Boxwell Court is a country house near Leighterton in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England, about 5 km or 3 miles east of

Wotton-under-Edge Wotton-under-Edge is a market town and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills ...

, dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The house is thought to be the site of a former

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, associated with

Gloucester Abbey Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishme ...

. Nothing remains of the monastery or nunnery except a holy well. The estate was given to the Huntley family following

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

's dissolution of the monasteries. The House has been in the Huntley family continuously since that time; it is believed that the family have lived on the site for 600 years. The estate is approximately , which although large in today's terms, is small compared to the size of the Huntleys' former Gloucestershire estates which included

Woodchester Woodchester is a Gloucestershire village in the Nailsworth (or Woodchester) Valley, a valley in the South Cotswolds in England, running southwards from Stroud along the A46 road to Nailsworth. The parish population taken at the 2011 census w ...

and Frocester. The estate is known for its box wood, which used to provide a very large income to the Huntleys. The house has been frequented by royalty;

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...

stayed in the house on several occasions. There is a story that King Charles II, when fleeing from the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

, stayed on the estate and, in gratitude to the family, gave them his ring which remains in the family's possession. The

Monarch's Way The Monarch's Way is a long-distance footpath in England that approximates the escape route taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester. It runs from Worcester via Bristol and Yeovil to Shoreham, West S ...

which runs past the house is a long-distance

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...

that approximates the

escape route ''Escape Route'' is the fifth studio album by United States, American Hip hop music, hip hop artist Joe Budden. It released in digital format exclusively on Amalgam Digital on August 11, 2009 and physical copies were released on October 6, 2009 t ...

taken by King Charles II in 1651.

Architecture

The

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

L-shaped building has stone slate roofs. It has two storeys plus an attic. The house has been revised and remodelled many times over the centuries, giving it an irregular appearance. The north front has a door in the centre with a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

above it. The side of the building to the west was remodelled in 1796 and has bow and curved sash windows below a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. The southern side has two projecting wings. The courtyard has a curtain wall and a castellated entrance.

St Mary's Church

In the grounds of the house is a small Grade II* listed church, St Mary's Boxwell. It was built in the 13th century and the north

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

was added in the 14th. The church contains memorials to the Huntley family.

References

{{coord, 51, 37, 58.5, N, 2, 16, 22, W, scale:100000, display=title Country houses in Gloucestershire Grade II* listed houses in Gloucestershire Cotswold District