| Country: | England |
| Coordinates: | 52.659°N -1.4945°W |
| Official Name: | Gopsall |
| Static Image Name: | Gopsall Hall and Park.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Engraving of Gopsall Hall |
| Shire District: | Hinckley and Bosworth |
| Shire County: | Leicestershire |
| Region: | East Midlands |
| Civil Parish: | Twycross |
| Postcode District: | CV9 |
| Postcode Area: | CV |
| Post Town: | ATHERSTONE |
| Dial Code: | 01530 |
| Os Grid Reference: | SK 34594 06819 |
| London Distance: | 170 km |
Gopsall is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Twycross, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is located between the villages of Appleby Magna, Shackerstone, Twycross and Snarestone. In 1931 the parish had a population of 13.[1] Gopsall was formerly an extra-parochial tract,[2] from 1858 Gopsall was a civil parish in its own right, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Twycross.[3]
The name 'Gopsall' means 'hill of the servants'.[4]
Gopsall is the site of a former Georgian country house that was known as Gopsall Hall. The northern edge of the estate is dissected by the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and a long distance trail known as the Ivanhoe Way.
The area is mostly agricultural and is dotted with privately owned farms. A combination of public and permissive footpaths allows limited access to the public between Little Twycross and Shackerstone. A permissive footpath also allows access to Gopsall Temple ruins within Racecourse wood. The A444 Ashby to Nuneaton road also leads to a canal wharf on the western edge of the estate.
Gopsall Hall[5] was erected for Charles Jennens around 1750 at a cost of £100,000 (£8,516,000 today). It was long believed to have been designed by John Westley and built by the Hiorns of Warwick, who later added service wings and Rococo interiors. However, later research by John Harris, curator of the RIBA drawings collection suggests that it was designed as well as built by William or David Hiorns.[6]
The Hall was set in several hundred acres of land and included two lakes, a walled garden, a Chinese boathouse, a Gothic seat and various garden buildings. In 1818 a grand entrance (modelled on the Arch of Constantine) was added.
Queen Adelaide was a frequent visitor to the Hall during her long widowhood. She was popular with the locals, being remembered in many of the surrounding villages. (E.g. The former Queen Adelaide Pub in Appleby Magna, Queen Street, Measham and the Queen Adelaide Oak Tree in Bradgate Park)
In 1848 Gopsall Hall was described as follows:
Said to be the finest country house in Leicestershire, its last use was as an army headquarters during World War II, and was in such bad repair that it was demolished in 1951.[7] Gopsall Park Farm was built over most of the original site and is not accessible without invitation.
The remains include parts of the walled garden, the electricity generating building, an underground reservoir, the tree-lined avenue, the gatehouse and the temple ruins associated with Handel.
During the 1920s and 1930s Gopsall hosted motor racing speed trials and there were plans for an international racing circuit and airfield to be built.
Notable guests who stayed at the estate included Queen Adelaide, King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra, and Winston Churchill.
Land around Gopsall was considered as a possible site for East Midlands Airport.
Between 1873 and the 1930s Gopsall was served via the Ashby to Nuneaton railway line. The station at Shackerstone is part of a preserved railway and visitor attraction (Battlefield Line Railway). During December 1902 King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra along with other dignitaries arrived at the station in the new LNWR Royal Train on their way to Gopsall Hall. The arrival did not go to planned, with the Kings exit door failing to open and the party having to alight from elsewhere on the carriages.
There was a Great Western Railway steam locomotive by the name of "Gopsal Hall". Note the misspelling of the name.
Gopsall temple, based upon an original design by James Paine, was built by William and David Hiorn. The temple structure was probably completed c.1759.
In 2002 the temple was part of a restoration project and it is also a Grade II listed building.
It is possible to visit the monument via the public footpath near the old Gopsall Hall Gatehouse entrance in the village of Shackerstone. It is a good 15 minute walk to the site.
A statue of Religion by Louis Francois Roubiliac (c.1760) stood on the roof of the temple. A cenotaph (Richard Haywood, 1764) was placed in the temple as a memorial to the classical scholar (and Jennens’s friend) Edward Holdsworth. In 1857, the statue of Religion was donated by Lord Howe to the City of Leicester and is housed in the gardens of Belgrave Hall Museum. Holdsworth's cenotaph was purchased by Leicester Museums in 1951 and is also in the gardens of Belgrave Hall.
During the second half of the eighteenth century the estate was owned by Charles Jennens (a librettist and friend of George Frideric Handel). It is often, incorrectly stated that in 1741 Handel composed part of Messiah, his famous oratorio, inside a garden temple at Gopsall. Although it is known that Handel visited Gopsall, he could not have written Messiah (1741) while sitting in the temple. Gopsall Hall was still not completed in 1750 and the building of the temple had not been started. Indeed, Charles Jennens didn't inherit the estate until 1747, on the death of his father Charles Jennens senior (1662-1747).
The organ that Handel specified for Charles Jennens in 1749 is now to be found in St James' Church, Great Packington.