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Question
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There was a railway engine called 'Rood Ashton Hall'. I believe that this Hall was in Wiltshire, could you tell me where it was please.
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Question asked on
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04 July 2011
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Answer
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Rood Ashton Hall is in the parish of West Ashton, near Trowbridge. Designed in 1808 by Jeffery Wyatt it was altered and extended in 1836 by Thomas Hopper. The estate had been in the Long family since 1597. In 1923 Walter Long, Viscount Long of Wraxall, recorded that it had always been the rule on the estate, concerning the farms, that a son always succeeded a father, and failing a son the tenant had the right to nominate a successor. In the 19th century the Longs spent much money on improving agriculture on their estates but were not always fortunate in their schemes and saw little return on their expenditure. On the death of his grand-father in 1867, Walter Long's father inherited the Wiltshire estates and the family moved to Rood Ashton.
Walter Long, who had a distinguished parliamentary career both in Ireland and as First Lord of the Admiralty, died in 1924 and the estate was broken up, the mansion being sold in 1930. It was used during the Second World War by the services and was again sold in 1950 when it was stripped of most of its fittings, including the roof.
In the late 1970s most of the Hall was demolished. One part remains and has been converted into a private house while the crenellated stable lodge to the east still looks much as it did when the Long's carriages rolled under the arch into the cobbled courtyard.
The locomotive 'Rood Ashton Hall' was a member of the Hall class built at the Great Western Railway, Swindon Works in November 1929 and is now preserved at the Birmingham Railway Museum.
There is an interesting story regarding its preservation.
The museum bought the 4-6-0 mainline locomotive from a steam engine scrapyard in Barry, South Wales, for £3,000 in 1970 as number 4983 Albert Hall. Steam railway enthusiasts then spent 28 years restoring the locomotive - and then found it was the wrong one. Days before the massive restoration job was complete, staff at Birmingham Railway Museum discovered the engine was actually number 4965 Rood Ashton Hall.
Fund raising and dedication helped restore the rusting hulk but as the painstaking work neared completion, engineers spotted tell-tale signs which showed the locomotive was an imposter. Many internal components on the engine were stamped \"4965\" - the number of Rood Ashton Hall!
An investigation revealed that Albert Hall was scrapped by British Railways at Swindon Works in 1962 and its identity, including name and number plates, switched to Rood Ashton Hall, which was in for repair.
Museum staff have now nicknamed the engine Rood Albert Hall.
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