Set within a fold of the hills near Porthywaen, Blodwell Hall stands on a natural terrace and was the long seat of the Tanat family. It passed from them to the Matthews family and, following the death of Roger Matthews in 1673, Blodwell passed to his daughter and sole heir, Ursula Matthews (1671–1719/20). She, in 1694, married Sir John Bridgeman, 3rd Bt (1667–1747), son of Sir John Bridgeman 2nd Bt and his wife Mary, daughter of George Craddock of Caverswall Castle, Staffordshire.

The Bridgemans already owned significant estates, some in Shropshire and others further afield. In Lancashire, Great Lever had been acquired by Bishop John Bridgeman (1577–1652) in 1614 when he was already aware of its coal reserves. The Bishop’s son, Sir Orlando Bridgeman (1606–1674), 1st Baronet of Great Lever, distinguished himself as a lawyer, becoming Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (1660–68) and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal (1667–72). In his career he presided over the trial of the Regicides and devised much of the basis of freehold and leasehold property law.

In 1627/8 Sir Orlando had married, as his first wife, Judith Kynaston, heiress of Morton near Knockin. Judith’s own parents were John Kynaston of Morton, living in 1623, and Frances Kynaston of Oteley (q.v.), whilst her uncle, Roger Kynaston, was the owner of Maesbury Hall (q.v.). Her parents represented at least the fourth generation of the Kynaston family to be seated at Morton. The Bridgemans seated themselves at Morton, where the house also became the refuge of Sir Orlando’s father, Bishop Bridgeman – he was fined £3000 and driven from his Palace during the siege of Chester in 1645. He is said to have ‘passed the remaining years of his life in reading and devotion’ at Morton prior to his death and burial at the neighbouring church of Kinnerley, where a monument in the chancel commemorates his life.

Morton was depicted by Stanley Leighton in 1872, showing an L-plan building of part timber-framed and part brick construction, with a prominent – apparently an early seventeenth-century brick gabled wing with plat bands between the stories. Soon after Leighton had laid down his pencil, the house was rebuilt with mock half-timbering encasing the first floor of the long south-facing main wing, and with a new jettied half-timber-fronted gabled projection on the left.