Huddington Court

Last updated

Huddington Court Huddington Court.jpg
Huddington Court

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'. [1] 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. [2]

Contents

The Gunpowder Plot

The plans of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 were, partially, conceived in Huddington Court.

Two priest holes, believed to have been built by Nicholas Owen, are in the building. One is behind an oak panel in what was the chapel, where mass was said by the resident priest. The main section of the hole has another door which leads to a small room where the priest would not have wanted to suffer from claustrophobia! The other hiding hole is in the room opposite and is a door made to look like a part of the wall. This enters into a quite sizeable room that was only discovered in the 1920s.

Following the arrest of Guy Fawkes the plotters fled to Huddington Court and arrived at about 2.00 p.m. on Wednesday 6 November. They left early the following morning in the pouring rain and made it as far as Holbeach House in Staffs where following a shoot out they were killed or arrested. Some had fled and were picked up later, including Robert Wintour who evaded capture for two months. Thomas had been wounded and their half brother, John, surrendered his sword at Dudley Castle. They were all executed. Huddington Court was confiscated along with all their estates. However, it was back in family ownership by 1607, most probably via the payment of large fines by the Talbot estates. Robert's wife, Gertrude, being the daughter of Sir John Talbot of Grafton Manor.

Etched into the glass in the main bedroom of the house are the words "past cark, past care", reputedly carved by Lady Wintour with her diamond ring while her husband hid in the woods around the house before his capture. However, this is untrue and it is in fact by a priest by the name of William Clerke, who was hiding out there in the summer of 1603 following his implication in the Bye Plot. He was arrested in Worcester on 13 August that year and executed in Winchester on 29 November.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunpowder Plot</span> 1605 failed attempt to kill King James I

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought to restore the Catholic monarchy to England after decades of persecution against Catholics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Catesby</span> English conspirator

Robert Catesby was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert and Thomas Wintour</span> Members of the Gunpowder plot

Robert Wintour and Thomas Wintour, also spelt Winter, were members of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed conspiracy to assassinate King James I. Brothers, they were related to other conspirators, such as their cousin, Robert Catesby, and a half-brother, John Wintour, also joined them following the plot's failure. Thomas was an intelligent and educated man, fluent in several languages and trained as a lawyer, but chose instead to become a soldier, fighting for England in the Low Countries, France, and possibly in Central Europe. By 1600, however, he changed his mind and became a fervent Catholic. On several occasions he travelled to the continent and entreated Spain on behalf of England's oppressed Catholics, and suggested that with Spanish support a Catholic rebellion was likely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrose Rookwood</span> 17th century English conspirator

Ambrose Rookwood was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I with a Catholic sovereign. Rookwood was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and educated by Jesuits in Flanders. His older brother became a Franciscan, and his two younger brothers were ordained as Catholic priests. Rookwood became a horse-breeder. He married the Catholic Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, and had at least two sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priest hole</span>

A priest hole is a hiding place for a priest built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England, Wales and Ireland during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law. When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, there were several Catholic plots designed to remove her and severe measures were taken against Catholic priests. Many great houses had a priest hole built so that the presence of a priest could be concealed when searches were made of the building. They were concealed in walls, under floors, behind wainscoting and other locations and were often successful in concealing their occupant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashby St Ledgers</span> Human settlement in England

Ashby St Ledgers is a village in the West Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England. The post town is Rugby in Warwickshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 173. The Manor House is famous for being a location for the planning of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Owen (Jesuit)</span> English Roman Catholic saint

Nicholas Owen, S.J., was an English Jesuit lay brother who was the principal builder of priest holes during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. Owen built many priest holes in the buildings of English Catholics from 1588 until his final arrest in 1606, when he was tortured to death by prison authorities in the Tower of London. Owen is honoured as a martyr by the Catholic Church and was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John and Christopher Wright</span> Members of the Gunpowder Plot 1605

John (Jack) Wright, and Christopher (Kit) Wright, were members of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I by blowing up the House of Lords. Their sister married another plotter, Thomas Percy. Educated at the same school in York, the Wrights had early links with Guy Fawkes, the man left in charge of the explosives stored in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords. As known recusants the brothers were on several occasions arrested for reasons of national security. Both were also members of the Earl of Essex's rebellion of 1601.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huddington</span> Human settlement in England

Huddington is a village in Worcestershire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bates</span> UK 1605 Gunpowder plot planner

Thomas Bates was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Grant (Gunpowder Plot)</span> Member of the failed Gunpowder Plot

John Grant was a member of the failed Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I of England with a Catholic monarch. Grant was born around 1570, and lived at Norbrook in Warwickshire. He married the sister of another plotter, Thomas Wintour. Grant was enlisted by Robert Catesby, a religious zealot who had grown so impatient with James's lack of toleration for Catholics that he planned to kill him, by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder. Grant's role in the conspiracy was to provide supplies for a planned Midlands uprising, during which James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, would be captured. However, on the eve of the planned explosion, Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives the plotters had positioned in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and arrested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Oldcorne</span> English Jesuit priest

Edward Oldcorne alias Hall was an English Jesuit priest. He was known to people who knew of the Gunpowder Plot to destroy the Parliament of England and kill King James I; and although his involvement is unclear, he was caught up in the subsequent investigation. He is a Roman Catholic martyr, and was beatified in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindlip Hall</span> Stately home in Hindlip

Hindlip Hall is a stately home in Hindlip, Worcestershire, England. The first major hall was built before 1575, and it played a significant role in both the Babington and the Gunpowder plots, where it hid four people in priest holes. It was Humphrey Littleton who told the authorities that Edward Oldcorne was hiding here after he had been heard saying Mass at Hindlip Hall. Four people were executed and the owner at that time barely escaped execution himself due to the intercession of Lord Monteagle.

Humphrey Littleton, or Humphrey Lyttelton, was a member of the Lyttelton family, who was executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder plot. Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton who had escaped from the fight at Holbeche House were captured at Hagley Park on 9 January 1606 despite Littleton's protests that he was not harbouring anyone. It was Littleton who told the authorities that Edward Oldcorne was hiding at Hindlip Hall after he had given him mass. Wintour, Oldcorne, and both Littletons were all executed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Talbot of Grafton</span>

Sir John Talbot of Grafton, Worcestershire was a prominent recusant English Catholic layman of the reigns of Elizabeth I of England and James I of England. He was connected by marriage to one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, and by acquaintance or family ties to other important Catholic figures. He fell often under suspicion from the English government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badge Court</span> Estate in Worcestershire, United Kingdom

Badge Court is an estate in Worcestershire, England. Originally known as Batchcott, the home's most famous occupant was Helena Wintour, daughter of Gunpowder Plot conspirator Robert Wintour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Manor</span>

Grafton Manor was established before the Norman Conquest. Grafton means "settlement at or near the wood" and may indicate a role in woodland management within a larger estate, for instance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wintour baronets</span> Title in the Baronetage of England

The Wintour Baronetcy, of Hodington in the County of Worcester, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 29 April 1642 for George Wintour. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death in 1658.

Stephen Littleton, , was an Englishman executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerberus Privy</span> Lavatory in Buckinghamshire, England

The Cerberus Privy, at Gayhurst House, Buckinghamshire, England, is a communal lavatory built for the male servants of the house. It was constructed between 1859-1860 and was designed by William Burges. Now converted to a private home, it is a Grade II* listed building.

References

  1. Pevsner, Nikolaus (1968). Worcestershire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 200. ISBN   0-14-071035-3.
  2. Historic England, "Huddington Court (1081215)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 7 February 2018

Coordinates: 52°12′50″N2°05′08″W / 52.213839°N 2.085624°W / 52.213839; -2.085624