Monkspath Hall
General information
TypeCountry house
LocationMonkspath
CountryEngland
Coordinates52°23′25″N 1°48′07″W / 52.390408°N 1.801941°W / 52.390408; -1.801941
CompletedCirca 1775
Demolished1 December 1980 (1980-12-01)
Technical details
Floor count2
DesignationsGrade II listed

Monkspath Hall was a two-storey Georgian country house in Monkspath,[1] historically in Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire (since 1974 part of Solihull, in the West Midlands), England. It was built circa 1775, in red brick,[2] and demolished illegally in 1980.

History

In the 1870s, the house was home to W. S. Colmore, Esq.[3] During World War II, the house was occupied, and the estate farmed, by Jack Bickford, who was injured when he picked up an incendiary bomb nearby, which went off in his hands.[4]

Demolition

Although the house was Grade II listed,[1] in theory protecting it from unauthorised alteration, it was demolished on the afternoon of 1 December 1980 – a Sunday – by a bulldozer driver, who was supposed to be demolishing outbuildings on the opposite side of the road.[1][5][6]

The then leader of the local council described the act as "sheer, stupid negligence".[6]

Court cases

Following a 1981 Crown Court trial, the demolition company responsible, D. Doyle Contractors,[7] was fined £2,000.[5] The driver, who was a director of the firm and who had been warned beforehand by a local resident that the building was listed, was fined £1,500.[5][7]

In a separate, civil case brought by Solihull Borough Council in 1985, a Birmingham High Court judge, Mr. Justice McNeill, ordered that the cost of rebuilding the hall - estimated then to be in the order of £200,000 - using as much material from the demolition as possible, be borne by the contractor.[7][8] He also awarded costs against the defendants, who had admitted their negligence.[7]

Legacy

The demolition was referenced in the House of Commons by John Heddle, MP for Lichfield and Tamworth, during a July 1981 debate on the Local Government and Planning (Amendment) Bill, as an "act of wilful vandalism" for which he said "imprisonment and punitive fines are the only reasonable remedy."[1] Heddle described the actual fines issued in relation to the case as "derisory".[9]

The rebuilt hall was delisted in 1990,[2] and has been divided into apartments.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "I stand corrected. Barlaston Hall...: 10 Jul 1981: House of Commons debates". TheyWorkForYou.
  2. 1 2 Archaeological Assessment to Inform the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Local Plan (PDF). Warwickshire County Council. August 2018. p. 245. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "History of Monkspath, in Solihull and Warwickshire". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  4. ↑ Bates, Sue, ed. (1995). Solihull in Wartime (PDF). Solihull Libraries & Arts.
  5. 1 2 3 Astragal (27 May 1981). "Historic buildings go cheap". Architects' Journal. 173 (21): 983. ProQuest 1431353761.
  6. 1 2 @BBCArchive (1 December 2015). "#OnThisDay 1980: Monkspath Hall, a 200 year-old, listed building, is demolished. By mistake. Whoops!" (Tweet) – via Twitter. (includes video clip)
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Demolishers must rebuild listed hall". The Times. 7 November 1985. p. 3.
  8. ↑ "ATV Today: 07.09.1981: Monkspath". MACE Archive. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "Increased protection for listed buildings?". Architects' Journal. 173 (2): 1044. 3 June 1981. ProQuest 1431347650.
  10. ↑ "1 bedroom apartment for sale Old Hall Gardens, Monkspath, Solihull". RightMove. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
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