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Doug Cruden | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> Witley Court, Sept 2024 tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Witley Court, Sept 2024

A fab day out with fellow toggers at Witley Court in Worcestershire

From Wikipedia: Witley Court, in 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.
Front Facade
Front Facade
Entrance Portico
Entrance Portico
Entrance Hall
Entrance Hall
Great Hall
Great Hall
Fountain
Fountain
Fountain Face
Fountain Face
South Portico
South Portico
South Steps
South Steps
West Wing
West Wing
West Wing Shadows
West Wing Shadows
Shadows
Shadows
General View
General View
Perseus & Andromeda Fountain
Perseus & Andromeda Fountain
Orangery Arches
Orangery Arches
Orangery Steps
Orangery Steps
Orangery Flower Beds
Orangery Flower Beds
The Orangery
The Orangery
Slow Shutter Speed Fountain
Slow Shutter Speed Fountain
South Aspect
South Aspect
South Parterre
South Parterre
St Michael's And All Angels
St Michael's And All Angels
Hagar (& a bit of Ishmael)
Hagar (& a bit of Ishmael)
East Parterre
East Parterre
Front Pool
Front Pool