{{short description|Country house and estate in Onibury, Shropshire, England}} {{Use British English|date=April 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Stokesay Court | native_name = | native_language = | image = Stokesay Court - panoramio (1).jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = "The most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the county" | alt = Rear view of the house from the garden | type = | locmapin = Shropshire | coordinates = {{coord|52.4029|-2.8179|display=inline,title}} | location = Onibury, Shropshire, England | area = | built = 1889–1895 | built_for = John Derby Allcroft | original_use = Country house | architect = Thomas Harris | architecture = Jacobethan | governing_body = Privately owned | owner = | designation1 = Grade II* | designation1_offname = Stokesay Court | designation1_date = 28 January 1974 | designation1_number = 1269851 | designation2 = Grade II | designation2_offname = Stables, outbuildings and house at Stokesay Court | designation2_date = 15 March 1974 | designation2_number = 1269855 | designation3 = Grade II | designation3_offname = Bridge on drive at Stokesay Court | designation3_date = 21 June 1996 | designation3_number = 1269852 | designation4 = Grade II | designation4_offname = Lodge and attached wall at Stokesay Court | designation4_date = 15 March 1974 | designation4_number = 1269854 | designation5 = Grade II | designation5_offname = Entrance gates, piers, wing walls and screens at Stokesay Court | designation5_date = 15 March 1974 | designation5_number = 1269853}}
'''Stokesay Court''' is a country house and estate in the parish of Onibury (but named after Stokesay) in Shropshire, England. Described by John Newman, in the ''Shropshire'' volume of Pevsner's Buildings of England, as "the most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the county", Stokesay is a Grade II* listed building.
==History== Stokesay Court was built for John Derby Allcroft. His architect was Thomas Harris.{{sfn|Newman|Pevsner|2006|pp=452-454}} Allcroft had made his fortune as a glover, his father having entered a successful partner with Dents that saw the company led by Allcroft, and renamed Dent, Allcroft & Co., become the biggest manufacturer in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dent, Allcroft and Co |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Dent,_Allcroft_and_Co |website=Grace's Guide |access-date=7 August 2017}}</ref> Allcroft was also a philanthropist, Christian evangelist and church-builder, and member of parliament. He funded the construction of churches including St Matthew's, Bayswater, St Jude's Church, Kensington (now St Mellitus College), and St Martin's, Gospel Oak and served as Treasurer and major benefactor to Christ's Hospital school. He purchased the estate, including Stokesay Castle, which he felt unsuitable as a residence, and an existing small house, which did not meet the needs of his expanding family, in 1868; adding to his landholdings in 1874 by the purchase of adjacent land, which he chose as the site for his mansion.
Work lasted from 1889 to 1892, finishing only six months before Derby Allcroft's death. The house was one of England's first to have integral electric light, installed by Edmundsons in 1891.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/property/interiors/design-interiors-stokesay-court-781858.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/http://www.independent.co.uk/property/interiors/design-interiors-stokesay-court-781858.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Design & Interiors: Stokesay Court |date=16 February 2008 |website=The Independent}}</ref> The gardens were laid out by Henry Ernest Milner.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/stokesay-court |title=Stokesay Court |website=Parks & Gardens}}</ref> The house passed to John's son Herbert and then firstly to his son Russell and, after his death in 1950, to his daughter Jewell, who had married the biographer, Sir Philip Magnus in 1943.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://stokesaycourt.com/about/ |title=About Stokesay Court | Stokesay Court Historic House | Shropshire |date=9 June 2017 |website=stokesaycourt.com}}</ref> During the First World War, the house served as an Auxiliary Military Hospital for convalescent soldiers, and in the Second as a temporary home for the evacuated students of Lancing College and a Western Command Junior Leaders' School.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://stokesaycourt.com/about/house/ww1/ |title=WWI | Stokesay Court Historic House | Shropshire |date=9 June 2017 |website=stokesaycourt.com}}</ref> Following Jewell Magnus-Allcroft's death in 1992, the estate was inherited by descendants who sold the contents of the house at a major sale through Sotheby's in 1994 to fund building repairs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/nostalgia/2020/09/28/flashback-to-1994/ |title=Flashback to 1994: Military takeover of Stokesay Court leads to treasure trove discovery |first=Toby |last=Neal |website=www.shropshirestar.com|date=28 September 2020 }}</ref> The sale of the contents, described by Marcus Binney as "exceptionally complete", raised £4.5 million.{{sfn|Binney|2007|pp=449-450}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/garden/13atonement.html |title=The Other 'Atonement' Love Story (Published 2007) |first=Adam |last=Begley |date=13 December 2007 |website=New York Times}}</ref> Stokesay Court is now owned by Jewell's niece, Caroline Magnus.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/local/shropshire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8589000/8589150.stm |title= Shropshire movies: Atonement at Stokesay Court |publisher=BBC Local News |date=21 March 2010}}</ref>
The court was the main location for the filming of the 2007 movie ''Atonement''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atonement |url=http://www.architecturaldigest.com/ad/set-design/2013/period-movies-set-design-manors-castles-vanity-fair-jane-eyre-slideshow#slide=7 |work=The Castles and Manor Houses of Cinema's Greatest Period Films |publisher=Architectural Digest |access-date=2 January 2013 |date=January 2013}}</ref>
==Architecture and description== The site looks out over Ludlow and the Clee Hills. Described by John Newman as "the most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the county",{{sfn|Newman|Pevsner|2006|pp=452-454}} Stokesay Court is a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1269851 |desc=Stokesay Court |grade=II* |access-date=2 November 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book | last = Binney | first = Marcus | authorlink = Marcus Binney | title = In Search of the Perfect House: 500 of the Best Buildings in Britain and Ireland | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KNlDAAAACAAJ&q=In+search+of+the+perfect+house | location = London, UK | publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson | year = 2007 | isbn = 9-780297-84455-6 }} * {{Cite book |last1 = Newman|first1 = John |authorlink1=John Newman (architectural historian) |last2 = Pevsner|first2 = Nikolaus |authorlink2=Nikolaus Pevsner |series= The Buildings of England |title=Shropshire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Zqbit3opjQC&q=Shropshire+John+Newman |year=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, US and London |isbn=0-300-12083-4 }}
==See also== *Grade II* listed buildings in Shropshire Council (H–Z) *Listed buildings in Onibury
==External links== *[http://www.stokesaycourt.com/ Stokesay Court homepage]
Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Shropshire Category:Country houses in Shropshire Category:Historic house museums in Shropshire Category:Gardens in Shropshire Category:Grade II* listed houses