Following the fire the garden ornaments were auctioned in the autumn of 1938 and the house was sold the following year to Mr Banks at a fraction of its cost. In 1954 the house was bought be an antique dealer from Straford-Upon-Avon. He stripped the house of anything of value and sold them. These items included; marble chimney-pieces, lead slates and timber from the roof, statues from the garden and the heavy plated glass from the conservatory.
Ruin rapidly overtook the structure, with trees growing up through the floors, and in the 1950s and 1960s it narrowly survived demolition and associated proposals for a motor racing circuit, caravan park and housing estate. The church might have been bodily removed to London, Whilst the Peseus and Andromeda fountain nearly ended up on a traffic island outside Worcester Cathedral. A building Preservation Order, however, provided vital protection in 1964, and in 1970 the house and surroundings were scheduled as an ancient monument. One the Department of the Environment had served a compulsory guardianship order in 1972, work to arrest further decay could begin – a task continued since 1984 by English Heritage.*
*From the English Heritage guidebook.
Looks like the form of a woman up on that panel.
It does now you come to mention it.
Ghost of someone’s long-lost love?
I don’t know… She looks like she is being hung from the ceiling to me LOL
Ruins with some charm, and a lovely top shot with a view through the window space that looks rather like a fine painting left hanging in the ruins
Although perhaps not a window space. Maybe a hatchway from a kitchen into a hall?
This was once the ballroom and the window looks out onto the courtyard. This one of the places where the fire was most intense.
This is really a shame…
Is it free to visit these ruins?
The ruins of Waverley Abbey in Surrey are also managed by EH.
But admission is free.
No this one isn’t free but there is more to come that makes up for that
Hi Cherie… i just went through your previous post on Witley Court and saw how grand it was and now to see it stripped down to the bones is a crime… your two presentations were very good….peter:)
I am glad you enjoyed them
Despite the dilapidated state the place was quite inspiring.
a beautiful faded glory!!!!!!
Thank You
Interesting.
There is much about this place that is interesting in different ways.