ERCALL MAGNA
A brief journey through time
The Place
The People
External Sites
A brief history (According to Rob)
The Gospel Oak
This stands at the junction to Church Road. According to 'The Shropshire
Village Book' this is where Medieval Friars held religious meetings (Medieval
period was from 1066 to 1485). However it most likely to have got its
name because, according to the book, The Shropshire Way by Robert Kirk,
it is where Primitive Methodists met in the early 1800s.
High Ercall Hall
This was built in 1608 according to a plaque on the wall, for Sir
Francis Newport by Walter Hancock. Although there is a second
plaque that Time Team found in a garden wall pointing to a later build
period of 1617 to 1620.
In its grounds is an arcade of four arches, it was thought that this was
from an earlier building, however Time
Team visited the Hall in 2002 and found that the foundations
were no more than 300 years old with the arches dating from the 1600s,
this had already been speculated on in other references. They were probably
sited there as a folly probably from the much grander pre-civil war mansion.
So to put this in to a time line, 1608 building started, there appears
to be a gap until in 1617 building starts again with the Hall being completed
in 1620. In 1645/6 most of the Hall is destroyed during the Civil war.
The Civil war ended in 1649 so likely shortly after that the arches were
re-located and the destroyed building removed and the present Hall repaired.
According to the book 'Shropshire' by J E Auden (1912) tradition has it
that the stone for the Hall was brought from Haughmond Abbey and Wroxeter
and certainly not from a local quarry. He further goes on to say that
at Poynton, traces of the former Manor House can be seen in a farm, where
the old chapel has been turned into a stable.
Photos
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