The History of Marton Hall

Marton Hall originally stood nearer to the road than the present day hall, adjoining the chapel and stable yard buildings that still remain today. At this time the hall and surrounding estate was owned by the Atcherley family, who resided at Marton for around 250 years. The last Atcherley left the old hall in 1889, after which time the hall was rented out. It was eventually sold to Captain W.S. Gosling in 1911.

Captain William Sullivan Gosling commissioned John and Paul Coleridge to design a new hall at Marton, which was built in 1913-14, approximately 100 yards from the old hall.

This is the present hall you see today. It was built of local red sandstone from the Webscott quarry, in the Tudor style, with an Arts and Crafts inspired interior. The new hall interior comprised many elements from the old hall, including an entire oak panelled room from the old house which was incorporated into the Morning room. A short railway track was constructed between the two sites to aid transportation, so there must have been a great deal that was reused.

Captain William Sullivan Gosling rose to the rank of Major before he finally left the army in 1919. Sadly his time at Marton was a short lived one, as he had to return to run the family estate at Hassobury, on the death of his older brother, Robert Cunliffe Gosling in 1922. Major Gosling was an excellent football player, who played for Upton Park, representing Great Britain at the 1900 Olympics. Major Gosling must have retained a soft spot for Marton Hall, as despite not living there after 1922, he never sold the property in his lifetime. The hall was rented out until it was finally sold to W. L.R. Gwilt in 1953 after the death of Major Gosling. It remains in the Gwilt family to this day.

The rented period between 1922 and 1953 is not well documented, but an advertisement in the Field newspaper dated 24th April 1937 details the house as a family home for rent. The advertisement enlightens us as to how the house was intended to be used, describing it as a “five reception, nine bed and dressing room” house with nine servants bedrooms and a further two men-servant bedrooms. The men-servants appear to have their own bathroom, so they did rather better than most.

The later part of this period the house’s use changed to that of a school, as did many large houses that survived by reinventing themselves away from being a relic from the past. Recently, we have been told that the hall was first used as a school by evacuees during WWII. Later Marton became the prep school for Adcote Girls School, although the exact year is unknown. The head mistress Doris Gough, (daughter of the school’s founder), still held the tenancy when it was purchased by William (Bill) Gwilt in 1953. Not wishing to purchase the property the prep school relocated to Aston Hall just outside Oswestry in 1954. A note from the “last Upper III” who boarded at Marton was found during the latest renovations up the chimney in the Gwilt bedroom signed by eight girls back in July 1954. It was just after the school relocated that the hall became a family home once more, this time for the Gwilt family.

Whilst the family lived in the main rooms, the servant’s quarters were utilised by the corn merchant business for offices and grain storage. Few changes were made to the house at this time to accommodate the corn trade, but one notable one was to replace the servant’s dumbwaiter lift with a mechanised wooden shute to help transport the sacks of feed to the upper servant’s rooms for storage. This was certainly an unusual fixture to find in a large country house. A large agricultural shed was soon erected in the walled garden, after which time only the ground floor of the servant’s quarters was used for the business.

Bill Gwilt was a remarkable self-made man, a corn merchant and farmer who lived with his family at the hall for 60 years. He died in September 2014 just six months shy of his 100th birthday. It was then that the use of the hall was re-evaluated once more. The family decided that the hall needed a major renovation and the idea of a holiday let for a large group of people was born.

The renovations started in September 2020 and took 3 years. All the bedrooms were made en-suite by using the two existing bathrooms or converting dressing rooms into bathrooms, this was to minimize spoiling the hall’s character. Downstairs the kitchen was the greatest change, as it was too small, so the hall area was reduced by moving a wall and inserting a huge RSJ to create a very large kitchen. All the wood work from the original house was reused and a few random doors stored in the attic were utilised. Much of the furniture was sourced from around the country and renovated by Honor Gwilt to bring back the Edwardian charm. It has been a true labour of love. Honor’s brother, Justin Byrne, sadly passed away in 2021 and so one of the bedrooms is named in his memory, as he always took a keen interest in the project before his untimely death.

We hope you all enjoy your time at Marton Hall as much as we do.