New Hall at the northern end of Walmley dates from the 12th century and is said to be the oldest inhabited moated house in England.

While the Websters were at Penns Hall New Hall was occupied by the Wilkinson family who were relatives. Wilkinson made his fortune as Wilkinson Ridell, the largest textile and fancy goods wholesalers in Birmingham. They had very large premises in Edmund Street.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, the land surrounding the present site of New Hall was owned by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, who was executed by William the Conqueror in 1071 and his land annexed to the Crown. In 1126 Henry I exchanged it for other lands with Roger de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick. By 1340, the estate was held by another Earl of Warwick, Thomas Beauchamp, who in the following year leased it to Sir John Lizours, it was in this period that the name New Hall was used for the first time.

In 1487 after the War of the Roses, Anne, Countess of Warwick lost New Hall and its lands to the Crown yet again.

There is a gap in the history then but we know that by 1525 a Thomas Gibbons was in residence and that he extended the property in 1542. Williams Gibbons of New Hall was Bishop Veseys brother in Law and when the Royal Town was created in 1528 he became the first warden.

In 1590, Henry Sacheverall of Morley and Callow became the new owner and made further improvements to the house.

On Henry's death in 1620, the hall was passed to his son Valens Sacheverall who in turn it passed to his son George.

Georges' chaplain was the famous unrelated Jacobite firebrand Dr Henry Sacheverall who took up residence in the hall eventually being imprisoned there after being found guilty of sedition in 1709.

The next owner was George Scahervalls great nephew, Charles Sacheverall Chadwick, a descendant of one of the knights who had fought at the Battle of Hastings who inherited the estate in 1715.

A succesion of Chadwicks owned the house until 1897. In 1870 John de Heley Chadwick, the last Chadwick to live at New Hall,  enlarged the North Wing and build up the central tower.

The estate was then owned by a string of eminent local businessmen until it became a country house hotel in 1988. The Great Hall and Dining Room are Anglo-Saxon in origin, while the walls of the Great Hall are lined with 16th Century oak panelling. Fine mullioned windows contain medallions of exquisite 16th Century Flemish glass. The fireplace is 17th Century with a carved oak overpiece.

In the dining room, the carved stone fireplace is late 17th Century, while the 16th Century glass carries old Dutch verse. Other windows have the Sacheverall arms and crests and the 'Fate of the Cow' is shown in three insets.

The Great Chamber, originally constructed in 1542 by Thomas Gibbons, was enlarged by Henry Sacheverall, who added the oak panelling at the end of the 16th Century. The fine ribbed ceiling of moulded plasterwork, adorned with ormolu and gilt is also Elizabethan.

The windows are glazed with small leaded quarters, many etched with diamond-written love laments by George Sacheverall in 1689. The moat, originally a medieval defence system, is fed by seven springs. The terraces, south of the moat are 16th Century, while other horticultural and ornamental features were added in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The last true private owner of New Hall was Sir Alfred Owen (1909 -1975) of the Rubery Owen Organisation. Sir Alfred's father had bought the estate in 1923 from the Wilkinson family who owned Wilkiinson Ridell in Birmingham. Sir Alfred was also the owner of the BRM motor racing team which was active from the early fifties to 1974. 

Sir Alfred Owen retired as chief executive of the Owen Organisation but remained Chairman of Rubery Owen Holdings Ltd until his death on 29 October 1975. He had been made O.B.E. in 1946, promoted to Commander of that Order in 1954, and was appointed Knight Bachelor in 1961 for services to local government. He served on the Darlaston Urban District Council from 1934 (Chairman 1942-1946, and 1952-1954) until it was absorbed into Walsall County Borough in 1968, when he continued to represent the Bentley ward until 1972. He was a councillor in the Borough of Sutton Coldfield, 1937-1974, (Mayor, 1951), and was an independent member of the Staffordshire County Council, 1949-1966, serving as Chairman from 1955 to 1962. He served Keele University from 1957, first as Chairman of the Council and then as Vice President of the University College of North Staffordshire, and when it received a full Charter, as Pro-Chancellor. The University made him an Honorary D.Sc. in 1965. He also served on the Council of Birmingham University. In addition he served on a number of national committees reflecting his lifelong interests as a Christian business man, including Dr Barnardo's, the Boys Brigade and the Youth for Christ Movement. He was also closely associated with the Billy Graham Crusades. At a national level he served as vice chairman of the National Savings Movement, and chairman of the National Road Safety Council.

After Sir Alfred's death the hall was sold to a developer who in turn sold it to the Thistle Hotel group who added an annexe where the walled garden had been. It has recenty been resold to another hotel proprietor.

24th April 2008