Shobdon Court
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Shobdon Court was an 18th-century country house in the village of Shobdon in Herefordshire, near Leominster. Although the main house has since been demolished, the service wing and the stable block have been converted to residential use.
Shobdon Court was rectangular in plan and sat in parkland on the side of a hill. Built in brick it was similar in appearance to Clarendon House in London. It was substantially remodelled in the mid-1800s.
Location
- Location map: 52°15’35"N, 2°52’44"W
History
The Shobdon estate was bought in 1705 by Sir James Bateman, Lord Mayor of London and Governor of the Bank of England, who replaced the Jacobean house with a new Palladian style building. On his death in 1718 it passed to his son William Bateman, 1st Viscount Bateman and was inherited in turn by the latter's son, John Bateman, 2nd Viscount Bateman, who put it in the care of his brother Richard.
When John died in 1802 the Viscountcy became extinct and Shobdon Court passed to a relative, William Hanbury, who was ennobled as Baron Bateman in 1837 after having changed his name to Bateman-Hanbury. [1]
The estate was passed down through the Bateman-Hanbury family until the 3rd Lord Bateman died in 1931. On his death the Baronetage also became extinct and estate was sold.
The house, Shobdon Court, was demolished in 1933 but the service and stable blocks converted to apartments. Both the service block [2] and the stable block [3] are now Grade II listed buildings.
Second World War
During the Second World War the remaining court buildings we requisitioned and formed the officers’ quarters for the then RAF Shobdon. One of the legacies of this was the construction of a squash court on the site, which still exists today.
Church and arches
The estate's church, St John's, was completely rebuilt between 1749-1752 for John Bateman, 2nd Viscount Bateman,[4] in a Rococo style. Simon Jenkins, in his book England's Thousand Best Churches, considers the interior "a complete masterpiece (of) English Rococo."[5] It is a Grade I listed building.[6]
Arches from the interior of the church were removed in the 18th century to form an eye-catcher in the grounds of the Court.[7]
References
- ↑ "Shobdon Court History". Herefordshire Past. http://herefordshirepast.co.uk/buildings/shobdon-court/. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1082092: Shobdon Court
- ↑ National Heritage List 1166816: Old Stable Court
- ↑ Brooks & Pevsner 2012, pp. 596-8.
- ↑ Jenkins, Simon (1999). England's Thousand Best Churches. Penguin. p. 277. ISBN 0-713-99281-6. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yNhxpwAACAAJ&dq=herefordshire+brooks+pevsner&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwimus6uhabPAhWIKMAKHVjnC7gQ6AEIJzAA.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1166734: Church Of St John The Evangelist, Shobdon
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, 1963; 2012 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-12575-7pages 596-598