Alkington, Shropshire

Alkington is a hamlet in Shropshire, England, near Whitchurch and south of that town.

Alkington
Alkington Hall
Alkington Location within Shropshire
OS grid reference	SJ530392
Civil parish	Whitchurch Rural
Unitary authority	Shropshire
Ceremonial county	Shropshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WHITCHURCH
Postcode district	SY13
Dialling code	01948
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Shropshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
UK Parliament	North Shropshire
List of places UK England Shropshire 52.948°N 2.699°W / 52.948; -2.699

The village is on limestone and is residential.

Alkington Hall

Sir Allan Cotton of Alkington, Lord Mayor of London 1625

Alkington Hall was a late 16th-century country house, now a Grade II* listed farmhouse.

It was constructed in two storeys of red brick with grey brick diapering and grey sandstone ashlar dressings and a plain tile and slate roofs to an L-shaped floor plan.^[1]

The manor was held by the Cotton family from the 16th century, of the line of the Cottons of Alkington was Lord Mayor of London in 1625; Sir Allan Cotton.^[2]

It was built in 1592, probably for the London merchant, William Cotton. The Cotton family rose in prominence due to proximity to Sir Rowland Hill, (publisher of the Geneva Bible and hero of Shakespeare’s As You Like It) whose lands they managed in Shropshire.^[3] Architectural association with Hill’s house at Soulton Hall is observable: the out put of a relationship between the families potentially operational into the seventeenth century and seen in the evacuation of the Old Sir Rowland's library from Soulton around the time of the 1643 Battle of Wem, with the forwarding on of his papers into what us now called the Cotton Library.^[4]

Rowland Cotton of this family was a favourite of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales and was an MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme for many years and High Sheriff of Shropshire for 1616.^[5][6] His monument in nearby Norton-in-Hales was designed by Inigo Jones.^[7]

The Cotton family are important in holding what is known today as the Cotton Library, which saved multiple important documents (including Beowulf and Magna Carter) for the English nation.^[8][9]

Some alterations and improvements were made in the late 19th century. It was saved from a fire in 2010 when in the ownership of John and Elaine Fearnall.^[10]