Coughton Court () is an English Tudor

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

, situated on the main road between Studley and

Alcester Alcester ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. It is west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Redditch. The town dates back to the times of Roman ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. It is a Grade I

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 ...

. The house has a long

crenellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

façade directly facing the main road, at the centre of which is the Tudor Gatehouse, dating from after 1536; this has hexagonal turrets and

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

s in the

English Renaissance The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England during the late 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...

style. The Gatehouse is the oldest part of the house and is flanked by later wings, in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style, popularised by

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

History

The Coughton estate has been owned by the Throckmorton family since 1409. The estate was acquired through marriage to the De Spinney family.Peter Marshall. ''Catholic Gentry in English Society: The Throckmortons of Coughton from Reformation to Emancipation,'' Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Nov 17, 2009
''Google eBook''
/ref> Coughton was rebuilt by Sir George Throckmorton, the first son of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton Court by Catherine Marrow, daughter of William Marrow of London. The great gatehouse was dedicated to King

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. ...

by Throckmorton, a favourite of the King who spent most of his life rebuilding Coughton.''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558,'' ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982. Article
''THROCKMORTON, Sir George (by 1489-1552), of Coughton, Warws.''
/ref> Throckmorton would become notorious due to his almost fatal involvement in the divorce between King Henry and his first wife

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

. He favoured the Queen and was against the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

. In 1549, when he was planning the windows in the great hall, he asked his son Nicholas to obtain from the heralds the correct

tricking Tricking is a method for indicating the tinctures (colours) used in a coat of arms by means of text abbreviations written directly on the illustration. Tricking and hatching are the two primary methods employed in the system of heraldry to show c ...

(colour abbreviations) of the arms of his ancestors' wives and his own cousin and niece by marriage Queen

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr ( – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort o ...

(see gallery drawing). The costly

recusancy Recusancy (from ) 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 of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

(refusal to attend

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

services) of his eldest son,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, and his heirs restricted later rebuilding, so that much of the house still stands largely as he left it. After Throckmorton's death in 1552, Coughton passed to his eldest son, Robert. The family were practicing

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and the house contains a priest hole, although unlikely to be the work of Nicholas Owen. These were hiding places for priests constructed during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law in England, from the middle of the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. The Hall also holds a place in English history for its roles in both the

Throckmorton Plot The 1583 Throckmorton Plot was one of a series of attempts by English Roman Catholics to depose Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, then held under house arrest in England. The alleged objective was to facilitate a Sp ...

of 1583 to murder Queen Elizabeth, and the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...

of 1605, although the Throckmorton family were themselves only indirectly implicated in the latter, when some of the Gunpowder conspirators rode directly there after its discovery. The house has been in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

since 1946. The family, however, hold a 300-year lease. The family tenant was

Clare McLaren-Throckmorton Elizabeth Clare McLaren-Throckmorton (née d'Abreu; 18 August 1935 – 31 October 2017), known professionally as Clare Tritton, Queen's Counsel, QC, was a British barrister and descendant of the Throckmorton baronets. She was the tenant of th ...

, known professionally as Clare Tritton QC, until she died on 31 October 2017. The current residents are Magnus and Imogen Birch Throckmorton. The house is open to the public but not all year round. The property is set in extensive grounds including a walled formal garden, a river and a lake. As of 2024, the house is undergoing extensive repairs to the roof and fabric of the building costing £3.3m, with the work set to be completed by June 2025. The family managed the property on behalf of the Trust until 2007, when management of the property reverted to the National Trust. The management agreement is renewed every 10 years. The family is due to resume management in 2026. This caused public concern that the family would benefit from money spent by the trust on repair works, with National Trust members no longer able to visit as part of their membership.https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/national-trust-coughton-court-throckmorton-family-b2704130.htmlhttps://www.thetimes.com/uk/society/article/national-trust-coughton-court-throckmorton-family-gxhtgtggv

Architecture

The gatehouse at Coughton was built at the earliest in 1536, as (both in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

) after the Dissolution of the Monasteries Act in 1536. As with other Tudor houses, it was built around a courtyard, with the gatehouse used for deliveries and coaches to travel through to the courtyard. Geoffrey Tyack described the gatehouse as a "dazzling monument to family pride, and the angle turrets, large expanses of window and battlemented skyline combine to give an impression of chivalrous splendour". One of the tower turrets contains the priest hole, two secret spaces, one above the other, which were rediscovered in 1858 and still contained a rope-ladder used for access. The courtyard was enclosed on all four sides until 1780, when the east range opposite the gatehouse was demolished. After the Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed in 1829, the Throckmorton family were able to afford large-scale building works, allowing them to remodel the west front.

In popular culture

The house was used as a filming location for the BBC One series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective. He is featured in 53 short stories by English author G. K. Chesterton, published between 1910 and 1936. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and ...

'' in the episode ''The Mask of the Demon''.

Gallery

Coughtoncourtmorris edited.jpg, Coughton Court in the late 19th century Coughton Court east view.jpg, Coughton Court courtyard Coughton Court gatehouse - geograph.org.uk - 1362441.jpg, Coughton Court gatehouse Coughton Court - geograph.org.uk - 51904.jpg, Coughton Court façade Wenceslas Hollar - Coughton (Throckmorton).jpg, Armorials depicted in windows of Coughton Court, by

Wenceslaus Hollar Wenceslaus Hollar (23 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a prolific and accomplished Bohemian graphic artist of the 17th century, who spent much of his life in England. He is known to German speakers as ; and to Czech speakers as (). He is partic ...

(d. 1677) Coughton Courtyard 2017.jpg, Old Buildings in Coughton Courtyard Coughton Court lake.jpg, The lake Coughton Court bog garden.jpg, The bog garden

References

* ''Coughton Court'' (1979) Booklet for National Trust by J Lees-Milne. *{{cite news, title=Six centuries in the same house, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/6138802/Six-centuries-in-the-same-house.html, newspaper=The Daily Telegraph, date=5 September 2009

External links