Keele Hall
Keele Hall is a neo-Gothic representative construction in Keele, Staffordshire, England, which belongs to the University of Keele and is used among other things as a conference and events center.
Geographical location
Keele Hall is in the so-called Midlands, about halfway between Birmingham and Manchester, about a kilometer southeast of the village of Keele, on the campus of the University of Keele.
History
Keele Hall is the oldest building on the grounds of the University of Keele, a recent British campus university. The campus in the village of Keele had in earlier times is part of a manor, which had been in the possession of the English Order of Knights Order of Saint John and had come to resolution of this order to the English crown. It was sold in 1544 along with the associated lands by the Court of Augmentation for £ 344 to Sir William Sneyd († 1571). The Sneyd family, which was originally based in Cheshire and their surname is Saxon origin, had come by the trade in coal and iron, as well as by the production of Brickyard products to prosperity. The main line of the family branch of the Sneyds in Staffordshire can be traced back to the year 1310. 1580 was Ralph Sneyd, who was three times been sheriff of the county of Staffordshire, a representative mansion built on the site of stone in the Tudor style, which was the predecessor of Keele Hall. On February 29, 1643 the building was looted on the orders of Parliament and / or a local authority; the manor at the time was a parcel of castellany Tutbury.
By 1851 the old manor house was replaced by a neo-Gothic building, the architect Anthony Salvin, the English ( 1799-1881 ) had designed. At Keele Hall, a large park with impressive ornamental shrubs connects. The park had been previously designed by additionally pleasing artistic tree cutting. A particularly eye-catching feature of the park was about 180 meters long, ten meters high and eight meters wide holly hedge.
In 1900, Russian Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov, Keele Hall began to hire. He was entered into a morganatic marriage, which had for him the effect that he was not allowed to return to Russia and had to live in exile for the rest of his life in England, France and Germany. During his stay in Keele, Staffordshire, he acquired the lifestyle of an English country gentleman; the City Council of Newcastle-under -Lyme recognized this by awarding the title of Lord High Steward of the Borough at him.
During the Second World War Keele Hall was requisitioned by the British Army and now home to military installations. In 1948 the entire area with the help of donations another Ralph Sneyd was bought to it, the founding, the University College of North Staffordshire which received university status in 1962 and the new name of The University of Keele. Keele Hall now serves among other things as a conference center; it will be held there scientific meetings.