GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Danzey for Tanworth Station: gwrdt2832

Umberslade Hall was built by John Smith of Warwick about 1680 for Andrew Archer a descendant of the Archer family who had been granted the manor of Umberslade by Henry II in the 12th century. In 1751 however it was called an odious place by Horace Walpole and in 1830 Umberslade Hall was described as; of square form with two wings slightly projecting of the main body. In the centre of the western and principle front is a grand portico, supported by pillars of the Doric order, and surmounted by a bust of the Emperor Titus Vespasian. In the south front is a similar portico, above which are the family arms, surrounded by military trophies.

The estate had been sold in 1826 and remained empty until 1850, when it was leased by George Frederic Muntz a noted Birmingham industrialist who made his fortune after patenting and manufacturing an anti-fouling copper alloy. When he died in July 1857 he was succeeded by his son George Muntz, who bought the estate and enlarged and improved the Hall

When the Birmingham & Oxford Junction Railway wanted a route across the estate George Muntz (senior) stipulated that a station was built near Umberslade Hall and this became Knowle & Dorridge station. He had shrewdly recognised how the presence of a railway station would increase the value of his estate. In 1906, when the Birmingham & North Warwickshire Railway was to be built across the estate, his son was more interested in the aesthetics and insisted that a three arched stone bridge over the western driveway to Umberslade Hall was constructed from the same stone as the house. The original stone had been obtained from local quarries, which had long since been worked out and closed, so it was necessary to obtain a similar coloured stone from Derbyshire for this bridge. For photographs of the stone being prepared for the bridge construction see images 'gwrdt2828', and 'gwrdt1420', 'gwrdt2829' and 'gwrdt2831' for photographs of the recently completed bridge.

The name ‘Umberslade Hall’ was carried by GWR Hall Class locomotive No 4975 from its construction at Swindon in January 1930 until it was withdrawn from Oxford shed in September 1963 being scrapped in July 1964. It can be seen in this photograph 'gwrls895' taken at Leamington station circa 1936.

Robert Ferris

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