Hagley Hall – May 2025
On 13th May 2025, ably choreographed by Janet Morris, sixteen members of the Pershore Civic Society enjoyed a highly informative visit to Hagley Hall which is a Grade I listed 18th-century house in Hagley, Worcestershire. It remains the home of the Lyttelton family. It was the creation of George, 1st Lord Lyttelton (1709–1773), secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before the death of his father (Sir Thomas Lyttelton) in 1751, he began to landscape the grounds in the new Picturesque style, and between 1754 and 1760 it was he who was responsible for the building of the Neo-Palladian house that survives to this day.
Despite its close proximity to the metropolis of Birmingham, the building is romantically set in a generous landscape grazed by deer and blessed with St Saviour’s church with its adjacent cricket pitch.
Ornate plasterwork, tapestries on loan from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and family portraits sit alongside the family’s own more prosaic possessions. It truly is a magnificent family home. Tea was taken in one of the ornately decorated rooms overlooking the cricket pitch and St Saviours.
Offers of a talk on the history of the family and an opportunity re-visit to walk the surrounding park were freely offered. A re-visit would enable closer inspection of the Rotunda, Shenstone’s Urn, the Ruined Castle, the recently restored Palladian Bridge, Jacob’s well and Milton’s seat. We must return!!
