I have just added this to the map of places to fly your drone at Drone Scene:
Land owner permission requirements unknown.
BRIEF HISTORY OF BLITHFIELD HALL
Blithfield Hall is a privately owned Grade I listed country house residing in a beautiful rural setting in Staffordshire, England. Blithfield became the home of the Bagots in 1360, when Ralph married the "girl next door", who happened to be the Blithfield heiress, Elizabeth.
Originally the hall appeared as a fortress, surrounded by a moat and embattled towers but the present house is mainly Elizabethan, with a Gothic façade added in the 1820s.
Across from the South facing Orangery is the thirteenth century Blithfield Parish Church of St. Leonard, which apparently replaced an even older building that features in the Domesday Book in 1086.
By 1945 years of neglect had taken its toll on the hall and the 5th Baron, Gerald Bagot took the decision to sell it together with its 650-acre estate, to the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company. Their intention was to build the reservoir dam which was finally completed in 1953 and the opening was carried out by The Queen Mother after which she took lunch in Blithfield’s Great Hall.
When the 5th Baron died in 1946, his successor and cousin, Caryl Bagot repurchased the property along with 30 acres of land. Aided by a grant from the Historical Buildings Council he began the daunting and formidable task of its extensive renovation and restoration. It is said that if it wasn’t for Caryl’s intervention the hall would no doubt be a ruin today.
In September 1959 the 6th Lord Bagot sold Blithfield Hall at an open auction and the property was bought for £12,000 by his wife Nancy Bagot. On Caryl’s death in 1961, the property was bequeathed to his widow and to the family of his sister Enid Bagot Jewitt.
Blithfield Hall was open to daily visitors in 1956 but was closed to the public in 1977 prior to its subsequent conversion into private residences.
The hall was finally divided into four separate houses in 1986 but the main part, which incorporates the Great Hall, is still presently owned by the Bagot Jewitt Trust. with the Bagot Jewitt family still in residence.
Although the Hall is closed to the public it still hosts the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance that’s performed there in early September every year.
TOAL was in St Leonard's Church carpark that is adjacent to the hall but not within its boundaries. Well sign posted on the road from Blithfield Reservoir.
The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 09/04/2023. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location.
