Attleborough Hall was completed in May 1809 by George Greenway (1761-1835), a local lawyer, at a cost of £16,000. Another £1000 was expended on laying out the pleasure grounds. He was a local character, and it was said when he died to be the last man in the district to wear his hair in a queue (or pony tail) in the style of the 18th century. After his death in 1835, twenty years of legal wrangling ensued. His son-in-law John Craddock - another lawyer - lived on in the house but left in 1839 and the Hall stood empty. In 1842 a new church for Attleborough was opened in part of the Hall grounds and for the first time Attleborough became a parish in its own right.
In 1855 the mansion and park was at last sold, to George Adam Buchanan and Jane Greenway. George Greenway's widow received the paltry sum of £83 out of the value of her husband's estate which is believed to have been worth around £10,210 some twenty years earlier. By 1859 the Hall was acquired by the Townsend family who continued to live there until the death of Thomas Townsend senior in 1886.
In 1888 Pattie Townsend, his daughter, became the second wife of Joseph Fielding Johnson and the Fielding Johnsons lived at the Hall until Joseph's death in 1917.
By the first years of the twentieth century the small country mansion of Attleborough Hall had been extended by the addition of an observatory which housed a telescope for one of the Fielding Johnson boys, and a three story block.
The house was then sold to Rufus Jones, an elastic webbing weaver on Attleborough Green who was previously living at Caldwell Hall close by. Unfortunately, the building went into decline and after being offered for sale, demolition started in January 1932. The Hall itself stood where Highfield Road cuts through and the site is now obliterated although a section of the perimeter wall remains as well as the stone setts paving leading into the gateway on the right (see images below).
A fascinating imagined account of a trip around Old Attleborough in the year 1848, written by Peter Lee, can be accessed by clicking here.
Historical text (c) Peter Lee 2003
In 1855 the mansion and park was at last sold, to George Adam Buchanan and Jane Greenway. George Greenway's widow received the paltry sum of £83 out of the value of her husband's estate which is believed to have been worth around £10,210 some twenty years earlier. By 1859 the Hall was acquired by the Townsend family who continued to live there until the death of Thomas Townsend senior in 1886.
In 1888 Pattie Townsend, his daughter, became the second wife of Joseph Fielding Johnson and the Fielding Johnsons lived at the Hall until Joseph's death in 1917.
By the first years of the twentieth century the small country mansion of Attleborough Hall had been extended by the addition of an observatory which housed a telescope for one of the Fielding Johnson boys, and a three story block.
The house was then sold to Rufus Jones, an elastic webbing weaver on Attleborough Green who was previously living at Caldwell Hall close by. Unfortunately, the building went into decline and after being offered for sale, demolition started in January 1932. The Hall itself stood where Highfield Road cuts through and the site is now obliterated although a section of the perimeter wall remains as well as the stone setts paving leading into the gateway on the right (see images below).
A fascinating imagined account of a trip around Old Attleborough in the year 1848, written by Peter Lee, can be accessed by clicking here.
Historical text (c) Peter Lee 2003
Photos marked * are © Warwickshire County Council, 2003
