History of Cound Hall
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Discover the families, politicians, clergy, landowners and tenants who shaped the history of Cound Hall from its construction in 1704 to the present day.
Owners and occupants from 1704 to the present day
Cound Hall is a Grade I-listed early Georgian country house, built in 1703–04 for Edward Cressett to the designs of John Prince of Shrewsbury. Its red-brick elevations, monumental Corinthian pilasters and richly carved stonework make it one of Shropshire’s most distinctive examples of the English Baroque.
The present Hall appears to have replaced an earlier principal residence at Cound. That earlier house is traditionally described as Tudor, although its precise age, appearance and position have not yet been conclusively established.
The following timeline begins with the construction of the present Cound Hall. Where an exact conveyance or probate document has not yet been located, the date is described as probable rather than presented as certain.
The Cressett family
1703–04–1727
Edward Cressett
Ownership began: 1703–04, for the purposes of the present building.
How he acquired the property: Edward already held the Cound estate through the Cressett family. He commissioned the present Hall as a new country residence, apparently replacing an earlier house.
Role and position in society: Edward Cressett was a prominent Shropshire landowner. He served as High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1702 and as Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury from 1710 to 1715.
Ownership ended: 1727, on his death.
1727–May 1728
Robert Cressett
Ownership began: 1727.
How he acquired the property: By inheritance as the eldest son and heir of Edward Cressett.
Role and position in society: Robert was a member of the Shropshire landed gentry and heir to the Cressett estates at Cound and Upton Cressett.
Ownership ended: 5 May 1728, on his death. He had held the estate for only about a year. His memorial survives in the Church of St Peter at Cound.
May 1728–January 1732
Edward Cressett, infant son of Robert Cressett
Ownership began: May 1728.
How he acquired the property: He appears to have succeeded as Robert Cressett’s infant son and hereditary heir. Because he was a child, the estate would have been managed on his behalf by guardians or trustees.
Role and position in society: Minor heir to the Cressett estates. He had been baptised at Cound in 1725 and was only about three years old when his father died.
Ownership ended: 31 January 1731/32, equivalent to January 1732 under modern dating, when he died in childhood. The Cound register records the burial of “Edward, son of Mrs Cressett, widow”. The family settlement supports the succession of the estate through the male heirs.
January 1732–February 1755
The Right Reverend Dr Edward Cressett
Bishop of Llandaff
Ownership began: Probably January 1732.
How he acquired the property: Following the death of his young nephew, the estate appears to have passed under the family settlement to Dr Edward Cressett, a younger son of the builder of Cound Hall.
Role and position in society: A senior Anglican churchman. He served successively as Dean of Clogher, Dean of Hereford and, from 1749, Bishop of Llandaff.
Ownership ended: 13 February 1755, on his death. He was buried at Cound on 23 February, and his monument remains in the parish church.
February 1755–1792
Elizabeth Cressett
Ownership began: Probably February 1755.
How she acquired the property: By inheritance as the Bishop’s only daughter and heiress.
Role and position in society: Elizabeth was a substantial landed heiress who held the Cound and associated Cressett estates in her own right.
Ownership ended: 1792, on her death. She left her estates to her maternal uncle, Henry Pelham of Sussex, bringing the direct Cressett line at Cound to an end.
The Cressett-Pelham and Thursby-Pelham families
1792–January 1803
Henry Pelham, afterwards Henry Cressett Pelham
Ownership began: 1792.
How he acquired the property: By bequest from his niece, Elizabeth Cressett. On inheriting the estate, he adopted the additional surname Cressett.
Role and position in society: A politician and public official. He served in Parliament and later held office as a Commissioner of Customs.
Ownership ended: January 1803, on his death. He was buried at Cound on 8 January 1803.
January 1803–August 1838
John Cressett-Pelham
Ownership began: January 1803.
How he acquired the property: By inheritance from his father, Henry Cressett Pelham.
Role and position in society: A major Shropshire landowner and politician. He represented Shropshire in Parliament from 1820 to 1832 and later represented Shrewsbury from 1835 to 1837.
Ownership ended: 29 August 1838, when he died at sea near Mauritius.
Probably August 1838–December 1878
The Reverend Henry Thursby, afterwards Henry Thursby-Pelham
Ownership began: Probably August 1838.
How he acquired the property: By inheritance from his maternal uncle, John Cressett-Pelham. He formally assumed the additional surname Pelham in 1852.
Role and position in society: An Anglican clergyman and country landowner. He served as Rector of Isham from 1825 to 1839 and as Rector of Cound from 1839 to 1864. Contemporary records describe him as the holder of Cound Hall and a leading landowner in the parish.
Ownership ended: 19 December 1878, on his death.
Probably December 1878–before March 1922
James Augustine Harvey Thursby-Pelham
Ownership began: Probably December 1878.
How he acquired the property: By inheritance as Henry Thursby-Pelham’s grandson. His father, Walter Harvey Thursby-Pelham, had died in 1874, four years before Henry. James was only nine years old when he succeeded, so the estate would initially have been administered by trustees.
Role and position in society: A country landowner, lord of the manor and member of the Shropshire landed gentry. He later served as High Sheriff of Shropshire.
Ownership ended: By private sale to Alexander Cowan McCorquodale. The precise completion date has not yet been established, but McCorquodale was certainly described as the owner of Cound Hall by 4 March 1922.
The McCorquodale family
By March 1922–January 1941
Alexander Cowan McCorquodale
Ownership began: By 4 March 1922, and possibly several years earlier.
How he acquired the property: By private purchase from James Augustine Harvey Thursby-Pelham. The McCorquodale family had already occupied Cound Hall for many years before the purchase; Alexander’s son was born at the Hall in 1897.
Role and position in society: A wealthy businessman and member of the McCorquodale printing family. He served as High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1912 and became a prominent county landowner.
Ownership ended: 10 January 1941, on his death.
Probably January 1941–the 1960s
The McCorquodale family and its trustees
Ownership began: Probably January 1941.
How the property passed: By inheritance or family settlement following the death of Alexander Cowan McCorquodale. The surviving online records do not yet establish whether the legal title passed directly to his son, Captain Alexander George McCorquodale, or remained vested in family trustees.
Role and position in society: Captain Alexander George McCorquodale was a member of the McCorquodale publishing and printing family. His first wife was the writer Barbara Cartland, who lived at Cound Hall during part of their marriage in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Ownership ended: Apparently during the 1960s, when the Hall was sold out of the McCorquodale family. The exact year and terms of the sale remain to be confirmed from the original title deeds.
Division, decline and rescue
The 1960s–by 1996
An owner recorded as Morris
Ownership began: During the 1960s; the exact date is not yet known.
How the property was acquired: By private purchase from the McCorquodale family or its trustees.
Role and position in society: Private owner and landlord. Published histories identify the owner only by the surname Morris.
During this period, the Hall was divided into rented flats. It remained occupied in this form until approximately 1981, by which time its condition had deteriorated substantially. The building then stood empty and increasingly derelict for about fifteen years.
Ownership ended: By 1996. It has not yet been established whether Morris retained ownership throughout the entire vacant period or whether there was an intervening owner.
1996–present
David and Nancy Waller and the Waller family
Ownership began: 1996.
How the property was acquired: By private purchase of the vacant and severely deteriorated Hall.
Role and position in society: Private owners and custodians of the building. David and Nancy Waller undertook the rescue and long-term restoration of Cound Hall, returning it from a building at serious risk to an inhabited family home.
Ownership ended: The Waller family remains associated with the ownership and care of Cound Hall.
The restoration included major structural and conservation work to the roof, leadwork, plasterwork, joinery, staircase, fireplaces and building services. The project allowed the Hall to be occupied once again while preserving its nationally important historic fabric.
Notable occupants who were not necessarily owners
The distinction between ownership and occupation is important. Several people closely associated with Cound Hall appear to have lived there as family members or tenants rather than holding the legal freehold.
Walter Harvey Thursby-Pelham
Walter was the son and heir apparent of the Reverend Henry Thursby-Pelham and lived at Cound Hall. However, he died in 1874, before his father, and therefore never succeeded to the estate. His son James inherited in 1878.
Alexander Cowan McCorquodale and his family
The McCorquodales were living at Cound Hall by the late nineteenth century, well before the earliest document so far located that expressly identifies Alexander Cowan McCorquodale as the owner. They therefore appear to have occupied the Hall initially as tenants.
Barbara Cartland
The future romantic novelist lived at Cound Hall following her marriage to Alexander George McCorquodale in 1927. She was a member of the family in possession of the Hall but was not its independent legal owner.
Tenants of the flats
From the 1960s until approximately 1981, parts of Cound Hall were separately occupied by residential tenants after the building had been divided into flats.
Preserving the next chapter
Cound Hall has passed through more than three centuries of inheritance, family settlements, private sales, changing patterns of occupation and, ultimately, rescue from near dereliction.
Its survival today is the result of sustained conservation and stewardship. The purpose of the Cound Hall Foundation and Heritage Maintenance Fund is to help ensure that this nationally important building continues to be understood, maintained and protected for future generations.