Great Witley
| Great Witley | |
| Worcestershire | |
|---|---|
 The Hundred House, Great Witley | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 52°16’60"N, 2°21’0"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Worcester |
| Postcode: | WR6 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Malvern Hills |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
West Worcestershire |
Great Witley is a village in the north-west of the county of Worcester. It is situated around ten miles to the north-west of the city of Worcester. It shares a civil parish with Hillhampton and the hamlet of Redmarley.
There has been a settlement in the area since before the Norman Conquest.
About the village
Witley Court in the village is a Jacobean country house extended on a number of occasions throughout its history, but which became derelict after a spectacular fire in 1937. The mansion, formerly one of the finest in the Midlands, is now in the care of English Heritage, who describe it as their number one ruin. They have restored the extensive gardens leaving the impressive skeletal ruin of the building overlooking them in a poignant and thought provoking way.
The house adjoins the parish church.
Parish church
The parish church is Saint Michael and All Angels, an 18th-century church and one of the finest Italian Baroque churches in Britain. It incorporates a richly gilded ceiling with a number of paintings by Antonio Bellucci, a funerary monument to Thomas Lord Foley and his family by John Michael Rysbrack and ten large painted glass windows by Joshua Price dated 1719-1721.[1][2][3]
Nearby is Woodbury Hill commanding extensive views south to the Malvern Hills and over the River Teme valley to the west. On the summit is an Iron Age hillfort. Owain Glyndŵr's army with his French auxiliaries camped here for eight days in the summer of 1405 facing an army of King Henry IV at Abberley Hill. Skirmishes took place but neither large force initiated full-scale battle and the Welsh withdrew under nightfall back to the mountains. The location was also used as a meeting place during the Civil War by Clubmen from the local farms and cottages.
The village also is home to the Grade-II-listed coaching inn The Hundred House Hotel,[4] once the collection point for agricultural tithes from the Doddingtree Hundred.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Great Witley) |
References
- ↑ Witley Court and Gardens, English Heritage. Retrieved 23 May 2009
- ↑ Goodwin, Bernard G. (1966). Witley Parish Church : A short history and guide to the Parish Church of St. Michael's and All Angels, Great Witley (3rd ed.). Kidderminster: Cheshires, Printers. OCLC 12194765.
- ↑ Parishes: Great Witley' - A History of the County of Worcester: volume 4 (1924), pp. 372-375
- ↑ The Hundred House and Attached Quadrant Wall to East, Great Witley, British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 March 2012