A bit about the Hundred House Hotel

The Hundred House takes its name from the medieval administrative subdivisions of the shires of England into areas called “Hundreds” and this one falls into the Brimstree Hundred. The hundred courts survived until the 1840s when they were superseded by the new county court districts. Various functions were expected of the hundreds at different times. Communal hundredal obligations included suit to the hundred court (possibly the earliest ordinary criminal court) and muster of the local defence or militia. Justices of the Peace (magistrates) first appointed in the 14th Century, met at the hundred house. The earliest hundreds met in open air sites - distinguished by some prominent land mark, such as a large tree (Brimstree), a hill or standing stone - with little more than temporary shelter from the weather. The location of the tree must have been on Brimstree Hill, a mile south of Shifnal on the road to Grindle, about three miles from the present Hundred House at Norton.

The oldest part of this Hundred House still standing is the 14th Century half-timbered and thatched courthouse barn in the courtyard of the hotel. In this barn the local court was held for centuries. Opposite the courthouse are the remains of the old stocks and whipping post for the punishment of offenders convicted in the court. By the 17th Century a convenient alehouse was probably the usual meeting place for most hundreds, hence the frequency of the name “Hundred House” for Public Houses. There are three Hundred Houses in Shropshire.

Above: The Tithe Barn. Right: The Tithe Barn makes the perfect setting for your special event.

The main building is of Georgian origins and the interior has old quarry tiled floors, exposed brickwork, beamed ceilings and oak panelling. The hotel has been added too and modernised particularly during the 19th Century to cope with expanded trade from the Industrial Revolution which started at nearby Ironbridge.

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To discuss a booking please call us on 01952 730353.