Pitchford Hall Orangery

Pitchford Hall is a large and complex Grade I listed Tudor country house in the small but ancient village of Pitchford, Shropshire, just outside of Shrewsbury. The hall was built in the latter part of the 16^th century for Thomas Ottley, a wool merchant- by the well known master carpenter of his day, John Sandford. The house is built upon the site of an earlier medieval building – presumed 13^th century – though it has clearly undergone several phases of enlargement and modification over subsequent centuries. After entering tragic financial circumstances in the early 1990’s, the family were forcced to sell the hall and its immediate grounds – which remained outside of family control until 2016, when the daughter of the last family owners bought the house back with her husband. Since then, significant time and effort has been given to putting right that which has been neglected over the last 25 years, as well as improving the hall where possible to facilitate holiday let accommodation; there is still a long road ahead however.

Arrol Architects were first involved at Pitchford in the late 1980’s, undertaking grant funded repair works to the hall’s roof and timber framing amongst other things. As of 2017, Arrol Architects are back at Pitchford and continue to assist with the diagnosis and capture of all works required to the hall and its immediate estate so that plans may be drawn up for large scale repairs in the near future.

Elsewhere on the estate, permissions have recently been granted for long overdue repairs to the orangery, along with its conversion to form a flexible use space to host events, dinners and functions – enhanced by its setting within the walled garden. Phase one works are currently underway to implement the required bat mitigation measures, as well as renewal of roof coverings and rainwater goods. The remainder of the works will then be tackled – in coordination with the Country Houses Foundation – over the coming 12 months.