June 15, 2026 / By rachel
It has been known as Aula Superior, Over Court, Over Hall and finally Upper Hall. And, frankly, if a building has had that many names, you know it has lore.
For Week 15 of our 40 Projects in 40 Weeks series, we are revisiting the Upper Hall Ledbury heritage conversion, a substantial Grade II listed estate with origins reaching back to the early thirteenth century.
Upper Hall has been altered, extended, repaired and repurposed over many centuries. It was nearly destroyed during the Civil War, later developed through Jacobean, Georgian and Victorian additions, lived in by prominent families, used as a hospital during both World Wars and eventually became Ledbury Grammar School. Not a bad CV for one building.
The estate was offered for sale by auction on 17 June 1919, with the old sale particulars listing about 1,500 acres, including residences, farms, cottages, accommodation land, building sites and standing timber. With thank you to Herefordshire History for their kind permission to use the image. This sale resulted in the change from grand family home to Ledbury Grammar School. Almost exactly 107 years later to the day, it feels rather fitting to revisit the role RRA Architects played in the next major chapter of Upper Hall’s life.
From school corridors to distinctive homes
By the time RRA Architects became involved, Upper Hall had served the community as a school for decades. When the school relocated, the old estate was no longer suited to the needs of modern education, but it still had huge architectural and historic value. The question was not “what can we fit inside it?” Instead we asked “how do we give this building a useful future without losing what makes it special?”
RRA was commissioned to convert the main house and estate buildings into high-quality apartments, adapt the lodge and coach house for separate accommodation, introduce new homes on the former tennis courts and design a new property within the grounds for the client.
Heritage, but not frozen in time
Listed buildings need care, but they also need a purpose and a building like Upper Hall cannot survive on history alone. Our Managing Director, Mark Powles, worked on the Upper Hall project early in his career, subdividing the large Grade II listed former school into apartments. This is a skill in itself. Few people realise the technical challenges hidden behind the walls and beneath the floors, when dividing an existing building into logical apartments, each with its own entrance, amenities (kitchen, bathroom, living spec, etc), fire escape and workable living flow. On top of this are the challenges of plumbing, drainage, fire separation and acoustic insulation which are even more complex in heritage buildings as the historic fabric must be carefully protected and preserved. Those apartments remain in use today, which is an important measure of success. People can actually live in them without feeling as though they are camping inside a museum..
The conversion required a sensitive balance: protecting the character of the historic estate while allowing it to meet modern residential standards. This is often where the most environmentally friendly architecture happens, making sure good buildings can keep being used sustainably, rather than just building new.
Regional architecture with local understanding
Upper Hall is a strong example of adaptive reuse, heritage conversion and long-term thinking, demonstrating why careful architectural judgement matters. It has been a manor house, a family residence, a wartime hospital, a school and now a collection of distinctive homes. For RRA, it remains a memorable project, demonstrating how heritage can be protected by being used, adapted and loved. We believe it is rarely ideal to treat historic buildings as untouchable, better to understand them properly, protect what matters and help them move with the times.
You can see the full project in our project portfolio at Upper Hall Ledbury Heritage Conversion.
You can also explore much more of Upper Hall’s history on the Old Ledbury website.
About RRA Architects
Currently celebrating its 40th year, RRA Architects is an award-winning architectural practice established in 1986, supporting clients across residential, commercial, retail, development, heritage, education, community and conservation projects.
We work nationally, but are mostly focused across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, the Cotswolds, Bristol and Avon, the West Midlands, South West and South Wales, helping clients create thoughtful, practical and well-designed buildings.