The history and many changing faces of Oswestry's Park Hall

While it is a football stadium on the outskirts of Oswestry these days and home to TNS Football Club, the site has a long history.

Park Hall is named for it had been part of a park in the lands of Whittington Castle, a Norman fortification while the lands were then given by King Henry II to Roger de Powys in the 1160s with the lordship eventually passing to the FitzWarin family.

The castle was rebuilt in stone in the 1220s and became an important border fortification in the wars with Owain Glyndwr in 1404.

Park Hall Mansion.

The castle was in ruins by the 1500s but saved from oblivion by Thomas Powell who rebuilt the castle around 1543.

However it all went up in smoke in 1918 when an electrical fire levelled the building.

The loss of the castle allowed the British Army to expand its training base which had been built nearby in 1915.

Following the end of the Great War, the camp hospital became the home of the Baschurch Convalescent and Surgical Home, set up by Agnes Hunt.

It then became known as the Shropshire Orthopaedic Hospital and earn worldwide recognition for its pioneering work in the treatment of all forms of physical disablement.

During the 1930s the land was used for motorcycle racing.

For the next 40 years Park Hall became a National Service training camp when much of the land reverted to farmland though the sports facilities of the camp were retained.

The camp eventually closed in 1975 but the sports facilities continued to be utilised.

Oswestry Town Football Club played at Park Hall after the loss of their Victoria Road ground and TNS moved in to develop the facility into a UEFA compliant stadium following their merger in 2003.

Meanwhile Park Hall Farm became a visitor attraction in 1998.

The land retains a link to its military past with the Museum of the Welsh Guards honouring a long association with the military.