Moseley Old Hall, The House That Saved A King

With a beautifully bright start to the day, on New Year's Eve Jon & I headed over to our nearest National Trust property, Moseley Old Hall, as I wanted to see it shimmering with frost in the Winter sunshine.

And I wasn't disappointed! 

Charles II - John Michael Wright c.1676

Known as The House That Saved A King, this compact Elizabethan farmhouse on the outskirts of Wolverhampton famously offered shelter to King Charles II after he fled Cromwell's troops following defeat at The Battle of Worcester. I first visited as an eight year old schoolgirl and, being a bit odd, quickly became obsessed with Charles, avidly compiling a scrapbook of anything I could find relating to him. Mind you, look at him, what a rockstar! A couple of years later I was devastated to discover than I was a descendant of Oliver Cromwell..

The estate was originally owned by the Cordsall family until it was purchased by Henry Pitt, a wealthy wool merchant, in 1583. He constructed the hall in around 1600, a half-timbered building located in remote woodland. On his death in 1602, the hall was inherited by his daughter Alice, who later married affluent lawyer, Thomas Whitgreave from nearby Stafford. 

After his defeat at Worcester on 3rd September, 1651, Charles II went on the run from Cromwell's Parliamentarians. He arrived at the back door of Moseley Old Hall on 8th September, cold and wet and disguised in a workman's clothing with shoes so ill-fitting that his feet were bleeding. He was welcomed by Thomas and Alice, Thomas's mother and John Huddleston, the family's Catholic priest. Charles was given dry clothes, food and his first bed since fleeing the Battle of Worcester. Huddleston cleaned and bandaged the king's feet.  

Charles was hidden in the hall's priest hole (below) on the afternoon of 8th September whilst a confrontation between Thomas and the Parliamentarians took place outside. 

He left the house two days later accompanied by Huddleston. 

Subsequent generations of the Whitgreave family continued to live at Moseley Old Hall until the 1820s when they moved to a larger property nearby. Few structural changes were made until 1870, when the outer walls of the building were replaced by bricks, the original Elizabethan windows repaced by the more fashionable Victorian casements and a first floor corridor added. The Whitgreaves sold the property in 1925 and after use as a farmhouse, it gradually fell into disrepair. Moseley Old Hall was then purchased by the Walsall businessman, Will Wiggin, in 1940. He started to repair the house, reinstating many of the original Tudor features, but the Second World War interupted the work and Wiggin was unable to complete the restorations before his death. The Wiggin family transferred the ownership of the Hall and an acre of land to the National Trust in 1962. 

The estate contains a restored Elizabethan knot garden, a kitchen garden, an orchard, a pond and woodland.

The woodland is magical with all manner of exciting things for children to explore or to use to build themselves dens...and great fun for big kids like us, too! 

The National Trust opened Moseley Old Hall to the public in 1963. At the time the hall was nearly empty of furniture, but over the years the furnishings and pictures have been lent from other properties or donated by the public, however, the four-poster bed where Charles II slept is the original and still stands in what is known as The King's Room. 

Although the National Trust would have to sort the heating out first, Jon & I would be very happy living here, Tudor interiors with their luxurious tapestries, leaded windows and dark wood are so comforting and cosy, you can see why William Morris was so inspired by the period. 

Charles II slept here! 

I loved seeing the herbs drying and the handwritten notes explaining their uses in Elizabethan households. Apparently lemon balm drunke in wine, it comforts the heart and driveth away all melancholy, although I'm not sure if that's the effect of the lemon balm or the alcohol! 

Fennel, which grows like a weed in our garden, is good the break the winde.The seed, boiled in wine, is good for those that are bit by serpent and the leaves, seeds and roots can make people lean that are too fat. 

Chatting to the gardener, in return for small donation, we were encouraged to take a few pots of feverfew (from the Latin, febrifugia meaning "fever reducer") which was commonly used by the Tudors as a herbal remedy to treat colds, fevers, headaches and inflammatory conditions like arthritis (something Jon and I both need help with!)  

Moseley Old Hall

Moseley Old Hall Lane, 

Fordhouses, 

Wolverhampton

WV10 7HY

Opening times HERE