Oakley Hall, Staffordshire
Oakley Hall is an early 18th century mansion house at Mucklestone, near to Market Drayton, Staffordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.[1]
The Chetwode family who from about the 13th century owned the Chetwode Manor estate in Buckinghamshire also held the manor of Oakley. There was a substantial manor house at Oakley in the 16th century.
In about 1710 Sir John Chetwode Bt., (High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1691 and 1698) replaced the old house with a two-storey mansion. The house is built of brick on a sandstone plinth with a balustraded entrance front of eleven bays, the central three of which were pedimented. Two sphinx-like statues with female heads flank the main entrance.
The 1881 census discloses the 6th Baronet and his family in residence with a staff of fifteen servants. The Chetwodes sold the estate in 1919. It was already by then in the family of Cyril Charles Dennis, High Sheriff of Staffordshire (wife Mary Scott Dennis [nee Macfie], sons: Ian and Lance (sons: Professor Roger L H Dennis [Butterfly Biologist] and Cyril T H Dennis Esq [Veterinary Surgeon]), daughters Mary [son: Martin Peel] and Primrose) until 1948 when he retired to Park House in the grounds where he died in 1964).
Oakley Hall is now the home of UK's Big Brother 10 contestant Freddie Fisher IV. The house is not generally open to the public but is available by arrangement for corporate functions, conferences etc.
References
- ↑ "Oakley Hall & Pair of Sphinxes Framing East Entrance: List entry Number 1205760". English Heritage. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
Coordinates: 52°55′45″N 2°26′45″W / 52.9291°N 2.4457°W