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

• 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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
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  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas