Historic Soulton Hall is a striking country house in the intriguing, unspoilt county of Shropshire. Still cherished as the family home of the Ashtons for over 450 years, it combines the comfort of a luxury Country House Hotel with a friendly and distinctly personal approach.
Soulton Hall enjoys a unique location: approached over an ancient stone bridge crossing a babbling brook in glorious Shropshire countryside. Beyond Soulton Hall's tranquil walled gardens lies 500 acres of private country estate and woodland.
The converted Soulton Court was built in 1783 as stables and its stone-flagged floor, and beams make it an ideal venue for private dining, weddings and conferences.
Our menu changes every day and uses as much home produce as possible (such as game, fruit, and honey from our own hives); indeed it is common for our guests to be able to glance out of the window at the garden in which ingredients in their meal were grown.
The Ashton family and their staff look forward to welcoming you here. Historic and imposing Soulton Hall has as much as a thousand years of history, and is set in 500 acres of park and farmland, in the intriguing county of Shropshire.
The Ashton family, whose connections with the Hall go back to 1556, together with their staff provide a family-run country house where the care of guests is of the utmost importance. A range of services are on offer: from dining and accommodation to a venue for weddings and meetings.
Soulton Hall is a distinctive place, which thrives on personal service. We are keen to speak personally to our guests and potential guests to make sure they know what we can do for them.
With this in mind you are encouraged to come and see us - you will be very welcome - or to telephone us to find out more.
The Basics
Guest accommodation at Soulton Hall (extra beds can be arranged):
4 double/twin rooms in Soulton Hall itself, all en suite;
2 in Carriage House (both with en suite spa baths, one with its own sitting room) - these rooms have their own front door and dogs are welcome;
1 family suite in the Cedar Lodge (two double rooms and a single room sharing one bathroom, let as one unit);
1 four poster suite in the Cedar Lodge.
All our rooms are relatively large, and so are equipped with double beds, but these rooms are available for single occupancy.
Ample parking at Soulton Hall
Soulton Hall Cottages
Keeper's cottage is about half a mile from Soulton Hall in a superb woodland location, it has a two double rooms, and a twin/double room; there is currently one bathroom and a separate WC.
Herdsman's and Ploughman's Cottages are in open country locations about three quarters of a mile from Soulton Hall both have a double room and two single rooms.
It may be possible to arrange extra beds at the cottages depending upon your party's requirements and the capacity of the cottages, please ask for details.
Ample parking is available at the cottages
Celebrations, Events, Dining, etc
Soulton Court and Soulton Hall present a diverse venue with many possibilities, being able to comfortably accommodate intimate groups of two or of three or 400 and more at balls family fundays etc. See soultonhall.co.uk or get in touch for details.
Setting. History etc
Ancient Elizabethan manor house with over a thousand years of history
Travelling
Soulton Hall is located in north Shropshire about two miles east of Wem and is 10 miles north east of Shrewsbury.
Soulton Hall is located to the west of a hump backed bridge on the B5065, accessed from the A49 north of Shrewsbury: take M54 to the end, then join the A49 from the A5.
For Satnav, our post code is SY4 5RS .
Wining and Dining
Dining at Soulton Hall is friendly and relaxed, yet in a formal setting.
Our menu changes every day and uses as much home produce as possible (such as game, fruit, and honey from our own hives); indeed it is common for our guests to be able to glance out of the window at the garden in which ingredients in their meal were grown.
Entertainment
Soulton Hall is the ideal base from which to explore Shropshire, the Shires of the Welsh Marches, or to draw people together from across the country. We offer a choice of rooms each of which has its own individual charm and character.
World Heritage Site
Shropshire gave birth to the Industrial Revolution at Ironbridge, which is now a World Heritage Site; there are now ten award-winning museums there explaining those momentous deployments.
Activities
In addition to these attractions (more information about these is available below), many activities, including the following:
Golf
Hot air ballooning
Fishing
Paintballing, ice skating, dry skiing, quad-biking, 4x4 tours, rallying and pony trekking are available in Shropshire.
Sports and Leisure
Soulton Hall is at the heart of a 500 acre estate. This includes 50 acres of ancient oak woodland (recorded in 1086), over a mile of river and babbling brook, as well as the slumbering archaeology of a Norman castle, extensive Medieval gardens, Tudor watermill, and Bronze Age ring ditches.
This includes Soulton Wood, 50 acres of ancient oak woodland (a site of special scientific interest), stretches of the banks of Soulton Brook and the River Roden populated by kingfishers and running to about a mile, and the archaeological remains of bronze age ring ditches, a medieval castle and medieval gardens (which could be of European importance), as well as park- and farmland.
Love Marriage
The mellow Tudor bricks, honeyed sandstone and well tended gardens of Soulton Hall are a wonderfully romantic backdrop for the exchanging of your vows, and we are delighted to be able to offer a choice of charming and historic rooms licensed for wedding ceremonies.
Living the High Life
Soulton Hall is set in a timeless, peaceful rural location and provides charming spacious rooms, full English breakfast, superb candle-lit dinners. Soulton Hall is a distinctly special place thriving on personal service.
The 'Just Plain Odd' list
A Brief History of Soulton
Although a settlement is known to have existed at Soulton for some three thousand years (as the presence of Bronze Age ring ditches to the north of Soulton Hall and the possibility of Roman activity indicates), the first known inhabitant of Soulton is Britric the Saxon. He lived here in the years before the 1066 Norman Conquest.
The Doomsday Book of 1086 recalls that after the Conquest, and owing to Soulton's strategic importance, the Normans constructed a mote and bailey castle (the site of which is still visible to the north east of Soulton Hall). At this time the manor of Soulton belonged to King's Chapel at Shrewsbury Castle.
In the twelfth century there was a dispute about the ownership of the Manor Soulton, which reached the courts at Westminster. The lawyer for the plaintiff, later Yvo de Soulton, came to have the ownership of the manor. He went on to represent Shropshire at two parliaments, as a Knight of the Shire.
By the thirteenth century Robert Corbett and his family were living at Soulton, which was then probably a fortified manor house on the site of the Norman castle.
Some time around 1420, the manor house on the moated site was burnt down, perhaps by a Welsh raiding party. When the manor house came to be re-built, a dryer, more suitable site was chosen: that of the present Soulton Hall.
Originally, this rebuilding constituted a late Medieval/Tudor long house of timber framed construction, remnants of which can be seen in the present Hall. By the mid-1500s, Soulton was lived in by Edward Twyniho.
In 1556, Sir Roland Hill, who had been the first protestant Lord Mayor of London in 1549 and was a creditor to Henry VIII, acquired Soulton from Twyniho. He extended and re-modelled the Tudor long house into the impressive Elizabethan brick building which can be seen today.
In 1668, his descendant, Thomas Hill, High Sheriff of Shropshire and a friend of Samuel Pepys placed his marital coat of arms above the front door. The Keeper's Cottage was built at around this time; Ploughman's and Herdsman's Cottages were built in 1899.
In the years since Thomas Hill's death Soulton has cared for and enjoyed by descendants of the same family.
Read more