Huddington Court

Details

HUDDINGTON CP HUDDINGTON SO 95 NW 6/180 (19/22) Huddington Court 29.12.52 GV I

House. Early C16, altered c1584. Timber-framed with painted brick and rendered infill on stone plinth; plain tiled roofs. T-plan; main range of four framed bays aligned east/west with rear wing of two framed bays probably added in the early C17; original early C16 external sandstone chimney to rear of east bay in angle with C17 wing; chimney has chamfered plinth and paired circular brick shafts each set upon an octangonal base with blind trefoiled panels; the upper and lower part of the shafts have spiral mouldings and the central part has vertical mouldings and both have octagonal concave-sided caps; there is also an external handmade brick chimney with off-sets to the rear of the west bay and at the rear wing gable end enclosed by a lean-to addition. Two storeys and attic with dormers. Framing: close-set studding throughout; some large swept braces across lower corners at first floor level; collar and tie-beam trusses with closely-set studs and two collars. Windows are mainly late C16 and wood- mullioned with leaded lights, several containing heraldic stained glass. North front elevation: ground floor has a 4-light oriel window on consoles with lean-to tiled weathering, a 3-light and a 4-light window with plank weatherings, and a cross-casement; first floor has two 5-light oriel windows which are transomed, one is supported on two large consoles and the other on carved brackets with plastered coving, and also a 2-light window with a plank weathering; one gabled dormer with 2-light window; the main entrance in the lower hall bay has a late C16 gabled timber-framed porch with Ionic half-columns on panelled pedestals; the wide entrance door is also late C16 and has all its original fittings. At the right side of the porch is a leaded rainwater pipe dated 1715 with a large decoratively-moulded lead trough at its base. Attic lights in gable ends; the east gable end has a two-storey gabled bay window with 5-light windows on both floors and 3-light side windows, all with transoms; the gable has scalloped bargeboards and a moulded pendant finial. Interior: richly moulded ceiling beams, arched doorheads and panelling throughout; first-floor ceiling beams are slightly cambered to a central ridge rib and either side the ceiling is subdivided by subsidiary ribs; the Great Parlour on the first floor of the east bay has a moulded stone fireplace with a C14 stone frieze above; frieze composed of four quatrefoils containing shields and enriched with ball flowers; it is probably re-used from the preceding house on the site; late C16 open-well staircase to west of hall has turned balusters; the newel posts are surmounted by the Wintour falcon alighting on a turret up to first floor level and by lions up to attic level. The attic storey of the east bay was used as a chapel and has an ingenious priest-hole concealed in the panelling; there is another priest-hole behind a fake stud and infill panel in the adjacent attic room above the hall. The fireplace on the ground floor of the west bay has a salt-drying cupboard and all its former cooking apparatus. The house stands on an ancient fortified site that was situated within Feckenham Forest; the inner moat of the former double-moated arrangement is retained. A survey of 1650 suggests that the house was once much larger. It was the seat of the Wintours, a Catholic family closely associated with the Gunpowder Plot conspiracy. The house retains much of its original furnishings and fittings. (VCH 3 (ii), p 408-9; BoE, p 61 & 199-200).

Listing NGR: SO9425057293

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

147856

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, (1913), 408-9
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (1968), 61 199-200

End of official list entry

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