Fire tackled at country house site near Oswestry

The building the fire was in was extensively damaged. Picture: Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service

An outbuilding at a large country house in Shropshire has been "pretty much gutted", the fire service said.

More than 30 firefighters were called to Aston Hall, near Oswestry, in the early hours of Wednesday.

The fire affected a range of outbuildings, which were maintenance workshops and the boiler house for the main home.

The fire service, which was at the site for more than six hours, said the cause was being investigated.

'Lot of support'

Incident commander Paul Fulgoni said the building the fire was in had been extensively damaged.

He added: "The ground floor is not too bad, but the fuel for the wood burner was contained within the first floor, so the first floor and roof are gone.

"We're fortunate there's a lake on site, so it wasn't too difficult to get a large amount of water there quite quickly.

"We wanted to stop it from spreading from the building of origin if nothing else, so that's why we needed a lot of support there quite quickly."

A security guard raised the alarm about the fire, which crews were called to at about 0050 BST on Wednesday.

The fire was brought under control within two hours but fire service staff were expected to remain on site for some time later.

Two engines from Oswestry and one each from Telford, Tweedale, Ellesmere, Chirk, Wem and Whitchurch were brought in to help fight the fire.