Blakedown, Harborough Hall c.1960

Photo ref: B419004

More about this scene

The gabled front was once half-timbered, but because the timber is no longer exposed it looks quite different today. Over the doorway was the date 1635 and the initials W A P, standing for William and Anne Penn. There was a hiding place in the garret, and later in the 19th century a second priest hole was found. One daughter married the minor poet William Shenstone. By the 1950s, when Harborough Hall was bought by Birmingham corporation, radical repair work was necessary to the timber, wattle and daub.