Witley Court and Link to Church of St Michael
WITLEY COURT AND LINK TO CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1082656
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1951
- List Entry Name:
- Witley Court and Link to Church of St Michael
- Statutory Address:
- WITLEY COURT AND LINK TO CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-03-31
- Reference:
- IOE01/16433/16
- Rights:
- © Mr John Burrows. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1082656
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1951
- List Entry Name:
- Witley Court and Link to Church of St Michael
- Statutory Address 1:
- WITLEY COURT AND LINK TO CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- WITLEY COURT AND LINK TO CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Worcestershire
- District:
- Malvern Hills (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Great Witley
- National Grid Reference:
- SO 76983 64937
Details
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
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 152317
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, (1924)
Barnish, J G, Great Witley Church, ()
Pardoe, W M, Short History Of Witley Court, ()
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (1968)
Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 20 Hereford and Worcester,
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 12-Jun-2026 at 17:56:27.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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