01
Himley Hall
The Hall existed in registers by at least 1361
It was inherited by the Lords of Dudley, the Ward family (previous Goldsmiths to Charles I) in 1628 and eventually taken as their permanent home when Dudley Castle sustained damage.
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Charles I Cavaliers camped in the grounds in 1645 on their way to the battle of Naseby, creating one of the few ghost stories that persists within the grounds.
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It was rebuilt as the current Palladian style house at around 1764, the gardens being renovated in 1774 to include a series of (now famous) pools fed by waterfalls.
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It was renovated again (for the final major time) in 1824.
The Family left the home in 1830.
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In the 1940s it was utilised as part of the local coal mining efforts.
In 1953 it was designated a Grade II listed building.
In 1966 it was purchased by Dudley and Wolverhampton councils.
In 1988 Dudley purchased Wolverhampton's share.
02
The Pools
Shortly after the Hall was rebuilt Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was contracted to redesign the grounds. Part of this re-design was that of the pools.
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The Great Pool is the best known of these changes today in which the other other pools still flow into via a series of waterfalls and are all still home to all manner of wildlife to this day.
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The Great Pool is the largest and best known, flowing into it is the Rock Pool, West of the Ward House, flowing into that is the Island Pool, further up towards Baggeridge is the Spring Pool and finally, in Baggeridge itself is the Whites Wood pool.
03
Ward House
Converted courtyard of stables known as Mews erected originally by William Atkinson in the 1820's. Topped with a decorative clocktower and made up of two wings, you'll notice a shed attached to the side where a horse shoe can still be seen hung above the door.
04
Piper's Hill
Piper's Hill is situated opposite the Hall with a view of the Great Pool and where two Wych Elms and a weeping willow grow,
On the center top of the hill are two old stone circles embedded into the earth that appear to be some sort of foundation.
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Sitting next to Piper's Hill is an underpass with a Gothic Bridge spanning the gap. It seems this Gothic Bridge and underpass were likely constructed by Atkinson, the same man who renovated the hall in the 1800s
05
The Hill
The Hill is the main geographical feature that a lot of the other historical sites of Himley sit on. It is a large wooded hill with winding paths and trails.
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It, along with the grounds themselves used to be home to deer as evidenced by the deer fence that now sits in disrepair.
It is now perfect for anyone planning a walk around a beautiful scenic wooded area filled with a large variety of flora and fauna.
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Beyond The Hill lies acres of golden farmland.
06
Medieval Church & St. Michaels
An old medieval church used to sit just outside the west side of Himley Hall before the Hall was rebuilt. The church itself was rebuilt once before eventually being demolished for good and St. Michaels & all Angels church became the primary church on the grounds of Himley.
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A graveyard sits around the church and the Ward family themselves, the Earls of Dudley are buried nearby in a more private graveyard.
07
Public Houses
Himley House is the first of the pubs on the Himley Estate, previously a second home to the Earls of Dudley, it was later inherited by the Ward family in 1645.
The current building served as a Georgian style Lodge House to the Himley Hall estate.
The Lodge house, now known simply as 'Himley House' is registered as a Grade II listed building and whilst no longer a part of the estate it still serves the people as a Pub, restaurant and Hotel and has done since the 20th Century.
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The second public house in the area is the famed Crooked House. It began life in 1765 as a farmhouse but mining in the 19th century caused one side of the building to begin sinking, giving it its modern distinctive appearance.
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It became a public house in 1830 known as 'Siden house' and was later rescued and renovated by what we now know as Marston's breweries.
08
Pet Cemetary
William Humble Eric Ward was the third earl of Himley and something of a dog lover. He owned five Alsatians over his life and each of them are buried in the grounds at Himley.
He went as far as to order that one of the dogs (Wolf), be dug up and reburied with the others when it had died and been buried in front of the stable block whilst he had been away.
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Each graves has the dogs name and the dates of birth and death which can be seen in the images in the gallery.
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Faithful Tige 1911-1926,
Wolf 1922-1934,
Quetta 1959 - 1969,*
Maggie 1923-1936,
Faithful Will 1924-1929,
Rennel 1934-1943.
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*We are currently uncertain what type of animal Quetta was or who they belonged to
1911 - 1926
1934 - 1943
09
Old Ice House
The old, original Ice house that supplied Himley Hall that seems to be of about mid 18th Century construction. The ice would have been taken from the Great Pool and stored here in the winter to be used in the summer months.
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It seems that after the newer more efficient Ice House was constructed to the North that the ice was travelled from said newer Ice House and a chute was constructed so as to fill up the now older Ice House from above to act as temporary storage before it was transported to the Hall itself.
10
New Ice House
The newer Ice House was built in the early 19th century as a more efficient alternative to the older mid 18th century Ice House and stands to the North of the Hall and West of the pools built by Capability Brown.
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It is constructed largely of sandstone and features a domed roof covered by earth, now overgrown. A central, vaulted entrance passage leads down into the circular Ice Chamber that would have been fed by a single ice chute in the domed roof, now covered.
11
Cherry Lane Ice House
​The Ice House off of Cherry Lane sits further away from the Hall than the other two but fairly close to the western side of the Great Pool.
It now sits surrounded by a small wooded area and a number of cottages.
It features an arched entrance similar to the new, Northern Ice House and a similar shallow domed roof covered and now overgrown.
12
Grottoes
There are a number of Sandstone caves, or Grottoes, around Himley Hall.
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One of the more famous and notable is the Cave, a simple dug out sandstone cave that has carved stone stairs leading above it.
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Secondarily there are the now bricked up, ornamental Sandstone Grottoes. Three arches leading into three separate caves into the cliff face, two of them connected at the back and one more individual.
All of them are decorated at the front with gothic bricked arches and old stone Quaterfoil patterns.
13
Thatched Boathouse
The Boathouse is an old Thatched listed building that now serves as the Clubhouse for the Himley Hall Sailing club, sitting in the perfect location on the shore of the Great Pool, with a gorgeous view of the tree canopy covered waters.
It has been modified to allow for a small kitchen, eating area, modern toilets and showers and a teaching area with seating for the Club members to relax.
14
Model Village
The now closed walled off garden area near the Himley Hall entrance building 'Ward 1-4' used to be home to a Model Village that was created by Fred Blakemoore and opened as an attraction in 1986, it featured scale models of buildings from around the westmidlands such as the Old Station Hotel, Russells Hall farm, Dudley Market and Himley Hall itself, all made of Plywood and featuring a model railway that would lead a train on a winding path through the model buildings.
Attendance was not as high as expected however and it was closed in 1993, the buildings however were taken out and put into storage and have since been used in other places around the country.
