Searching the Internet using the term 'Boreatton Park' pulls up a few
thousand results, almost all of them relating to the mansion on the left.
Most are connected to the current use of Boreatton Park as an adventure
centre. But it has a much more colourful past.
Looking in this shot like something out of a Hammer or Hitchcock movie,
the mansion stands in its own acreage a few miles from the quaintly-named
village of Stanwardine-in-the-Fields, near Baschurch in Shropshire, England.
Originally completed in 1857, these days it serves as ‘a self-contained
adventure centre of 250 acres - suited to all age ranges. The estate contains
two
lakes, woodland, parkland
and a 40ft sandstone cliff. The river Perry flows along the park boundary,
while two sheltered lakes in the estate provide the opportunity to kayak
and raft build. Boreatton Park is a perfect setting for Pony trekking,
with the centre's own ponies used’. It is a pity that the photograph
shows less than half of the building, which stretches to the left as well
as wraps
about an inner courtyard.
The rear of the mansion overlooks the Shropshire plains and affords a clear
view across into Wales. It also used to accommodate a rugby pitch and athletics
field, from where I once observed a powerful twister that snaked to the
ground from a fairly high cloud base many miles away across the plain
and which would have caused considerable damage had it encountered buildings
before it died after several minutes.
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 In
those days, Boreatton Park was an approved school, a place where
youths aged from 14 to 18 would end up after being
sent by the courts
for corrective training. The complete upper floors were dormitories
for the 114 or so 'inmates'; areas that before lights-out at
night bore witness to some ugly bullying scenes etched into my
memory. And not just at the night times. I witnessed many things
that might be more like you‘d expect in a top security US jail. Yet
there was a thread of camaraderie.
It was a curious existence. A courtyard was behind the
right wing and despite its apparent shelter, the sharp winter winds
would show
no mercy to the short trousered boys who would have to stand in parade
lines before filing in to the dining area for meals, or before going
to their respective 'jobs', be it farming, gardening, woodworking,
engineering, or general classes. It was only in the wettest and
roughest
of weather that we would be excused parading on the open yard and
instead allowed the luxury of parading in the shelter of the mansion's
main hall. Cold was not a excusatory factor. And boy, it got cold!
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Smoking was strictly taboo, although I understand that it was later permitted
when a new governor took over. There were well equipped workshops,
a fine gymnasium, and the school had its own successful athletics and rugby
teams,
of which
I
was a member of both.
The teams were well respected and with good reason - we had excellent
coaches who knew their job well and despite the prison-like mood,
team members were fully committed to their sport.
Old Boreattonians will well recall "Stumpy" Mason and "Sweaty" Hughes
! The athletics team participated in an all-England junior chamionship held at
Leeds athletics stadium, wehere we easily won the relay
There was also one memorable occasion when about 15 lads were scything
the long grass on the fields at the back of the main building, overlooking
the Shropshire plains with a view stretching towards Wales in the distance.
It was a balmy summer afternoon and a bank of cloud was visible many miles
away across the plain. Suddenly, a twister began to slowly snake down from
the base of the cloud and made its way down to make contact with the ground.
I was the first to spot the happening and alerted the others and, spellbound,
we all watched for some 10 minutes before the tornado died. I estimate the
the cloud base was at least 1500ft and possibly more.
For a time it was my job to print the school's A4 and A5 headed letter
paper on an old, pedal flywheel ink press printer. There was a telephone
number, an address,
the name of the headmaster, or governor as he was known, and at the top,
the name Boreatton Park School in
a typeface as similar to what is shown as I can now find.
The Boreatton ‘punishment’ was the loss of freedom, but aside
from the thuggery and bullying, there the punishment ended. There were
outings, camps for those who joined the school's army cadet Corps (I made
sergeant
!), canoeing trips, even a two week break in the summer to Dyffryn Ardudwy
on the Welsh coast, where we stayed in some converted barns close to
the beach. There was a trip to Lydd in Kent and many local outings, including
weekend breaks at Nesscliffe army barracks. You have to bear in mind that
to get to Boreatton Park in those days as a 'guest',
you had to have done something to take you before the courts.
And in that line, there have been a number of residents who became household
names in later years, Roy Harper and Benjamin
Zephaniah for instance.
There is also a curious story behind Boreatton Park itself.
Its
construction was designed on the calendar — 12 chimney stacks each
with four stacks and seven pots; 12 bedrooms, 52 doors - the whole architectural
design was based on elements of the calendar. But the original owner
and developer
went bankrupt and a consortium of business people banded together to complete
it. Inside the high ceilinged main hall, through the front door visible
in the picture on the left, wooden family shields lined the upper walls,
each representing a link with the mansion by those who banded together
to complete its construction. Click the image to see a picture of the
Hunt family, who originally lived at
Boreatton Park when
it was
built.
In its approved school days, the room to the lower left was a library,
above that was the TV room, and above that a clothing store where ‘Sunday
best’ togs were kept, then next to the small toilet window to the right
was the 12-bed dormitory where the author slept. The lower bay window to
the right of the main door was the governor's office, who also had accommodation
inside the mansion. Before the approved school was closed, its occupants
built a new house for the governor off to the left of the picture.
In those days, almost the entire group of boys would be required to wear
their establishment provided uniform Sunday civvies and march in military
parade format down the long
drive
to the
road and continue a few miles along the country roads to the nearby village
of Baschurch to attend Sunday morning church service, come rain
or shine.
There is probably little, if anything to suggest to the modern visitor
that they are in a former young person's detention centre. Oh, there were
(maybe still are?) a few wooden panels on the walls that if removed would
reveal where I put my name before replacing the restored panels as part
of my carpentry training, and there were a few very heavy oak doors in
the
building that I helped refurbish and re-hang.
The original mansion house and stable block in Boreatton Park were completed
in 1857 and is of an imposing Victorian design, approached regally through
the landscaped parkland of the estate.
The estate was purchased in 1884 by Dr Sankey and became a psychiatric
asylum and later, in 1942 the Home Office purchased the site and it became
a correction centre for delinquent boys. In 1969 it again changed and became
a community home, which closed in 1974. After remaining empty for some years
Boreatton Park was purchased by PGL in 1978 and opened on 14th April 1979
for two hundred 8-12 year old individuals.
† Do you have access to any detailed historical
information about Boreatton Park? If you do, the site editor would greatly
appreciate
hearing
from you. newsmedia@eircom.net
Pictures of and related
to Boreatton Park, courtesy of Robbie McCauley and Cyril Middleton. The colour
print of Boreatton Park is a painting from a photography by Cyril Middleton.
Click the start button to begin the slideshow.
Finally, thank you for reading the information on this web page.
Keith Harris
Please note that neither the author of this item nor this website has
any connection with PGL, the current ownership and management of Boreatton
Park. Please address all inquiries to the centre through their website
The
Hunt family outside the main entrance to Boreatton Park in the 1800s. 
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