Keele Hall

File:Keele Hall1.jpg

Keele Hall, main entrance

Keele Hall is a 19th-century mansion house at Keele, Staffordshire, England, now standing on the campus of Keele University and serving as the university conference centre. It is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The manor of Keele was held by the Sneyd (pronounced Sneed) family and in about 1580 Ralph Sneyd built a large gabled Tudor style house there. The family prospered as coal and iron owners and also brick and tile manufacturers. In about 1851 the old house was replaced with the current imposing mock Jacobean design by architect Anthony Salvin. The three storeyed castellated entrance front has four octagonal turrets and other fronts have curved gables.

The 19th century stable block known as the 'Clock House' also has Grade II listed building status.

In 1900 Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia began renting Keele Hall. He had undertaken a morganatic marriage that meant he would spend the rest of his life living in exile in England, France and Germany. During the ten years the Grand Duke lived at Keele Hall, he took up the life of an English country gentleman. The town council of Newcastle-under-Lyme even conferred him the distinction of Lord High Steward of the borough.

The Hall was requisitioned by the army during World War II and in 1948 with the aid of grant funding the Keele estate was purchased from another Ralph Sneyd for the establishment of the University College of North Staffordshire, which in 1962 became Keele University.

See also

• Sneyd family papers at University of Keele Archives

Literature

• J. M. Kolbert: The Sneads & Keele Hall, University of Keele, 1967.