The SSPA and The Salopian Club enjoy a magical evening at Pitchford Hall

The Shrewsbury School Parents Association and The Salopian Club hosted a joint event at Pitchford Hall, a spectacular historic house just 6 miles away in the Shropshire countryside.

The house and the School have much in common. Pitchford was built in 1549 just three years before the founding of Shrewsbury School. In 1832 Princess Victoria, aged 13, stayed at Pitchford and visited School. She wrote in her diary

“At a little after 11 we set out for Shrewsbury with Lord Liverpool and Lady Catherine in our carriage, whilst the others (that is to say Lady Selena, Lady Louisa, Lehzen and Sir John) went in another carriage, before us. We passed through several streets to the great grammar school of Dr Butler. We got out there and went upstairs to a large room where the schoolboys were ranged on each side in lines. Then mama received an address from the scholars which was presented by the Senior Scholar. After that we looked over two different rooms in the school, besides the chapel. In one of the rooms, the school room, there are boards on which are written the prizes which the boys had received, with their names. These boards promote great emulation amongst the boys.

Pitchford Hall is a Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion and was the family home of Rowena Colthurst (and her ancestors) until 1992 when it had to be sold. Bought by a Kuwaiti princess who used the stables but not the house, the main building fell into disrepair. Then in 2016 Rowena and her husband James Nason bought it back and have started a major restoration project, the cost of which will run to many £100,000's. 

Parents and Old Salopians were treated to a tour of the house and gardens including the famous treehouse which the young Queen Victoria also mentioned in her diary.

There was also time for a glass of fizz and canapes in the atmospheric surroundings.

Flickr album: SSPA Private Tour of Pitchford Hall 2024 | Height: auto | Theme: Default | Skin: Default Skin