Berwick Park

 estate (manor / mansion land), Grade II Listed (UK)

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Berwick had a medieval manor with deerpark, although the location of the house and boundary of the park are not documented. The chapel and almshouses at Berwick were built in 1672 for Sir Samuel Jones, a wealthy Shrewsbury Merchant, with estates in Northants and Essex. He had inherited Berwick from his father Isaac Jones, and, dying childless, had bequeathed money for the erection of the chapel and almshouses.

In 1728, Thomas Powys acquired the estate, and the main house was built in 1731 for Thomas Powys, and is attributed on stylistic grounds to Francis Smith of Warwick. A plan of 1760 by Thomas Ansell shows a rectangular courtyard to the south front of the house with canals and circular parterres, lead statuary and elaborate screen at the south end. It is not known who was responsible for these designs although Powys was a subscriber to Stephen Switzer's magazine `Practical Husbandman and Planter'. Switzer (1682-1745) made a tour of the Midlands in 1733 and his account at Hoare's Bank shows that during 1732-3 he received payments from Powys (Jacques, 1981). However, it is not clear for what exactly he was being paid; Switzer was a seedsman, operating from Westminster Hall, as well as publishing numerous pamphlets on horticulture and providing designs and advice on garden layout.

In 1776 Thomas Jelf Powys (the grandson of the first owner) inherited the estate and employed Robert Mylne (1733-1811) in 1780 to alter the house, as well as building an orangery. The lodges were also constructed at this time. A map of c 1802 shows driveways and wooded areas, as well as the walled garden and gothicised farm to the south of the house. The house was altered in 1780 by Robert Mylne, who also built an orangery which linked the house to the c 1730 service range to the north-east. The house was considerably altered in 1878, upon its purchase by James Watson. Watson employed Osborn & Reading who redesigned the south-west and north-west elevations, as well most of the interior. The orangery was demolished and the stable range converted to domestic use.

Thomas Jelf Powys's grandson died childless in 1875 and the estate devolved to Rudolph William Basil, 8th Earl of Denbigh, who shortly afterward sold the estate to James Watson. Watson, a Birmingham businessman and later MP for Shrewsbury, engaged Osborn and Reading (according to Pevsner; although attributed to Stevens of Birmingham in list description) to undertake improvements to the house, including the rebuilding of the south-west front in 1878. Additionally, a large stable range was built to the north-east of the house and the lodges were modified. An Italianate garden was laid out at this time, partly on the site of the early-C18 formal garden, and terraces were built leading down from the new SW front of the house to the river. The house remains in the private ownership (2008).
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