Soulton Hall

Soulton Hall
Eastern (and most senior) face of Soulton Hall. Among several other intentions, this composition is understood to evoke Solomon's Temple and the ancient classical theatre at Epidaurus. The only symmetrical side of the house, its only central window is for the chapel and the alignment of the house is to Easter sunrise.
Location within Shropshire
Former names	Saulton, Suletune, Suleton, Soleton, Sulton, Sowton, Soughton[1]
General information
Architectural style	Tudor architecture, Prodigy house, Renaissance architecture
Location	near Wem, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Country	England
Coordinates	52°52′04″N 2°40′44″W / 52.8678°N 2.679°W / 52.8678; -2.679
Elevation	125 m (410 ft)
Construction started	prior to 1017 for the manor, on the current site by the late 1300s, with the current hall (corps de logis of wider [lost/muted palace complex]) begun c. 1556
Completed	by 1560
Technical details
Material	Single phase construction using Grinshill sandstone and Tudor brick, incorporating timber framing which reused older timbers in some cases
Design and construction
Architect(s)	? Matthew Parker
Website
www.soultonhall.co.uk

Soulton Hall is a Tudor country house near Wem, England. It was a 16th century architectural project of Sir Rowland Hill, publisher of the Geneva Bible.^[2] Hill was a statesman, polymath and philanthropist, later styled the "First Protestant Lord Mayor of London" because of his senior role in the Tudor statecraft that was needed to bring stability to England in the fall out of the Reformation. The building of the current Soulton Hall, undertaken during the tumult of the Reformation, is therefore associated with the political and social work that laid the path for the subsequent English Renaissance.^[3][4]

Soulton Hall is understood to be constructed in a way that uses a set of humanist codes^[5] drawing together concepts from classical antiquity, geometry, philosophy and scripture; in this the building influenced the architecture of many later buildings of similar style.^[6]

With a chapel in its basement,^[7] a priesthole,^[8] and bookcases hidden within its walls, Soulton Hall is said to be connected with work which led to the publication of the Geneva Bible, which bears the name of Rowland Hill on its frontispiece as publisher.^[9]

The grounds of the hall contain archaeology of a lost theatre. The deeds^[10] and scholarship^[11][12][13] links the manor to Shakespeare,^[14][15] and in particular the play As You Like It^[16][17][18] which concerns the estate of a character called "Old Sir Rowland".^[9][19] Sir Rowland Hill was a cousin of Shakespeare's mother Mary Arden by reason of the marriage of his heiress Elizabeth Corbett to Robert Arden in the 1580s.^[20][21]

Mentioned in the Norman Domesday Book, Soulton has housed a manor since late Anglo Saxon times, and a "lost castle" rediscovered in 2021^[22] undergoing a multi-season archaeological investigation by DigVentures.

The modern manor has a working farm focused on sustainable agriculture, and houses a series of contemporary monuments including standing stones and long barrow burial site.

A recent (2021) scholarly appraisal of the building said:

There must have been an important master mason behind the house's design; if only we knew more about the original build.^[23]

Since that was written, more understanding has been shared and is emerging.

The present hall building was constructed between 1556 and 1560 by Sir Rowland Hill, but is only the corps de logis (private block) of a much bigger complex subsequently muted and lost in intervening stages of development. It is constructed of brick, produced at the site, with Grinshill stone dressings.^[24]

Hill was the first Protestant Lord Mayor of London in 1549, and Sheriff of London 1542. Hill was a sponsor of the Geneva Bible and an enthusiastic patron of the arts, in particular drama. He has been linked with the character of Old Sir Rowland in Shakespeare's As You Like It.^[25][26][27] He was also involved in the case which established Parliamentary Privilege.^[28]

Soulton was acquired by Hill and his protégé Thomas Leigh in 1556 from Thomas Lodge Sr.^[29][30] Lodge's son, also called Thomas Lodge Jr, would have been familiar with the woods at Soulton.^[31] The younger Lodge was the writer and dramatist, who wrote prose tale of Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacie, which, printed in 1590, is the acknowledged source from which William Shakespeare took inspiration when writing his pastoral comedy 'As You Like It'.

To the east of the hall is what is now a walled garden, accessed by steps from the terrace on the north, or by a Tudor gate to the north.

At the front of the hall is a pillared forecourt, known as chess court,^[32] thought to have been revised in the 1668 revisions.

It has been suggested that Hill's statecraft involved the accumulation of state papers and other texts at Soulton,^[33] which then passed, via the Alkington Cottons, into the Cotton Library (which includes the Beowulf manuscript and copies of Magna Carta) and this, along with the repeated memorialization of Sir Rowland Hill with Magna Carta, offers a potential explanation for the battle of Wem in the English Civil War^[34] during which Soulton was ransacked.^[35]

The influence of Hill's cultural activity is underlined by the way the design on the Geneva Bible's frontispiece is understood to have been the inspiration for Benjamin Franklin's design for the Great Seal of the United States.^[36]

The Tudor hall's unusual quoining relates to Anglo-Saxon architecture, while incorporating other features at that time only seen in the architecture of Corpus Christi College Cambridge. This together with its unusual strict geometry and the mathematical relationship between the hall and walled garden, represent a geometric philosophical allegory seen in stately architecture as diverse as the Anglo-Saxon Mercian royal crypt at Repton, and the Coronation Theatre of Henry III at Westminster Abbey.^[37] The architecture is understood, include commentary on a 16th centuart understanding of Plato's understanding ofgeometry.^[38]

The precinct of the hall and linked courts to the north, east and south has been matched to the geometry of the Telesterion at Ellusis,^[27] showing engagement with those Greek concepts.^[39]

To the south of the current hall is a cobbled yard of Victorian date (1847).^[40] It is based on similar patterns seen at the preserved Tudor Hall at Plas Mawr it is said that this design was taken from Tudor features within the hall lost during subsequent renovations. Scholars have interpreted this as a dancing pavement linked to some of the ideas of harmony explored by Ptolemy.^[41]

This pavement was installed by the 6x great grandmother of the current generation^[42] as cultural compensation for the loss of the Sir Rowland hill plasterwork ceilings which did not survive the mid 19th century.^[43][44] Other buildings in the region have retained such ceilings, such as Plas Mawr in Conwy.

A theatre court, mathematically based upon on the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus,^[45] was built by Hill in the precinct of the house to the east of the current hall:^[46] the hall itself forms the theatre screen.^[47][48]

This was completed by 1560.

Some of the basement rooms retain their original Tudor treatment, including flooring, indicating that these were 'polite' rooms, rather than service spaces.

One of these rooms (The Rithmomachia Room)^[49] contains in the tiles a games board for Rithmomachia, an account of which Sir Rowland Hill printed.^[50]

There is a priest hide on the principal floor of the house in the south west corner of the building in a turret containing several chimneys, in the interior of the room (believed to be Sir Rowland Hill's studiolo). More associated with the hiding of Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, the early date of the priest hole's inclusion in the architecture at Soulton combined with Rowland Hill's position suggests they were more likely intended for use to hide prominent protestants such as Matthew Parker from the inquisitions^[51] of Mary I. Uniquely among protestant leaders Parker did not flee England yet somehow survived. His whereabouts, and that of his library during this time have always been a matter of speculation. It has thus been inferred that Parker may have been sheltered at Soulton by Rowland Hill, with whom he was later associated, not least by both being Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes^[52] at the dawn of Elizabeth I's reign.^[53]

The history of the priest-hole has been memorialised by the addition of a modern plaque which says:

Behind this tablet lies a space believed to have been intended to be used to hide scholars and priests from the authorities during the turmoil of the sixteenth century.

This memorial honours all who have suffered persecution for their beliefs.^{[citation needed]}

On the beams in this room there are also quotations from Michel de Montaigne.^[54]

The old avenue^[55] between the eastern face of the hall and Soulton Bridge as a dressed springhead, which is a reference to the Well of Catharsis.^[56]

The basement of the house contains a chapel^[57] in the east front (which is the only truly symmetrical face of the 1550s design which is intended to conjure Solomon's Temple).^[58] The central position of this room was prioritised so strongly that its doorway interrupts a load-bearing wall supporting the hall above, thus requiring that other walls had to be reinforced. It is the only room in the building to have a central window.^[59] The house's alignment is taken from this room which addresses the range of dates possible for the celebration of Easter.^[60]

Sir Rowland Hill's chair of estate, justice table, and bench^[61] - a suite of renaissance state furniture - has survived with its provenance in the hall at Soulton; this furniture shows deep familiarity with classical antiquity and shares stylistic details with a mid 16th century staircase.^[62][63]

The broader precinct incorporates a number of 18th-century farm buildings constituting a 'model farm'^[64] from the Regency Era Age of Improvement. Most intact among these is a linear range now known as Soulton Court bearing a 1783 datestone relating to later work, but incorporating an earlier manorial hall or courtroom of unknown date prior of perhaps the mid-1600s.

The Moot Hall

Exterior of Soulton Court

Aspects of the 'Soulton Court' Building, exteranly^{[clarification needed]} dated 1783, but including older buildings

This courtroom is traditionally associated with an aborted witch trial^[65] of the 17th century.^[66]

In 1668 a semi-circular door case^[67] bearing the marital coat of arms of Thomas Hill, a relitive of Sir Rowland's.

A dovecot once existed to the south west of the garden wall which was dismantled by the end of the 1800s.

An octagonal horse engine existed in the 1780s buildings just outside the base court to the north west.

The landscape across the current farm and beyond to Hawkstone was recruited by Hill to make allegorical references to scripture.^[68]

TM King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain visited in 1992.^[69]

The house flag is a square teal banner with an eight-pointed star inside a circle, with looping garlands between the points of the star: three of these garlands are shaded and five are not.

The house of Sir Rocard Clough and his Katheryn of Berain ("the mother of Wales"^[70] whose son John has a dedication in Shakespeare's poem The Phoenix and the Turtle^[71]) at Bachegraig (also called Bach-y-Graig) [cy]^[72] is understood to be 'the first brick house in Wales', built by Sir Rowland Hill's associate and fellow Mercer has been argued to have been based on Soulton Hall.^[73]

Bach-y-Graig is acknowledged to be in an Antwerp style by Flemish craftsmen and were the first brick houses in Wales.^[74][75] While Clough's house has been demolished it shows important features in the Soulton design that were altered in later phases.

The architectural and political project that Sir Rowland Hill instigated is understood to have continued to yield fruits in the immediate area, Hawkstone Abbey Farm and Hawkstone Hall are both buildings taking stylistic cues from the building.^[76][77] Attingham Park, also a Hill house, is also thought to be within the wider cultural project.^[78]

The house is historically associated with St Mary's Church, Edstaston: the name of the house and family is carved into the church porch in the 1600s signifying their patronage.^{[citation needed]}

Further afield Wollaton Hall has been identified as a Prodigy House by Robert Smythson which may take cues from Soulton.^[79]

The building is stylistically linked with Alkington Hall, a senior house of the Cotton family.^[80]

Connections with Sir Christopher Wren's St Mary Abchurch, which is the same size and shape and has a similar pavement outside, have been posited.^[27] It has been suggested on this basis and others that Christopher Wren contributed to changes made to Soulton in the mid 17th century.^[81]

Some affinity both architectural, and by family connections has been attributed to Soulton with various early colonial American buildings, in particular Rosewell (plantation) in Virginia,^[82] while the Shirley Plantation, near Williamsburg Virginia is linked by family ownership of the Hill family.^[83]

Within the manor is evidence of Bronze Age habitation, and some signs of Neolithic activity.^[84]

1086 entry in Domesday Book

A grant of the manor of Soulton in 1299

Early documentary accounts of the Manor of Soulton

The name of the manor is Saxon and means either 'settlement with a plough' or 'settlement with reeds' or possibly 'settlement in/near a gully' .^[85]

The manor of Soulton existed at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 (see: PASE Domesday) and is recorded as "Svltune". The Domesday Book records the manor as having previously been freely held by Brihtric — most likely the same Brihtric who was the brother of Eadric Streona the Ealdorman of Mercia from 1007 to 1017. Both Brihtric and Eadric were slain by King Cnut on Christmas Day, 1017.^[86]

Based on its Domesday Book entry there are likely to have been buildings on or near to the site of the extant hall prior to the Norman Conquest, but these have yet to be identified archaeologically, and may not have survived the building of the mound.

A Norman castle was constructed approximately 300 meters to the north-east of the extant hall either during the Anarchy of the early 1100s,^[87] or later, certainly by the 1250s.

The location is marked by a mound which can still be seen. This site is located around the point at which the roadway crosses a narrow gap in some wet terrain which would likely have had a strategic reason for establishing a fortification in that location.

A grant of the manor in 1299 indicates that some of the ancient marker posts marking the boundary with Wales formed part of the boundary of the manor.

The manor supported the clergy of the King's Chapel of St Michael in Shrewsbury Castle.

In September 1642, Charles I passed within sight of Soulton Hall, and subsequently set up a temporary capital at Shrewsbury.^[88]

In 1643, the first Parliamentary garrison in Shropshire was declared at nearby Wem.^[89] On 17-18 October, the Royalists responded by sending a large force to the district, described as follows:

3 cannon, 2 drakes, one great mortarpiece that carried a 30ln. bullet, had 120 odd wagons and carriages laden with bread, biskett, bare and other provisions and theire armye being formydable as consistynge of neer 5,000.^[90]

The Royalist attackers only formed up on one side, approaching Wem only from Soulton Road. The engagement does not seem to have been seriously interested in taking Wem with the commander, Lord Capel, light-heartedly smoking his pipe half a mile from the town on that road. The town was not taken and the manoeuvre lasted less than a day resulting in this couplet.

The women of Wem and a few musketeers. Beat the Lord Capel and all his Cavaliers.^[91]

It has been suggested that Hill's statecraft involved the accumulation of state papers and culturally important texts at Soulton, some of which then passed via the Alkington Cotton into the Cotton Library (which goes on to hold the Beowulf manuscript and copies of Magna Carta) and this, alongside the repeated traditional memorialization of Sir Rowland Hill with Magna Carta offers a potential explanation^[92] for the battle of Wem in the English Civil War during which Soulton was ransacked.^[93]

The following February of 1643, Prince Rupert is recorded as being repeatedly in the district.^[94][95][89]

In the late 17th century Soulton had passed to Thomas Hill, who attended Oriel College, Oxford^[96] matriculating in 1662, and went on to be made High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1680.^[97] He was later made a commissioner in an act of Parliament in 1698.^[98] He was buried in Wem Church with his wife Elizabeth, a member of the Corbet family.^[99]

Another member of the family, Richard Hill was admitted to Grays Inn in 1657.^[100]

Soulton Hall became the venue of an abortive witch trial some time around 1660. The suspected witch under accusation by local townsfolk of Wem was brought before Thomas Hill of Soulton, as justice of the district. The accused was spared any judicial processing as a witch and that allegation was dismissed, in contrast to the harsh persecutions of the time.^[66]

There are records that Benjamin Franklin was in communication with the family and was aware of the place.^[101]

There is an 1801 bridge on which Thomas Telford worked on the B5065, known as Soulton Bridge.^[102][103]

There are also the remains of a water mill active from at least the 1300s until the mid-to-late 1800s near Soulton Wood.

The manor is still owned by the wider family of the original family of Sir Rowland Hill via female descent.^[104]

In 1483, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham was arrested on the edge of the manor following the failure of Buckingham's rebellion.^{[105][106][107]} This incident is referred to by William Shakespeare in the play Richard III, in ACT IV, scene iv.^[108]

There is periodic filming at the manor, including recently of BBC Countryfile .^[109]

In 2020, during the crisis in live performance and theatre resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor performance was reintroduced to Soulton.^{[110][111][112]} The National Youth Theatre (NYT) gave their first live in person performance^[113] since the restrictions following the lockdown that was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[114] The play was a new, specially devised work called The Last Harvest^[115] In 2021, the NYT returned with a performance of Animal Farm.^[116]

In October 2021 Soulton Hall hosted an immersive performance of the Old English epic poem Beowulf, together with a selection of shorter pieces of Old English and Old Welsh poetry, by early medieval living history/reconstructive archaeology group Thegns of Mercia, titled Beowulf at the Barrow. The performance took place around the site, with the historic Moot Hall representing the great hall Heorot, and the Soulton Long Barrow representing the dragon's lair and Beowulf's own burial mound, serving as venue for the final sections of the poem.^[117]

Michela Gove visited as Secretary of State for DEFRA in 2017.^[118] In 2021, during the North Shropshire by-election, the various candidates and media were headquartered at the manor.^[119]

An eighteenth century dance, the Soulton Jigg, is linked to the manor and published in John Walsh's 1740 "The Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master".^[120]

Material from the Soulton collection concerning its dancing pavement was loaned to the inaugural John Weaver Festival of Dance,^[121] (marking the 350th anniversary of the birth of the Shropshire-born "Father of English ballet").

The manor is referenced in the following books:

• Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet^[122] by George Monbiot
• Wilderland^[123] and Hill and Dale,^[124] both by Andrew Fusek Peters
• Riding Out^[125] by Simon Parker
• How to Love Animals^[126] by Henry Mance
• Stones of the Magi by James D. Wenn (forthcoming)^[127]
• First Christmas by Katherine E. Smith^[128][129]

Merlin Fuhcher is the poet in residence.^[130][131]

The manor includes various protected archaeology.

Archaeological aspects of the manor's history

An official excavation with DigVentures took place in June 2019.^[22][132] The excavation of a mound (a scheduled ancient monument) revealed the existence of a structure which might be a castle from the 13th to 15th centuries, according to an archaeologist.^[133] As the dig continued, medieval artifacts were also unearthed, including an ampulla, a necklace, cups, bowls, and jug handles. These have been dated to circa 1250.^[134]

Soulton Hall is a listed building, along with its walled gardens, pillared forecourt and carved stone work. Soulton Bridge, crossing Soulton Brook is a Grade I listed structure, built in 1801 by Thomas Telford. There is a blue plaque at the gate which reads "Birthplace of ROSALYNDE, EUPHUES GOLDEN LEGACIE by Thomas Lodge Jr. and AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare".^[135]

An ongoing project to improve the presentation of the hall and its history was begun in 2022 involving re-furnishing rooms to a state more representative and sensitive to their Tudor heritage.

A plaque at the entrance to the hall^[136] reads:

Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?'
Here feel we not the penalty of Adam
...
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

- William Shakespeare, 'As You Like It', Act II, Scene 1. The Forest of Arden

It is believed that affairs of state that took place at Soulton in the time of Sir Rowland Hill, in the sixteenth century, inspired Shakespeare to write this play and shaped several others.

The connections of the building to the Classical philosophy and geometry of Ancient Greece are represented with an inscription from Isocrates echoing a 1600s carving on what is now Shrewsbury Library.^[137]

ἐὰν ᾖς φιλομαθής, ἔσει πολυμαθής,
[If you loving learning you will become wise]

A modern long barrow, Soulton Long Barrow, has been constructed on farmland north of Soulton Hall. Begun in 2017, the site became operational in 2019.^[138] The new monument was covered on an episode of BBC Countryfile, being visited by Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison in April 2019.^[139]

Three megalithic limestone standing stones are located on the access route to the barrow. These were added to the approach route to the barrow in autumn 2017.^[140] The stone for these monoliths, as with the barrow itself came from Churchfield Quarry, Oundle, near Peterborough. There is no deliberate alignment beyond way-marking for these standing stones. In 2020, a standing stone, with an alignment to the setting sun on the winter solstice, was added to the ritual landscape to acknowledge the suffering of the families impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.^[141][142]

There is a farm at the manor, including Soulton Wood.

The farm practices no-till farming. This was covered in an episode of BBC Countryfile in April 2019 with Matt Baker.^[139]

Research cooperation between Harper Adams University and Oxford University looking at the results of cultivation on Soil ecology, which used DNA sequencing of the soil biome has been hosted on the farm.^[143]

The woodland is largely oak with some cherry and ash. In total the woodland covers about 50 acres and it is designated ancient woodland. Material from the wood was supplied for repair of the House of Commons after bomb damage in the Second World War.^[144]

• 
  1668 marital coat of arms above front door
• 
  Blue Room in Soulton Hall

Before the modern spelling of 'Soulton', a wide variation in spelling can be observed:^[1]

• Suletune (Domesday Book, 1086)
• Suleton' (Curia Regis Rolls 1200; Rotuli Hundredorum, 1255)
• Soleton (Assize Rolls, 1271–2; Feudal Aids 1284-5A)
• Sulton' (Assize Rolls 1271–2, 91–2)
• Sulton (Feudal Aids 1431, 1470, 84; Calendar of Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, 1703; Shropshire Parish Registers, 1809)
• Solton' (1334, The Shropshire Lay Subsidy Roll of 1 Edward III)
• Sowton (Saxton's Map of Shropshire, 1695 The County Maps from William Camden's Britannia 1695 by Robert Morden)
• Soughton; 1672, The Shropshire Hearth-Tax Roll of 1672)
• Soulton (1677, Shropshire Parish Register)
• Saulton (artifacts at the building, 1800s)

• Listed buildings in Wem Rural
• Hawkstone Park
• Hawkstone Hall
• Weston-under-Redcastle
• Old Market Hall, Shrewsbury
• Sudeley Castle
• National Youth Theatre
• Worshipful Company of Mercers
• Mathew Parker
• Rosewell

• An excursion from Sidmouth to Chester in the summer of 1803 (1803) by Edmund Butcher. Whittingham.
• Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. 10 (1860) by Robert William Eyton. J.R. Smith,.
• The Castles & Old Mansions of Shropshire (1868) by Frances Stackhouse Acton. Leake and Evans.
• Memorials of Old Shropshire (1906) by Thomas Auden. Bemrose & Sons.
• Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Volume 40 (1919). Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
• Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia (1939). American Philosophical Society. 1939
• Burke's Guide to Country Houses: Reid, P. Herefordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire (1978) by Mark Bence-Jones, and Peter Reid. Burke's Peerage.
• The Tudor and Stuart Legacy, 1530-1730 (1989) by Lawrence Garner. Swan Hill.
• The World of the Country House in Seventeenth-century England (1999) by John Trevor Cliffe. Yale University Press.
• Hills of Hawkstone (2005) by Joanna Hill. Phillimore & Co Ltd.
• Shropshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) (2006) by John Newman. Yale University Press.
• Design and Plan in the Country House: From Castle Donjons to Palladian Boxes (2008) by Andor Gomme, Austin Harvey Gomme, and Alison Maguire. Yale University Press.

• History page of official Soulton Hall website, retrieved 29 November 2013
• Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1236839)". National Heritage List for England.