Witley Court, Great Witley, Worcestershire, England is a ruined Italianate mansion. Built for the Foleys in the seventeenth century on the site of a former manor house, it was enormously expanded in the early nineteenth century by the architect John Nash for Thomas Foley, 3rd Baron Foley. The estate was later sold to the Earls of Dudley, who undertook a second massive reconstruction in the mid-19th century, employing the architect Samuel Daukes to create one of the great palaces of Victorian and Edwardian England.

The declining fortune of the Dudleys saw the sale of the court after the First World War to a Kidderminster carpet manufacturer. In 1937 a major fire caused great damage to the court, the estate was broken up and sold and the house was subsequently stripped of its fittings and furnishings. Forty years of decay followed before the house and grounds were taken into the care of The Department of the Environment in 1972. Since that point, significant restoration and stabilisation have secured the house as a spectacular ruin.

Witley Court, and the attached Church of St Michael and All Angels, are both Grade I listed buildings

The two immense fountains survived the fire and subsequent despoliation of the house. They were designed by Nesfield and executed by James Forsyth^[14] and William Forsyth,^[15] who were carrying out sculpture in the house and the church. The largest, the Perseus and Andromeda Fountain, has been restored to working order by English Heritage.^[16] For working times, see the Witley Court English Heritage website (link below). The remnants of Nesfield’s parterres can also be seen. James Forsyth also made the large triumphal arch style drinking fountain in Dudley market place, adorned with sea horses and dolphins, presented in 1867 to the town by the Earl of Dudley.^[17]

In more recent times, the original plans and designs for the formal gardens have been discovered, and they are in the process of being restored. The main area of the gardens, the South Parterre, between the house and the Perseus and Andromeda fountain, has already been completed. Meanwhile, work on the East Parterre region is ongoing.

After almost three weeks without a computer I am back, my new laptop arrived yesterday. There was a bit of a drama getting Microsoft Office to download but thanks to Tech Support (who were also flummoxed) we eventually got it sorted.

I have few more things to fix including purchasing the latest version of Photoshop Elements and (hopefully) retrieving the data off my poorly computer. Once this is done I will be fully up and running again.

I am looking forward to blogging about my Easter adventures.

The East Parterre garden was visible through the windows of the ballroom:

The focal point when viewed from the house was a fountain of Flora, goddess of spring and flowers, whose statue crowned the composition. She holds a cornucopia or horn, intended to jet water, and round her are four tritons (fish-tailed humans) blowing jets of water from conch shells.. Smaller jets line the circumference of the basin. The original Flora statue was broken some years ago when an attempt was made to remove it, and the fountain as a whole has been badly vandalized.*

Restoration of the gardens started in 2005 and it is hoped that funds will allow restoration of the fountain at a later date.

*Information from the English Heritage guidebook.

The spectacular Perseus and Andromeda fountain has been restored to full working order, it is reached via a flight of steps from the south parterre.

The theme of the central sculptural group, which was carved from Portland stone by John Forsyth, is the classical myth of Perseus and Andromeda. Perseus having obtained the head of the Medusa with the help of his winged sandals and his helmet of invisibility, flies to the rescue of Andromeda; she has been chained to a rock by the sea god Poseidon, angry at the suggestion that she is more beautiful than the sea nymphs. A sea monster threatens to devour her, but Perseus gets there first and carries her off on the back of the winged horse Pegasus. Rising out of the water to the left and right are two cupids riding dolphins, replicas based on photographs of the lost originals.*

*From the English Heritage guidebook.

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.

The imposing remains of Witley Court stand next to Witley Parish Church. It was once one of England’s finest country houses, but it was largely gutted by fire in 1937. At the time of the fire the owner was Sir Herbert Smith and he decided not to rebuild and instead put the estate up for sale. Witley was never lived in again and was left to be stripped and abandoned.

In the first two pictures you can just see the dome of the Parish Church gleaming in the sunshine.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out Whistlestop PhotoHunt.

PS: This is a sneaky preview of my recent visit to Witley Court and Gardens. More photos coming soon…