Coton House is a late 18th-century country house at

Churchover Churchover is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The population of the parish in the 2001 census was 230, increasing to 251 at the 2011 census. It is located around 4 miles (7 km) north of Rugby, and is administrative ...

, near

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

in England. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...

. The Manor of Coton was held before the Dissolution of the Monasteries by the monks of

Coombe Abbey Coombe Abbey is a hotel which has been developed from a historic grade I listed building and former country house. It is located at Combe Fields in the Borough of Rugby, roughly midway between Coventry and Brinklow in the countryside of Warwic ...

. In 1551 the estate was sold to the Dixwell family and a moated manor house was built on the monastic remains. On the death of Sir William Dixwell in 1757 the estate passed to his nephew William Dixwell Grimes, whose son Abraham Grimes in 1787 replaced the old manor house with the present house built to designs by architect

Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737, Weeford, Staffs. – London, 8 February 1807) was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in ...

. The two-storey

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

house has an interesting entrance front, the central three bays being bowed to full height. In 1874 the estate, then , was sold to Francis Arkwright. Much of the land was sold and in 1881 the house was let out to Arthur James. His widow Venetia bought it in 1936. After her death it was converted in 1948 for use as a corporate training centre and staff hostel. From 1948 to 1968, Coton House served as a hostel for

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

s and students employed by a nearby Rugby industrial company (initially BTH which was part of the AEI group, and which was taken over by

GEC GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptional ...

in 1967). Coton House was bought by the

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in 1970, and used as its management training centre. Just after 7.30 am on Tuesday 22 June 2010 a fire broke out in the first floor and roofspace of Mansion House at Coton House and burnt it out. The smoke could be seen for miles away. More than 50

firemen A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also a ...

were despatched from 12 fire crews across

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-Avon an ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

to fight the fire. By mid-afternoon that same day, it was brought under control. In 2012, the estate was sold to a property developer; by 2014, plans had been drawn up to convert the main building into four residences, and build sixty new homes in the grounds. However, by 2017, the rebuilding plans for the main building had been changed, and it was restored as a single residence.

References

* Image and architectural description
''A History of the County of Warwick'' Vol 6 (1951) pp62-4 from British History Online
* Old cotonians website 1948 - 1968: http://www.cotonhouse.org/ {{coord, 52, 24, 38, N, 01, 14, 12, W, region:GB_scale:15000, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Warwickshire Country houses in Warwickshire Grade II* listed houses