Wickhamford_Manor

Wickhamford Manor

Wickhamford Manor

House in Wickhamford Worcestershire

Wickhamford Manor, Wickhamford, Worcestershire is a manor house dating from the 16th century. It was the childhood home of James Lees-Milne, the writer. The manor is a Grade II listed building.

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History

The manor was originally a monastic grange in the possession of Evesham Abbey.[1] Following the Dissolution of the monasteries, it was granted by Elizabeth I to Thomas Throckmorton in 1562. Throckmorton sold the manor to Samuel Sandys in 1594 and the Sandys family retained ownership until 1860.[2] Penelope Washington, daughter of a later Sandys and a distant relative of George Washington, lived at the manor in the 17th century. Her tomb in the estate church of St John the Baptist,[1] is carved with the Washington coat of arms, three stars above two bars (or stripes), which is traditionally assumed to be the origin of the Stars and Stripes,[3][4] although this is disputed.[5]

In 1906 the manor was bought by George Lees-Milne.[6] The Lees, and their relatives the Cromptons, were originally from Lancashire, where they had made considerable fortunes from coal mining and cotton spinning.[7] In 1908, George's son James was born at the house.[8] An exaggerated portrait of his parents as "a pair of ludicrous eccentrics",[9] and his difficult relationships with them is recorded in the early chapters of his volume of autobiography, Another Self.[10]

George Lees-Milne sold Wickhamford in 1947, two years before his death.[7] In 2010, it was again for sale, at a guide price of £2.95 million.[11]

Architecture and description

Pevsner describes the grouping of manor house, ancillary buildings and church around a lake, originally a medieval fish pond, as "highly picturesque".[1] The present manor buildings date from the 16th century, with later additions.[12] It has a timber frame, infilled with limestone rubble, is of two storeys and built to an E-plan.[12] Much is early 20th century reconstruction and expansion undertaken by George Lees-Milne. The dovecote by the lake is genuinely medieval, dating from the 13th century,[1] and has its own Grade II listing.[13]

Notes

  1. [1]
    Brooks & Pevsner 2007, pp. 662–663.
  2. [2]
    "Wickhamford Manor House". www.badseysociety.uk. The Badsey Society. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  3. [3]
    "Church of St John the Baptist". www.badseysociety.uk. The Badsey Society. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  4. [4]
    "Wickhamford". www.worcesteranddudleyhistoricchurches.org.uk. Worcestershire & Dudley Historic Churches Trust. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  5. [5]
    Vile 2018, p. ?.
  6. [6]
    "The Official James Lees-Milne Website". www.jamesleesmilne.com. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  7. [7]
    "George Crompton Lees-Milner (1880–1949)". www.badseysociety.uk. The Badsey Society. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  8. [8]
    Bloch 2009, p. 5.
  9. [9]
    Bloch 2009, p. 8.
  10. [10]
    Lees-Milne 1970, pp. 2–52.
  11. [11]
    "Impeccable provenance of the perfect manor house". The Birmingham Press. 21 October 2010.
  12. [12]
    Historic England. "Manor House, Wickhamford (Grade II) (1215988)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  13. [13]
    Historic England. "Dovecote approximately 100 m south east of Manor House (Grade II) (1216194)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 March 2020.

References
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