Harvington Hall is a
moated
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and
Elizabethan manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
in the
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
of
Harvington
Harvington is a village near Evesham in Worcestershire, England. Bounded by the River Avon to the south and the Lench Hills to the north, three miles northeast of Evesham and now on the Worcestershire/Warwickshire border. The village today is ...
in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
of
Chaddesley Corbett
Chaddesley Corbett is a village and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. The Anglican and secular versions of the parish include other named neighbourhoods, once farmsteads or milling places: Bluntington, Brocken ...
, south-east of
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
county of
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
.
It is open to the public.
History
Harvington's moat and artificial island can be traced back to the 13th-century, older than the bulk of the 14th-century building work survives behind a layer of
bricks.
The Hall's centre block was probably the “solar” of a typical H-shaped timber-framed building.
(Herwynton),
Chancellor of the Exchequer, lived and, probably, died there in March 1344.
After his death, the estate was passed into the hands of the
11th Earl of Warwick and, in 1529, was sold to a wealthy
lawyer, Sir John Pakington.
Sir John Pakington's great-nephew, Humphrey Pakington, inherited the estate in 1578, who transformed this manor with features that are most well known today.
Though the Hall's scale is large in the present day, it is currently only about half of its original size as two additional
wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...
were demolished in around 1700. The reasons of the demolition are untraceable now, but a clue of the size of the Hall was documented in 1595, which describes the Hall as "Humphrey’s Mansion House of Harvington".
Humphrey was a Catholic during the time of the harsh
Elizabethan penal laws against
Catholicism in England. Humphrey was a
recusant
Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...
, which means that he refused to abide by the practices of
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
, such as attending the church service on Sundays, a refusal that was extremely costly financially.
In 1585, it became illegal for a Catholic priest to set foot in England, which prompted Humphrey to construct numerous
priest holes (or "priest hides") in the Hall for the protection of Catholic priests or followers.
These priest holes have remained till today. Most notably, some of them were the handiwork of the master carpenter
Nicholas Owen, a
Jesuit lay brother
Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...
.
Humphrey died in 1631 and left the Hall to his wife, Abigail, as the dower house. When Abigail died in 1657, she left the Hall to her daughter, Lady Mary Yate, who died in the Hall in 1696 at the age of 85,
outliving her son and grandson.
The Hall was inherited by her granddaughter, another Mary Yate. Mary was married to Sir Robert Throckmorton of
Coughton Court
Coughton Court () is an English Tudor country house, situated on the main road between Studley and Alcester in Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building.
The house has a long crenellated façade directly facing the main road, at the cen ...
in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
,
the son of
Sir Francis Throckmorton. Sir Robert had little use for Harvington Hall and demolished two wings.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the furnishings were stripped, leaving Harvington in a bare and dilapidated state.
In 1923, Mrs. Ellen Ryan Ferris (1870–1955) purchased and gave Harvington Hall to the
Archdiocese of Birmingham.
Ferris is the mother of
Robert Grant Ferris, who was
Deputy Speaker of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
from 1970 to 1974 and later became
Lord Harvington.
Gallery
File:Harvington Hall at Harvington Chaddesley Corbett Worcestershire 06.jpg
See also
*
Father Wall
References
Further reading
*
*
{{Archdiocese of Birmingham
Country houses in Worcestershire
Historic house museums in Worcestershire
Grade I listed buildings in Worcestershire
Grade I listed houses
Elizabethan architecture
Houses completed in 1580
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham