed in 1873 and 1879.

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens and in 1881 Cholmondeley wrote a letter of condolence to Mrs Clemens on his death, which came as a surprise as he was not actually dead.

Clemens wrote back to Reginald at Condover saying: "Being dead, I might be excused from writing letters, but I am not that kind of corpse. May I never be so dead as to neglect the hail of a friend from a far land."

In May 1999 Condover Hall was the place where Salopians got their first chance to see an old friend, the famous Shropshire Mammoth, in all its glory with the opening of an exhibition of a replica of the beast. The display attracted thousands of people. The venue had been chosen because it was close to the site at Condover Quarry where the Shropshire Mammoth had been discovered in 1986.

As many Salopians will recall, the hall was famously a school for the blind from 1948 to 2006.

After the closure of the blind school, Condover Hall was a residential school for autistic children and a college for young people with Asperger’s Syndrome, before it was bought by the JCA Adventure Group, to be an education and activity centre for youngsters.

The group's website describes it as its "flagship activity centre set in the Shropshire countryside offering the ideal combination of outdoor and indoor adventurous activities."

"Condover Hall, The Story of an Elizabethan Country House," costs £14.95.