Birtsmorton Court is a Grade I listed fortified medieval moated manor house near Malvern in Worcestershire, in the former woodlands of Malvern Chase. [1]
It is located in Birtsmorton, a small agricultural parish 7 miles south-east of Malvern Wells, Worcestershire and 8 miles west of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. The house was the setting for William Samuel Symonds's historical novel Malvern Chase.
The English place name element birt-, which often signifies the birches such as grow in this low-lying site, [2] in this particular case may be a transformation of de Brute, holding the manor under Edward I. [3]
The manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book; the present house, partly half-timbered built on a courtyard plan, is in part of the 13th century. In 1424–25 Birtsmorton became the seat of John Nanfan, who had most of the earlier structure demolished before his death in about 1447. [4] Cardinal Wolsey is an important historical figure, who is also reported to have frequently stayed at the court during his earlier days. [5] The house was remodelled for Giles Nanfan in about 1572, [6] as heraldry in the Great Hall suggests.
The Nanfan family retained the Manor until 1771. The last male heir, Bridges Nanfan, left the estate to his daughter Catherine in 1704. She married four times, including to Lord Coote, the Governor of New York, in 1680 and to Admiral William Caldwell in 1702. [7] On the death of Catherine's granddaughter Judith in 1771, the manor passed to the Coote family who sold it in 1779. [8]
The present aspect of the house is in part due to antiquarian restoration and emendation by Frederick S. Waller, 1871–72. [9] The east range was destroyed by fire in the 18th century and rebuilt in 1929–30 by A. Hill Parker and Son, in what Brooks and Pevsner called a "successful pastiche". [10]
William Huskisson was born at Birtsmorton Court on 11 March 1770 and spent his childhood here until he was 13. [11] The house was a setting for William Samuel Symonds' historical novel Malvern Chase. [3]
The house is now privately owned and available for special events.
Worcestershire is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county.
Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dramatically in Victorian times due to the natural mineral water springs in the vicinity, including Malvern Water.
Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, a few miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Bewdley. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 20,292.
Malvern Hills is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Malvern, and its area covers most of the western half of the county, including the outlying towns of Tenbury Wells and Upton-upon-Severn. It was originally formed in 1974 and was subject to a significant boundary reform in 1998. In the 2011 census the population of the Malvern Hills district was 74,631.
Wightwick is a part of Tettenhall Wightwick ward in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is named after an ancient local family the "de Wightwicks". It is on the western fringe of Wolverhampton and borders the rural South Staffordshire area that includes neighbourhoods such as Perton.
Barnards Green is one of the main population areas of Malvern, Worcestershire, England, situated approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) east and downhill from Great Malvern, the town's traditional centre.
William Samuel Symonds was an English cleric, geologist and author.
White Ladies Aston is a village in the Wychavon local government district of Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom, and also lends its name to the civil parish in which the village is located. The village is located to the east of the A44 which started as a Saltway linking Droitwich to Oxford. To the south is Pershore and five miles west is Worcester. The parish is bound to the east by the Bow Brook. The parish, according to the 2011 census, has 87 households with 220 residents.
Madresfield is a village and civil parish in the administrative district of Malvern Hills in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is located about two miles east of Malvern town centre at the foot of the Malvern Hills and is less than two miles from the River Severn. Surrounded by farms and common land, it has a clear view of the entire range of the Malvern Hills, and is part of the informal region referred to as The Malverns.
Birtsmorton is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills of Worcestershire, England, which at the 2001 census had a population of 250. It is in the south-west of the county, not far from the borders with Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont, known as The Lord Coote between 1683–89, was an Irish nobleman and colonial administrator who represented Droitwich in the English Parliament from 1688 to 1695. He was a prominent Williamite, supporting William III and Mary II during the Glorious Revolution.
Madresfield Court is a country house in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. The home of the Lygon family for nearly six centuries, it has never been sold and has passed only by inheritance since the 12th century; a line of unbroken family ownership reputedly exceeded in length in England only by homes owned by the British Royal Family. The present building is largely a Victorian reconstruction, although the origins of the present house are from the 16th century, and the site has been occupied since Anglo-Saxon times. The novelist Evelyn Waugh was a frequent visitor to the house and based the family of Marchmain, who are central to his novel Brideshead Revisited, on the Lygons. Surrounded by a moat, the Court is a Grade I listed building.
Hanley Castle is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, between the towns of Malvern and Upton upon Severn and a short distance from the River Severn. It lies in the administrative area of Malvern Hills District, and is part of the informal region known as The Malverns. It is served primarily by bus service 332 Worcester - Upton upon Severn - Hanley Castle operated by Aston Coaches and 363 Worcester - Tewkesbury operated by First Worcester.
Huddington Court is a 15th-century moated manor house in the village of Huddington in Worcestershire, England, some six miles east of Worcester. It was described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as 'the most picturesque house in Worcestershire'. It was the home of the Wintour family, of which the Gunpowder plot conspirators Robert, Thomas and John Wintour are the most notorious. The house is a private residence and is not open to the public. It has been Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England since 1952.
This is a list of sheriffs and since 1998 high sheriffs of Worcestershire.
Forest Hill is a village in Forest Hill with Shotover civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 4.5 miles (7 km) east of Oxford. The village which is about 330 feet (100 m) above sea level is on the northeastern brow of a ridge of hills. The highest point of the ridge is Red Hill, which rises to 440 feet (130 m) just south of the village. The 2011 Census recorded Forest Hill with Shotover's population as 856.
Malvern Chase was a royal chase that occupied the land between the Malvern Hills and the River Severn in Worcestershire and extended to Herefordshire from the River Teme to Cors Forest.
Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt, ICS, FRGS was a British diplomat and writer.
The Elms Hotel in Abberley, Worcestershire is a building of historical significance and is Grade II listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in 1710 by the architect Thomas White (1674-1748) of Worcester who was a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. It was the home of several notable families over the next two centuries and is now a hotel.
Media related to Birtsmorton Court at Wikimedia Commons