Welcombe Hotel occupies a 19th-century former country mansion house near Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, which was previously known as Welcombe House. It is a Grade II* listed building. [1]
Welcombe Hotel occupies a 19th-century former country mansion house near Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, which was previously known as Welcombe House. It is a Grade II* listed building. [1]
Some of the lands at Welcombe, which are recorded as part of the manor of Old Stratford as far back as 1182 AD.
The estate ultimately came into the possession of the Clopton family, into which one of William's three daughters, Martha, had married. Various conveyances of the lands took place in the 18th century and at one point — between 1760 and 1768 — they were divided into three parts. The estate had been acquired by John Lloyd of Snitterfield by 1777 [lower-alpha 1] and it later passed to his oldest son, George, who lived there until dying at the age of 63 in 1831. [3] [2] Both of John Lloyd's sons, George and John Gamaliel Lloyd, served as High Sheriff of Warwickshire, in 1806 and 1832, respectively. George having died unmarried, John Gamaliel inherited the estate on the death of his brother. In turn, the new owner died unmarried in 1837. [4]
By 1842, the estate was in the hands of Mark Philips, a Manchester businessman and Member of Parliament. [3] Philips was High Sheriff in 1851. In about 1866 he commissioned Thomas Newby to build a new mansion house in a Neo-Jacobean style to designs by architect Henry Clutton. [1] This project was completed in 1869. [3] Philips died in 1873, leaving the estate of almost 3,400 acres (14 km2) to his brother, Robert Needham Philips. [3] In 1876 he erected a 120 feet (37 m) sandstone obelisk at a cost of £7,000. The structure, which is now Grade II listed, stands on high ground and is visible for many miles around. [5] On Robert's death in 1890, the property was inherited by Caroline, his daughter, [6] who married Sir George Otto Trevelyan. [6] Their third son, eminent Cambridge historian, George Macaulay Trevelyan, was born at Welcombe House in 1876 and later described it:
It was one of those enormous country mansions with which the wealthy Victorian bourgeoisie loved to burden their newly purchased estates. Welcombe house was, indeed, only a few years older than I was, though it was long ere I grasped that disillusioning fact. [7]
George Otto Trevelyan died in 1928, aged 90, and the house was bought by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. [3] The railway company significantly altered and extended the buildings and opened them as a hotel on 1 July 1931. [8] The company briefly used a Ro-railer to transport people from the station to the hotel, but it was soon phrased out as being bumpy and uncomfortable. [9]
Bought and operated from the 1990s by Menzies Hotels Group, it was converted it into a spa and golf club occupying an estate of 157 acres (0.64 km2). [10] After Menzies were bankrupted in summer 2012, the hotel was one of 12 sold to Topland Group. It was operated by Bespoke Hotels [11] before being acquired by Conquer Dawn in 2021 with Michels & Taylor taking over operations of the hotel. [12]
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington, is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following the popularisation of its water which was reputed to have medicinal qualities. In the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England. It is named after the River Leam, which flows through the town.
Warwick is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire, England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is 9 miles (14 km) south of Coventry, and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whitnash. It has ancient origins and an array of historic buildings, notably from the Medieval, Stuart and Georgian eras. It was a major fortified settlement from the early Middle Ages, the most notable relic of this period being Warwick Castle, a major tourist attraction. Much was destroyed in the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694 and then rebuilt with fine 18th century buildings, such as the Collegiate Church of St Mary and the Shire Hall.
George Macaulay Trevelyan was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the University of Cambridge and was Regius Professor of History from 1927 to 1943. He served as Master of Trinity College from 1940 to 1951. In retirement, he was Chancellor of Durham University.
Warwickshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon and Victorian novelist George Eliot,, at Nuneaton. Other significant towns include Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Kenilworth and Atherstone. The county offers a mix of historic towns and large rural areas. It is a popular destination for international and domestic tourists to explore both medieval and more recent history.
Warwick is a local government district of central Warwickshire in England. It borders the Borough of Rugby and Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire as well as the West Midlands County. The City of Coventry is to the north and northeast, the Stratford-on-Avon District to the southwest and south, the Borough of Rugby to the east, and the Borough of Solihull to the west and northwest.
Mark Philips was an English Liberal Party politician, and one of the first pair of Members of Parliament for Manchester after the Great Reform Act.
Wallington is a country house and gardens located about 12 miles (19 km) west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, the first donation of its kind. It is a Grade I listed building.
Wilmcote is a village, and since 2004 a separate civil parish, in the English county of Warwickshire, about 3 miles (5 km) north of Stratford-upon-Avon. Prior to 2004, it was part of the same parish as Aston Cantlow, and the 2001 population for the whole area was 1,670, reducing to 1,229 at the 2011 Census.
Hockley Heath is a large village and civil parish in the Arden area mostly within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, incorporating the hamlet of Nuthurst, with a history dating back to the year 705 AD as a wood owned by Worcester Cathedral. The parish, known as Nuthurst cum Hockley Heath, is to the south of the West Midlands conurbation, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Birmingham 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Solihull town centre and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) north of Stratford-upon-Avon. The village forms part of the border with Warwickshire and the District of Stratford-on-Avon to the south, with some parts of the village on either side of the border. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 6,771, being measured at the 2011 Census as 2,038.
Snitterfield is a village and civil parish in the Stratford on Avon district of Warwickshire, England, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of the A46 road, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) from Stratford upon Avon, 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from Warwick and 17 miles (27 km) from Coventry. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,226.
Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet was a British Liberal Party, and later Labour Party, politician and landowner. He served as President of the Board of Education in 1924 and between 1929 and 1931 in the first two Labour administrations of Ramsay MacDonald.
Compton Verney House is an 18th-century country mansion at Compton Verney near Kineton in Warwickshire, England. It is located on the west side of a lake north of the B4086 about 12 miles (19 km) north-west of Banbury. Today, it is the site of the Compton Verney Art Gallery.
This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire.
Newbold Comyn is a park on the Eastern edge of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England.
Claverdon is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England, about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of the county town of Warwick. Claverdon's toponym comes from the Old English for "clover hill". The hill is near the centre of the scattered parish which included the township of Langley to the south, and formerly comprised the manors of Claverdon, Langley, Kington, and Songar.
Clopton House is a 17th-century country mansion near Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, now converted into residential apartments. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Henry Clutton was an English architect and designer.
Robert Needham PhilipsDL was an English merchant and manufacturer in the Lancashire textiles business, a Liberal Party politician, and the grandfather of the Whig historian G. M. Trevelyan.
George Lloyd was an English Fellow of the Royal Society.
Notes
Citations