Built in the late 18th century and originally called Stallington grange the 3 storey building is grade II listed and has been left abandoned since the hospitals closure in 1997. Once a private home to Staffordshire MP Bart Smith Child, his wife Sarah, his daughter Elizabeth and eleven staff in 1881, he left the house to his grandson Sir Hill Child upon his death who later sold it to the city of Stoke-On-Trent in 1924.
The NHS do not have a good track record with historic properties, generally abusing them and leaving them to rot and burn when they are done with them. Stallington's story is perfectly paralleled by that of Great Barr Hall near Walsall, in both cases the buildings are now little more than ruins despite the fact they were still functional buildings when the hospitals closed.
I find it a bitter irony that the conversion to hospital helped preserve the buildings during the huge decline of the country pile, only to end up ruinous when we should know better!
OT and I had a good mooch in 2006, and despite a fire in the upper floor, the hall was still in state of dereliction rather than ruin. Fast forward almost ten years and the weather has virtually destroyed the place. Most of the upper floors have collapsed and the Jacobean panels and columns have all but rotted away.
I find these places very interesting indeed.... It's just amazing that such antiquity, such stunning craftsmanship could ever be left to get into this state. As I continue to restore my own Victorian property I begin to understand the skill and craftsmanship that went in to making these buildings, and the epic task it would be to ever bring them back. I think Stallington's hope of restoration are very slim indeed.
Scrap of incredibly old wallpaper which was behind the paneling
200 year old paneling
The NHS do not have a good track record with historic properties, generally abusing them and leaving them to rot and burn when they are done with them. Stallington's story is perfectly paralleled by that of Great Barr Hall near Walsall, in both cases the buildings are now little more than ruins despite the fact they were still functional buildings when the hospitals closed.
I find it a bitter irony that the conversion to hospital helped preserve the buildings during the huge decline of the country pile, only to end up ruinous when we should know better!
OT and I had a good mooch in 2006, and despite a fire in the upper floor, the hall was still in state of dereliction rather than ruin. Fast forward almost ten years and the weather has virtually destroyed the place. Most of the upper floors have collapsed and the Jacobean panels and columns have all but rotted away.
I find these places very interesting indeed.... It's just amazing that such antiquity, such stunning craftsmanship could ever be left to get into this state. As I continue to restore my own Victorian property I begin to understand the skill and craftsmanship that went in to making these buildings, and the epic task it would be to ever bring them back. I think Stallington's hope of restoration are very slim indeed.
Scrap of incredibly old wallpaper which was behind the paneling
200 year old paneling
