Alkington, Shropshire

Alkington Hall was a late 16th-century country house, now a Grade II* listed farmhouse.

It was constructed in two storeys of red brick with grey brick diapering and grey sandstone ashlar dressings and a plain tile and slate roofs to an L-shaped floor plan.^[1]

The manor was held by the Cotton family from the 16th century, of the line of the Cottons of Alkington was Lord Mayor of London in 1625; Sir Allan Cotton.^[2]

It was built in 1592, probably for the London merchant, William Cotton. The Cotton family rose in prominence due to proximity to Sir Rowland Hill, (publisher of the Geneva Bible and hero of Shakespeare’s As You Like It) whose lands they managed in Shropshire.^[3] Architectural association with Hill’s house at Soulton Hall is observable: the out put of a relationship between the families potentially operational into the seventeen century and seen in the evacuation of the Old Sir Rowland's library from Soulton around the time of the 1643 Battle of Wem, with he forwarding on of his papers into what us now called the Cotton Library.^[4]

Rowland Cotton of this family was a favourite of Prince Henry Frederick and was an MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme for many years and High Sheriff of Shropshire for 1616.^[5][6] His monument in nearby Norton-in-Hales was designed by Inigo Jones.^[7]

The Cotton family are important in holding what is known today as the Cotton Library, which saved multiple important documents (including Beowulf and Magna Carter) for the English nation.^[8][9]

Some alterations and improvements were made in the late 19th century. It was saved from a fire in 2010 when in the ownership of John and Elaine Fearnall.^[10]

• Media related to Alkington, Shropshire at Wikimedia Commons
• Alkington in the Domesday Book