Description

SO 76 SE GREAT WITLEY CP WITLEY PARK

6/84 Witley Court and link to
Church of St Michael
12,ll.51

GV I

Former country house, now a ruin, and link with parish church. C15 undercroft
of earlier manor house; C17 core, north projecting wings of late C17 or early
C18; porticoes to north and south c1800, link wall with pavilion and Orangery
(qv) remodelling and refacing c1860, stables (qv) and service wing to west
late C18, extended c1860. Porticoes attributed to Nash, remodelling and
refacing by S Daukes for Lord Ward, later first Earl of Dudley. Red brick
core, red standstone base, Bathstone facing. Roughly U-plan house with
north projecting wings flanking square stair towers and central portico, link
to church (qv) to north west, portico to south and curved link to orangery (qv)
to south west, stables (qv) and service wing extend to west. Italianate in
grand manner 2 storeys with basement and attic, 4 storeys to towers; banded
rustication to plinth, blind semi-circular headed arches with scrolled keys
and impost band articulate first floor (echoing similar treatment of church)
modillion cornice and balustraded parapet with gadrooned balusters and urn
finials to intermediate and cornier dice, bands of rusticated quoins. Keyed
cambered heads to basement windows, keyed semi-circular surrounds to windows
in blind arches of first floor, with blocked decorative tympana above openings
witheared architraves, bracketed sills and recessed panels below, semi-circular
arched windows with cornices and decorative spandrels to second floor, eared
and shouldered architraves to attic windows, gadrooned balusters to balconies
and aprons. North front: central Ionic octastyle portico (order of Bassee)
flanked by towers with one range of windows, third floor windows segmental
pediment, console bracketed cornice and balcony to windows of fourth floor;
6 bays to flanking wings terminating in 2 storey canted bays with 3 semi-
circular arched windows: East front is slightly plainer; central 1:3:1 bays
flanked by 2 storey canted bays and a further 1:1 bays to south, central 3 bays
with slight forward break, south end bay also projects forwards slightly; taller
semi-circular headed windows with guilloche enrichment to first floor, balustraded
balconies supported on console brackets to second floor of central 3 bays and
flanking canted bays, aproned intermediate bays; central first floor windows
of canted bays have bases for balconies which extend forward on 2 columns.
South front: central Ionic octastyle portico (order of Bassee) partly obscures
central 2 storey elliptical bow with 3 windows and 2 flanking bays, portico
further flanked by 3 bays.
Originally one of the manors of Great Witley it passed to the Russells of
Strensham during the early C17 and was later acquired by Thomas Foley in 1655,
subsequent generations of Foleys carried out the earlier main alterations and
extensions to the house. In 1838 Witley Court passed to the Lord Ward, later
first Earl of Dudley and for a brief period during his.minority the Dowager
Queen Adelaide lived at the Court. Damaged by fire in 1937 and later
unoccupied the Court rapidly decayed. It was situated in extensive parkland
and surrounded by a formal garden laid out by Nesfield (completed in 1861)
with fountains (qv) by James Forsyth and enclosed by a balustrade.
(BoE; VCH, Vol IV: .lfitley Court and Church, Rev Canon. J G Barnish, MA;
Short History of Witley Court, W M Pardoe (unpublished)).
Scheduled Ancient Monument

Listing NGR: SO7698364937

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Witley Court at Wikipedia
• Witley Court official website
• Wikidata Q1401944

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2